Found Item: Wood coffee table close to five feet long

Where: In the alley across the street from me.  Some ambitious decorators live in the vintage condo building up the block.  They move furniture in and out, carry up boxes with new kitchen cabinets and lumber possibly to make their closets more efficient.  Not that I’m nosy or anything.

The Makeover: Things started to improve the Early American bowling alley motif when I painted the table.  Even the legs looked more graceful. I put on a coat of primer, then used a yellow/carmel shade of C2 from the archives.  The yellow tones are a little exaggerated in some of the night time photos.

I used bits of vinyl posters from a summer dumpster dive to cut out shapes for the table top.  Those posters proved to be a useful find.

It’s my duty to encourage you to find yourself a project for this paper. Called papyrus at the art store, it can behave like a laminate, and made from plant stalk, it’s wonderfully sturdy. The grain is beautiful. I bought two quarter sheets at Blick Art for $10 total.

After cutting out the patterns, I soaked them in water for half a minute before gluing.  This makes the paper more pliable for positioning on the table.  Then, when you put a book on top for pressure, the glue is absorbed in the wet paper instead of oozing out the edges.

I’m giving the glue a day to cure before sealing the table top, not to mention waiting for the rain to stop, please, before I spray the top to seal it.   I’ll use a matte water based polyurethane spray which will protect it and give a look of depth to the wood grain pattern.