Sealing Over Paper Tip and More Game Tables

Well, its been a sporadic summer of posting, but summer is over now and its time to get back to blogging about what I love doing. Kids are back in school (2 of the 3 anyways) and I am getting some time back to myself.

One of our family's favorite summer activities is yard saling. Couple that with the regular "treasure hunting" trips on garbage day, and I've hoarded out the basement to overflowing. Literally. There is an old dresser sitting in the grass next to the kid's playhouse because there is no more room inside. Twice now my husband has begged me not to bring home any more new pieces to work on until I've cleared some more space. Sounds fair...but I still brought home two dressers in between these talks.

He hasn't taken away the car keys yet! In my mind, he's only half serious. He could take the van to work and leave me with the sedan which would seriously limit me in my hoarding capabilities. Luckily he doesn't read my blog so I don't have to worry about giving him any ideas. (Where is the semi-sarcastic font for this next sentence??) He's so lucky to be married to me.









Found these sturdy and ugly tables on my usual treasure hunting route. I tried sanding and restaining but wasn't loving the result. In the end, they were painted with homemade chalkpaint and turned into Game Tables. Always a popular item in my booth. 
 


The tip I have to share deals with protecting book pages from discoloring when a sealer is applied. I had more pictures but they turned out blurry. You can see on the smaller table, on the right, that the page squares are not as white as those on the larger table. The larger table squares were first coated with Mod Podge before the sealer. 




My other photo was too blurry but you can still see the effect below. The pages that were completely coated with Mod Podge first, retained their original coloring after the sealer was put on. The discolored squares show where the sealer got to the paper because the Mod Podge was sloppily applied in this section.  


And that's the tip: seal paper first with Mod Podge before coating with a heavy duty sealer like Polycrylic or Spar Urethane. 


Found these unique chess board pieces at an estate sale. And it was a complete set! I added the cigar box for storage. They are so cute I just had to share. 




Everything in the photo has sold except for the larger table as it is the most expensive. Its been the most popular photo on my booth's Facebook page. I'm taking the hint and will be making more in the near future. I have plans for a table revamp for the kids playroom. 


Comments

  1. Looks great Audra! You always have the best ideas! Hide the van keys...

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  2. Audra this is such a cute makeover. Not only does the table look gerat now but it is also multifunctional. Love the ides of the chess.

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