My parents have had a couple of tables kicking around for a few years now. They are pretty old- they were originally from a social club that my dad volunteers for that moved to a new building.
They gave all the old ones away and mom and dad took a couple. Very old school laminate tops, but with absolutely beautiful cast iron legs. Heavy. Not easy to move. Mom and dad have one sitting on their veranda and my brother took one. It sat in his garage for a few years and then he decided he didn’t want it. We tried to sell it at our garage sale. Thank goodness it didn’t go as I ended up seeing tables like them around and loved them!
Here is one close to it from Restoration Hardware.
So I decided to do a bit of a revamp on the table top to see if I couldn’t make it into something a little nicer.
Please ignore the general mess surrounding the table. This is one of my little work areas so there are a thousand unfinished projects lying around. Please ignore them. I seem to be.
You can see that the legs are beautiful, but the laminate leaves the viewer wanting. That’s where a ruined copy of the Cambridge Shakespeare comes to the rescue. That and a little mod podge. I just tore pages into strips and sections and put a layer of mod podge under and over them. When I was finished, I covered the whole thing with another couple of layers of mod podge. I need to poly it now, but I only have spray poly and it is too cold outside to do it.
Don’t worry. The book really was previously ruined and was about to get discarded when I took it. Pages missing and the like. So far, it has seen me through a couple of projects as well as this one (my paper trees and cone wreath).
This is what the table looks like now, all styled up with its new top and in a much nicer spot.
I love the shadows the twigs cast on the wall. So pretty and a little austere. A nice change from the Christmas tree in that corner.
The pages make a pretty tabletop and I love the colour and texture. It really reads as a solid from further back.
I didn’t want to put too much on it. I’m kind of over clutter right now, after Christmas, and I prefer a clean look anyway.
I can see curling up in this corner with a cup of tea and a good book. Lots of light.
Nice legs!
(Shame about the face?) I couldn’t resist including Bill.
You tell them, Bill.
I think it is gorgeous.
So that is the first project of the year for Stone and Rose! What have you been up to so far? I hope you are having a productive and happy start to 2012!
xo
Catherine
January 9th, 2012 at 10:39 am
Beautiful! I love what you did with the book pages and it really has gorgeous legs, doesn’t it. I think this looks just marvelous.
I see you are in Alberta, I’m in Manitoba. I’m always happy to find Canadian designer/decorator blogs.
Have a lovely day!
Hugs, Cindy
January 9th, 2012 at 5:53 pm
I’m always happy to find another Canadian as well! Thank you for the lovely comment.
xo
Catherine
January 10th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
I really like your table! I’m thinking of coving the backside of my ugly bedroom door with book pages. It won’t have the great legs of your table though!
January 10th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Let me know when you do it! I’d love to see.
January 10th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
That is so creative. I love that you included Bill. What a great conversation starter. I am a new Twitter follower visiting from Northern Cottage. Vicky from Mess For Less
January 10th, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Thank you Vicky!! And thanks for following!
xo
Catherine
January 10th, 2012 at 8:32 pm
that looks awesome! i love the pages and love the industrial, old school feel it has!
January 10th, 2012 at 9:31 pm
Thank you!
xo
Catherine
January 10th, 2012 at 9:47 pm
I love it. It’s awesome. I would love if you linked to: http://www.eyeheart.ca/2012/01/anything-goes-at-eye-heart-8.html
New follower.
January 11th, 2012 at 6:39 am
Thank you! I will.
xo
Catherine
January 13th, 2012 at 10:01 am
You were so smart not to let that pretty base go to waste, Catherine. Your really made it look so smart.
January 13th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Clever solution for that table top! Thanks for linking up to the 1st Project of the Year Party!
January 13th, 2012 at 8:53 pm
It looks great! I love the book-look for the table!
January 13th, 2012 at 11:25 pm
What a treasure! You did a beautiful job adding charm and a little sass to your old-school club table. I’d be thrilled if you’d come and share your post at the Head to Head Showdown, going on right now at http://www.icantstopcrafting.blogspot.com ~Jen
January 14th, 2012 at 8:44 am
I will do that! Thank you.
Catherine
January 17th, 2012 at 6:00 am
[...] Catherine from Stone and Rose took a castoff table that had been sitting in her brother’s garage for years. It was the type of table you might find in a school with solid metal legs and a round laminate top. After noticing that the table bore a resemblance to pricey industrial tables, Catherine set out to make the laminate top a little easier on the eyes. Her mission was accomplished with help from Mod Podge and Shakespeare! [...]
January 17th, 2012 at 6:38 am
Thank you so much for featuring my post on your wonderful site!!!
xo
Catherine
January 17th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Great style!!! I’m having a linky party, and would love it if you joined! Here is the link! http://www.thesouthernproductqueen.com/one-stop-shoppe-linky-party-3 Thanks for sharing!
January 17th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
I will do that! Thank you!
Catherine
January 17th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Thank God for blogs & people like you willing to share their ideas & techniques. I have a fiftys dresser that unfortunately is covered in that awful fake wood formica. I am hoping this table was covered in it too. Was the laminate a wood veneer or or a plastic laminate (formica). I have contacted Mod-Podge (& if this is a formica top) they said what you have done isn’t possible. I believe that some ‘experts’ can suffer from tunnel vision. I hope thay are wrong. Thanks again for what you do & are willing to share. Peta
January 17th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
It was definitely a plastic laminate, not a wood veneer. I know. Sometimes, the experts don’t think outside the box! It seems to be sticking and holding up just fine. There are a ton of other mod podge/ furniture re-do tutorials out there that have done the same thing as well.
Hope your table turns out!!
January 17th, 2012 at 9:13 pm
Hi, it’s Peta again. Are you sitting on the computer. That is the fastest turn-around I have ever had on a question. Go girl. I am so glad your table was formica. So much for the experts, but they do have their place. Maybe we should send Mod-Podge a heads up. What do you think.
My project is actually an 8foot long dresser & the top is rolled. You can understand why I neede to be sure before ploughing into this one. Stripping 8 feet of decoupaged paper is not my idea of creativity. Thanks again.
January 18th, 2012 at 9:37 pm
Maybe you want to try a little section to make sure before you do all 8 feet!
Good luck.
Catherine
February 26th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
[...] this summer (we had a disaster on that as well, see this post for the details) and the table that I recovered with pages of [...]
April 22nd, 2012 at 11:00 pm
Love this so much! Awesome revamp.
April 23rd, 2012 at 6:13 am
Thank you!!
August 13th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Hi! Love this project!! I’m going to be doing the same thing to a big old hope chest with the pages of my daughter’s favorite book (a copy that is no longer usable). I was wondering which variety of mod podge you used … and how it’s holding up so far?? Thanks in advance! ~Nancy
August 14th, 2012 at 9:30 am
I just used regular mod podge and it is holding up fine! I haven’t even done the top layer of poly which I meant to do this summer!
Mind you, we don’t use this table a lot. It basically is for decorating. If you are going to be using the table, just make sure you put a few layers of non-yellowing poly on top.
Hope this helps.
Catherine
August 29th, 2012 at 9:23 am
[...] on a larger scale? How about an entire table covered with pages from your favorite literature? Stone and Rose has a tutorial to show you how. © Stone and [...]
November 11th, 2012 at 5:39 pm
[...] Table at Stone and Rose [...]