Mapping Out My Dining Table ‘Make Over’

I was sitting down with a cuppa waiting for the rest of the undercoat to dry before I finally finished the outside wall, with my mind already on a few projects I wanted to do. One of them was the lay out in our living area. It is open plan and the lounge dining and kitchen all meld into one. I considered bringing the square 8 seater table back inside and taking my rectangular wooden table out. The idea to paint it all white was becoming hard to resist.

But then I found this post by Kristine over at The Painted Hive.  She had the brilliant idea to give an old coffee table a new look simply by using a map to cover the top. Her post explains it all so check it out if it intrigues you. I have an old pull down school map, the same map that hung on the walls of my class room growing up. I had the opportunity to buy it two years ago and I have been loving it but desperately trying to ‘find’ the right place for it ever since.

My Beloved and I do not share the same taste in decorating and a school map is definitely NOT on his list of interior must haves, it is, however on mine!

‘Just get rid of it.’ he’d say to me when ever I’d wonder aloud where it should go.

‘No, I’ll get rid of you first!’ I’d always say.

But looking at the post of a map covered coffee table had me ecstatic. YES!!! That is what I will do with it. I thought and dragged the rolled up map out from under my bed. It is perfect, I am looking for a new ‘top’ for the dining table as the current one is quite possibly the most grotesque top known to man kind! Stained and yucky MDF, basically.

I will paint the table top white, I will sand back and give the legs a clear varnish as the colour of the wood is not too light and I love the grain in it. Not only that, it would look awesome against the colours of the map. I have decided to ‘decoupage’ the map to the table top. I will do that with varnish. Clear, high gloss varnish ( the stuff they use for floorboards as it is a table top and I want it to last). I will ‘glue’ it down with varnish then just give the map and the table top coat after coat of varnish until I am satisfied that it is well and truly covered. I will then get a piece of glass to sit on top, for added protection.

Then, before you can say ‘Wallah!’ I will have a beautiful table with out costing too much, that is unique and definitely to my tastes with very little actually spent to get it! ( I am choosing to completely disregard the cost of the glass) and if the cost is ridiculous there are many different thicknesses of clear plastic that you can buy from well, somewhere. ;p

I am off in the morning to buy a tin a varnish… I can’t wait for this project to begin!