Upcycled Teal & Tape Table

I've been painting furniture for the last twenty five years, it is a great way to create bespoke furniture and to give an old piece of unwanted furniture a new lease of life.

A few years ago, I bought a very uninspiring little occasional table at the local dump for the bargain price of 50p.  I looked handmade and was thickly, and badly, painted in a dark varnish.  I liked the size and shape of the table and thought it would be useful somewhere around the house.  At only 50 pence, it was worth buying.

I spent a lot of time wondering what to do with the table.  It didn't actually look too out of place as it was, so I gave it a clean and used it as it was.  I thought about painting it cream and stencilling a design on the top and then thought about covering the entire table in decoupage, which I have done in the past on other furniture.

Having recently bought a new teal, brown and cream rug for my sitting room, I decided to paint the table teal.  Whilst I was pleased with the colour, I felt it needed something more.  I had read about Japanese Washi tape in craft magazines and had wanted to try it for a while, so that seemed the ideal solution.

Washi tape is a strong, durable paper like tape, similar to masking tape but is actually made from bamboo, hemp or tree bark.  It comes in a huge range of widths, colours and patterns so is perfect for craft projects.  It is readily available in craft shops and online.  I looked on eBay for mine as I wanted one that was a teal colour.  With postage it was a few pounds, so not very expensive.

I decided to run the tape around the top edge of the table and also down the legs.  It took about ten minutes to simply unpeel the end of the tape and then run in along each surface, smoothing it as I went.  You have to take some care as you can't really stick, peel off and stick again too many times as the tape with loose it's tack.  Once stuck, it seems to stay put though.

As the table is in constant use beside a sofa, with cups of tea always sitting on it, I needed to protect the paintwork as it is a water based paint.  If I wiped the top, the paint would come off.  To seal it, I rubbed on a few coats of Annie Sloan Soft Wax which is designed for the purpose.

I am really pleased with the transformation of my table.  It has gone from a dark, dull table to a bright, contemporary piece of furniture which will have a place in my home for a long time to come.  When I am bored of it, I can simply peel of the tape and paint it another colour.