DIY Coffee Table Makeover

Hey there! I am sorry about the brief hiatus but I have few things to share. My husband and I just moved to a new apartment. We were just about to settle at the new place when we welcomed a new member to our family – a cute little 2 months old puppy. He is a Labrador retriever and we have named him Boomer! He is adorably cute. Although, initially I was not exactly thrilled about the idea of bringing home a puppy, I am beginning to love him and hoping to get used to him soon. So now, you might know the reason why I was missing in action on the blog for the last couple of weeks.

I am not sure about you guys, but I found the whole process of the apartment move exciting and fun. Right from planning, packing, moving, unpacking, organizing, shopping – everything was absolute fun. We did not want to overspend on apartment décor but still wanted to make it colorful, personal and call it our home.

To start with, we painted a wall of the living room a different color to give it that accent feel and all of that jazz. Here is the picture of the wall –

We then made a list of really old things that we wanted to dispose and the ones that needed a replacement. Coffee table was on the top of the list. We had the really basic lack coffee table from IKEA. Here is a picture of similar model from IKEA website.

We decided to dispose it as it got old with some paint chipped and we wanted to  invest on some good coffee table with our budget - $100.

But then I came across this awesome tutorial for coffee table makeover. My husband and I are ‘sort of’ DIY enthusiasts and when we saw this, we knew we had to give this a try before investing on a new one. I am so glad we made that decision. OMG, we are now totally obsessed with the table. It looks unique, Tumblrish (if that is even a word!), colorful and wait for it… cost us less than $30. So it is almost $70 saved. We really love how it turned out. So thanks to Ann for the tutorial.

Here is what we did with slight modifications with the things we had in hand or readily available.

Things you will need:

1. Pictures printed on a glossy paper. I got it printed from my local Staples. I would suggest you to create a collage of 5 to 6  pictures of different sizes and then print different collages so it is cost effective (one collage print out will give you 6 pictures rather than taking 6 different print outs). For the size of my coffee table I needed about 12 collages. I even cheated by using some magazine strips in between. Can you guess it?
2. Mod Podge
3. Glue Brush ( we managed with an old gift card), but brush would make your life easier)
4. Pour on Gloss
5.  Water
6. Hair Dryer

Method:

1.  Cut individual pictures from the printed collages.
2.  Make sure your table is clean. Apply a layer of Modpodge to a section of  the table using a glue  brush.
3.  Mix together Modpodge and water(1:1 ratio) in a bowl/container/tray. I  used a tray for this.
4.  Dip one picture in modpodge so both sides are coated with glue.
5.  Place the photo on the table and repeat the same for all photos in any arrangements of your choice.Make sure they lay flat with no air bubbles o gaps.
6.  Let it dry for at least 4 to 5 hours.
7.  Follow the instructions on the pour on gloss and prepare the gloss  mixture.Usually it is mixing equal proportions of the two containers that  comes with  the pack.
8.  Pour the gloss over the table and use old gift cards or any cards to spread  the gloss even across the table.
9.  Using a hair dryer, blow hot air from above holding it 3 to 4 inches away  from the table for less than a minute. This makes sure there are no air  bubbles.
10.  Let it dry overnight or for 8 hours.

Tips:

1. Make your collage with different sized pictures. Very small sized pictures will help you fill in the gaps while placing them on the table. You can download pictures from Tumblr, Pinterest or Google and use apps like Fotor, PicMonkey to create the collage. But remember you cannot sell or use the pictures for commercial purposes.
2.  Get your pictures cut and ready before applying Modpodge on the table as Modpodge dries up really quick.
3. I would also suggest you to apply Modpodge on one part of the table, paste the pictures and then move over to the next section of the table for the same reason that Modpodge dries really quick.
4. Try to overlap the pictures as much as possible so there is no gap between pictures.
5. The whole process of applying Modpodge and pasting pictures can get messy. Try to do outdoors or spread some old clothes or newspapers underneath the table if you are working indoors.
6. Use a blade/scissors/knife to remove any excess gloss dripping from the table.
7. If you are living anywhere in United States, google for coupons from your local craft stores (Joann, Michaels,Hobbylobby) and you can also find coupons from the store website.

And this is how it finally looks -

(psst, ignore the couch if you find it too old. It is next on the list)

Guess what, this is almost the tour of the living room with only the TV station left which is anyways  nothing fancy! Let me know in the comments what you think of the coffee table. Yay or Nay?