Two coats of paint later, and I was loving it. It looked fresh, and clean and bright…but I wanted to add something over that faux leather that I had painted.
Once it dried, I wet the paper and started rubbing it off. I thought it was going great, and was happy to see the transfer looked like it worked well over the faux leather, when my mother (who was looking over my shoulder), pointed out that all the words were backwards. I had forgotten to reverse the image before getting the copy made!
(HEAD SMACK!!)
I rubbed off as much of the paper as I could, and accidentally rubbed off some of the paint on the edges as well.
This project was going downhill fast.
I was so disgusted with myself and didn’t feel like starting all over again, so I put the plant stand in my basement, where it has remained for the last 8 months. I finally pulled it out again, and decided to give it one more try. I repainted the whole thing, so I could start with a clean slate, but the top had residual paper transfer that wouldn’t come off, so the paint on top looked awful. I was so tempted to carry it back down to the basement, or even straight out to the burn pile, but I would have felt guilty about burning something that should have been lovely, had I not goofed it up.
By this point, I hated that plant stand.
Every time I passed by it, I glared at it.
... I may have even called it names.
But remember, I’m on a mission to clear projects out of my house, and I’d vowed to finish up every project I’d started. That horrid little plant stand was NOT going to win this battle!
I knew the only way to cover the residual paper left from the botched image transfer was to put something really thick over it, so I added some chalky powder from Vintage Storehouse to thicken up more white paint. I added more powder than I normally would to make chalky paint, so it would be nice and thick, then I painted it on, criss-crossing the brush strokes, so it would have the appearance similar to wall plaster.
That did the trick – oh hallelujah!
I still wanted to put some kind of image on top, but didn’t want to tempt fate by using the same image again, so this time I chose a bee image transfer (found HERE). This image didn’t even need to be reversed first, since both sides of a bee are the same.
If you’ve never done an image transfer before, the tutorial can be found HERE. Just remember – when dealing with text, you MUST reverse the image before you print it.
I was so overjoyed to finally be able to call this project DONE!
Your table came out great Angie! I love the bee image… I’ve done that forgetting to reverse the image thing at least once!
Susan
Thanks Susan – glad I’m not the only one. I need to make a mental note to just stop using text image transfers, so I don’t need to worry about flipping the image first!
I love what you did with this table! And, I love that you kept at it. Now I have the motivation to finish a project I started a few weeks back. I have a dresser with an old 60’s orange/brown type paint on it. I decided not to remove the paint, but I scuffed it up a bit, used a bit of petroleum jelly in places and put a really nice green on it. I was hoping to get a cracked and chippy effect by using crackle and then putting a creamy white paint over the green. After I sanded it a bit first, I loved the green with the orange peeking through. So on went the crackle and then the cream. Well…. I hate the result. Hate. So, there the dresser sits in the spare room waiting to be taken care of. I may need to re-think what the new end result will be. Thank you Angie.
Good luck trying to save your dresser Kim – that is such a bummer!
Sometimes disasters turn in to masterpieces! Love it!
Thanks so much, Jeanette!
I love the bee image…I never thought of transferring something like that! So pretty! We all have those kinds of projects once in a while lol!
i love the finished table and am sorry the whole project wasn’t a smooth one for you. Thanks for sharing your mistake with us, along with your desire to not let it get the best of you. It motivated me to try to finish up a couple of “mistakes” myself.
Good luck finishing up some of your mistakes, Terri!! I’m glad I stuck with my little plant stand – frustrations and all!
It looks amazing now, I love the bee!
You’re only human (unless there’s somethin’ you’re not tellin’ us). Besides, the Bee is Better!
Thanks Cheryl – I really do like the bee better too! Believe me, I’m all too human! 😉
Angie, thank you so very much for not only sharing the amazing success story you had with this table, but the mistake that went before it…I admire you greatly for that and I want you to know that, by sharing such a mistake, you are helping people to learn a valuable lesson without having to go through the agony of it themselves! I also think it shows fortitude of spirit when we share our errors…not a lot of people are open to doing that because they are afraid to show themselves as less than perfect…but brava to you for being so courageous…it only makes me think even more of you than I already do, which is quite a lot! And what a beautiful success story this table is…it’s truly lovely…I wouldn’t mind a little table just like that for my sun porch and I love bees, so I’ll be checking out the graphic! Thank you so very much for this…all of it…you made my day!
You always, always brighten my day! 🙂
I just came back to get the lovely bee graphic and happened to see your reply. Thank you so very much for such a sweet compliment, Angie…I am truly honoured! And I am glad to brighten your day, just as you brighten mine every day with your fabulous posts! Please keep on doing what you do just as you have been doing it…you are gifted with a very positive spirit and that rubs off on me every time I visit your blog…I always leave here feeling so inspired and buoyant and I’m sure I’m only one of a myriad to feel that way! 🙂
It turned out real nice,even after all that stewing,you have a wonderful piece.
Thanks so much, Marlene! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this info about pulling a disaster out of the “toilet”! Just goes to show that it’s really true that mistakes can become amazing successes! I was especially interested in how you achieved the “plaster look”. Good info for when I get started with my own furniture-painting experiments which I hope to do as soon as I can work in my garage without freezing to death. Enough, already, with this never-ending winter!