Get Your Feet Off the Table!

          Ta-da!  My latest decorating project is finished.  You know I love McKenzie Childs style, right?  I shared my nod to that when I repainted my grandfather clock (and decoupaged the courtly checks) a couple of years ago:

And you can read more about that here. So a couple of months ago I took the leap and decided to re-do my coffee table in the same style. 

First, you should know that this table has been needing work for years.  Some time ago someone (we will never know the guilty party) tipped over a scented diffuser that was sitting there on a runner.  They didn’t report the spill and it was days before I moved the runner and saw the entirely gouged and eaten up finish.  Needless to say, it’s been covered with various disguisers ever since, from runners to tablecloths.

But the time had come, and I took the bold leap.  I sanded and primed it outside in the cold (bundled up but still cold!) then dragged it in, put down a drop cloth, and began to paint.  I decoupaged courtly check wrapping paper on the sides and painted a border of the colors and stripes so familiar to fans of this home décor line.

Then eldest son, Richie, suggested a map of Book of Mormon lands for the center, and I found one online.  For non-Mormons I should explain.  The Book of Mormon goes hand in hand with the Bible and is another testament of Jesus Christ. It details his visit, after his resurrection, to people in the Americas. Nobody knows exactly where this happened, but scholars like to guess Central and South America.  Some folks have even ventured to speculate about where various settlements and land forms were, thus various maps have sprung from daring minds with artistic ability.

Needless to say, our officious Chihuahua Terrier mix--a Taco Terrier-- Mickey, had to supervise.  But here’s what she does.  She knocks the throw pillows off the sofa, then leaps from pillow to pillow until she finds one she likes.  Like Goldilocks. (This is the same brainiac who growls at her reflection in the oven door, thinking there’s another dog in the oven looking back at her.) Here you can see her on her perch, the table still a work in progress.

Then I varnished the whole thing and now it’s done!  Here’s the final result. 

At least until Mickey gets to the pillows.  Now I think I’ll sit down and put my feet up…

You do the same—and curl up with one of my books!