From drab to (sort-of) fab!

I've been on a repurposing kick lately. Remember this? (Of course you do; it's only one post down! lol)

Yuck, right?

So are you ready to see the final product? It ain't perfect, but I learned some things, and I still think it was a huge improvement!

After peeling off the "decoupage" - which actually turned out to be a huge cheap sticker - I was left with a lot of ooky glue on the edges. I sanded at it for all I was worth, but it didn't quite come off. I originally wanted to do a checkerboard design, but then I decided to try my hand at a harlequin pattern instead.

In the process, I learned a few things:

1) I will never do a large-scale harlequin pattern. It is a tremendous pain in the rear to get it lined up right. As you can see, one of my corner diamonds is a little wonky.

2) I finished it off with a satin Krylon finish, but it created this weird dust-like stuff that had to be wiped off after each coat. Not sure if I'll use that again or not.

3) For small projects like this, good old Scotch tape is wonderful for marking off edges! It lays down easily, removes easily without messing up the paint, and I didn't have one bit of bleed. Obviously, it won't work on a rough surface, but for a small project with a smooth surface, I do believe it is better than masking tape.

This took a while, but I'm pleased with the result. Now it's off to work on the weird grape/olive thing. :)