HOME FRONT:Zita Spring's website, www.homebug.net, is full of smart, bright ideas for making the ordinary extraordinary. Here she took a battered, varnished table and transformed it with paint
COFFEE TABLES CAN often be little more than an unremarkable obstacle in the centre of a living room, so when I began hunting for a new coffee table recently, I was on the lookout for one that made a dramatic statement. In the course of the search, I came across a number of coffee tables that made dramatic statements. Unfortunately for me and my modest budget, in every case the statement being made was "I'm preposterously expensive. I'm handsome, but jeepers, I'm just a coffee table." So I turned to that old reliable, the internet, to see what it had to offer.
While I was trawling my favourite websites I came across the "Paolo" table, designed by Gio Ponti for uber-trendy Italian furniture brand L'Abbate, and it was love at first sight. Paolo's geometric-patterned tabletop is the coolest thing on four legs, but unfortunately its hefty price tag put it well outside my range. However, it occurred to me that the Paolo table has a very traditional shape and its only outstanding feature is its patterned tabletop. As I've always been rather handy at painting furniture (well who isn't - it's hardly the preserve of rocket scientists), I decided to have a go at creating a similar table myself.
My first port of call for hare-brained DIY schemes is always Jumbletown.ie, a fantastic Irish website where unwanted items are advertised. Every item is free to take and you simply contact the giver to arrange a collection time. The standard of furniture posted on Jumbletown can vary greatly, but there's no denying that nearly all of it has potential for revamping, provided you have a little imagination. I began a new coffee table hunt on Jumbletown - I was on the lookout for the plainest, most boring table on offer. I didn't have to wait long for such a coffee table to be posted in the furniture forum. The ad included a picture, which showed that the table was quite a wreck.
The giver's apologetic description included the suggestion "might suit children's playroom", which is, I think, a euphemism for "might suit bonfire". The table appeared to be heavily scratched and stained, but nevertheless looked suitable for my project. I contact the giver to stake my claim and we made arrangements for pick up.
I arrived later that day at the home of coffee table benefactor Alan. We chatted about Jumbletown and Alan said that friends recommended it to him a few months ago when he had a bulky, snow-boot-removing contraption to get rid of. His Canadian girlfriend had brought it with her to Ireland but soon realised that it was entirely unnecessary given the Irish climate.
"Who in Ireland needs a dedicated snow-boot remover?" Alan laughed. "But we posted an ad on Jumbletown and got lots of responses from people who, for whatever reason, really wanted it." Now that Alan and his girlfriend are redecorating, they find Jumbletown to be a great resource for offloading their surplus furniture. "People will take anything as long as it's free," Alan said. We both glanced at the lovelorn coffee table and there was a brief awkward silence. He was bashful about the state of the table, but I assured him that I was using it for a DIY project and he was pleased. He helps me to carry the table out to the road and flagged a taxi so that I could bring my treasure home.
The €6 cab journey was the biggest single expense of the coffee table makeover. I was able to use paints and supplies I already had for the most part, so my total spend on materials worked out somewhere in the region of €13. That's cheap by anyone's standards, but is especially bargainous considering the Paolo table that inspired the project retails at about €1,600.
Over the course of a weekend, I attended to the various stages of revamping the coffee table - sanding, priming, painting, varnishing - and discovered that turning a Jumbletown wreck into a stylish statement piece doesn't take too much time or effort. The necessary materials were all available in my local DIY store, and the only special skills required were some patience and a steady hand.
As I'm not a fan of designer knock-offs (even if I have a handbag or two that might suggest otherwise), I took some liberties interpreting the Gio Ponti design, so that my own table was an "homage" and not a direct imitation. For instance, rather than painting the geometric pattern in muted greys as favoured by Ponti, I opted instead for one of my own favourite colour combinations - red, yellow and blue.
Makeover complete, I was delighted with the finished article and love that our new coffee table really makes a style statement in our home. But it makes another statement that is every bit as dear to my heart as fancy pants design - one about the importance of decorating with creativity and individuality to make your home your own. If you fancy having a go at creating your own hand-painted geometric table, everything you need to know is below.
Painting instructions:
Depending on the coffee table's finish, sand and prime it or apply Easy Surface Prep (ESP). Paint the entire table with white satinwood paint. Apply as many coats as necessary for full coverage. Allow to dry completely.
Using a pencil and a metre-long ruler, measure and lightly draw a line half way across the tabletop, lengthways. Measure and lightly draw eight lines down the tabletop widthways, equal distances apart.With pencil and ruler, lightly draw five diamonds using the other lines as a guide.
Paint the coloured triangles, applying as many coats as necessary for full coverage. Allow to dry completely. Using an eraser, rub out any lines that remain on the white parts of the tabletop.Finish with a coat or two of clear varnish.