I found this little coffee table free on my local buy, swap and sell website. This table had a beautiful shape but it was very dated.  I wanted to try and give it a makeover using bronze leaf and a mandala decal.  I had no idea if it would work or not, but because the table was free I was happy to try.

Bronze leaf coffee table makeover

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This little table was in poor shape with the veneer on the bottom shelf peeling off, but felt I would be able to fix it.

To start, the table was taken apart to make it easier to remove all the old varnish and stain.

The veneer was very dried out, so it was easy to remove using an old butter knife.  The knife was pushed under the veneer and it just popped off.  The old veneer is not always so easy to remove if you are having trouble you can heat it up with a heat gun, which will soften the glue and it will lift up.

Next, the surface was smoothed out using an orbital sander and 220 grit sanding discs ready for painting.

Because the surface on the bottom shelf was porous, I added two coats of black primer.  Once the primer was dry I thought it looked good enough to seal. My intentions were to add black paint but it looked good as it was. I have done this in the past and it has worked well as long as it is sealed.

To seal the primer I used spray Satin polyurethane and added 4 coats.  The reason behind the spray polyurethane was the cold weather.  It dries a lot quicker in cold weather and I wanted to carry on with my project.

Recommended vinyl cutting machines.

Adding the mandala decal

You can buy the mandala decals on the internet, but I am lucky enough to own a Cricut vinyl cutter so I made my own. The decal was cut out and weeded so I was left with the final design.  The decal was then transferred to the table using transfer tape.

Adding the bronze leaf

To add the bronze leaf you need to add size adhesive first.  Add a thin smooth layer of the size to the decal and smooth it out using a credit card. Then size adhesive needs to become tacky first before you can add the bronze leaf, so follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Once the adhesive is tacky you can start laying the sheets of the bronze leaf over the adhesive. You will need a soft brush to smooth out the bronze leaf pushing down gently. The table was left to dry overnight.  A soft brush was again used to remove any excess bronze leaf from the surface and the decal was then removed.

To seal the bronze leaf I added another 4 coats of polyurethane. I have read that you do need to seal the leafing or it will tarnish over time.

Once everything was dry I screwed the table back together.  To add some definition to the legs, I rubbed some bronze wax paste to the legs to break up the black colour. This does not show up well in the photos. And that was my makeover complete.

For more great ideas you can make using your Cricut check out this personalised wine barrel table idea.  Use THIS link to see all my Cricut projects.

Another great makeover you may like is this old writing desk which was upcycled into a makeup table. To store all your beauty supplies in one place.

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