DIY Decoupage Fabric Bench

Your going to either think that this project is cool or that I have lost my mind.

Either way I am sharing it 😉

I know that this project will unleash your creativity and will inspire you!

I found this little bench a week ago, and I knew it would be perfect for our den.

You can see the transformation HERE and HERE.

Originally I was going to paint it, but the fabric was really icky.

I mean gross, icky, pet hair…YUCK!

So, I was thinking I would just recover it, but as I reached for the fabric, tissue paper from my stash of stuff in my studio caught my eye.

Then I had a….what if I ….moment.

I knew that this could turn out really cool or really bad.

But hey, you never know until you try right?

Oh yeah, this project was one of my Lucy harebrained ideas.

Sometimes I think my husband Rick, yeah that’s his real name.

But let’s call him Ricky.

Sometimes I think when Ricky comes home, he thinks ay yi yi , what did you do now…..

Ah, he’s actually never reacted that way, he’s very supportive of my creative endeavors.

So here’s a little peek at the before photo of the bench.

See I told you….YUCK!

 I didn’t realize that I didn’t get a full shot of it, but really it was nothing to look at before.

Believe me!

And you can see that it’s not covered very well either as you can see from the corner of the bench.

So what was I going to do with the tissue paper?

Decoupage it of course!

I was hoping to created a piece that had a pleather look and feel to it.

Well here goes, wish me luck 😉

Nothing like jumping in with both feet.

I pulled out my Heirloom Traditions Transfer and Decoupage Gel and started applying it to my bench.

I love this product, and you will be seeing more of it on the blog.

Next, I started to add tissue paper on top.

This was very delicate to work with, and in a few spots it started to tear.

But I kept working and adding the decoupage gel and tissue paper.

If it made a tear, I would repair it, and I kept working.

Once it was completely covered in tissue paper, I let it completely dry.

As it was drying I painted the legs of the bench using White Lace, one of my signature colors, available in the shop.

When the top portion of the bench was completely dry I added a mixture of Mocha and White Lace (Heirloom Traditions paint colors)

I painted this mixture on the top part of my bench only.

Once this was dry, I didn’t like the way it looked.

Don’t laugh…but it sort of looked like a frosted chocolate cupcake.

And that’s not the look I was going for.

Or maybe I was just hungry.

Well this needed to fully dry first.

Once it was completely dry,  I painted a coat of  White Lace on the top portion and the legs too.

Now it was starting to get the look I wanted.

When this last coat of paint was completely dry, I decided to add Muddy pond wax, also from Heirloom Traditions and available in the shop.

I wanted to really bring the details and imperfections out in this piece.

The white paint just wasn’t doing that.

That’s why I love using Muddy Pond, it really brings out all those cool details and imperfections in a piece.

I gently applied the wax using a wax brush.

Doing a section at a time, I applied the wax, then with a clean white cotton t-shirt rag I wiped it off.

But I didn’t rub very hard, as it would have torn the pleather.

I kept on working on my bench until I got the look that I wanted.

I  distressed the legs using my water and vinegar technique, you can read about that HERE.

Then I added just a bit of Muddy Pond to the legs.

And here it is, almost done, but not quite.

I want to add a little more Muddy Pond wax to the legs, and I am going to seal the top with Aqua clear.

You don’t have to add a  sealer on top of the wax, but I would like to try and make this as sturdy as possible since it will be sat on.

The paper stuck perfectly to this piece of fabric.

But remember I said that this fabric was not applied well?

It’s not a really tight fit, and if you place your hand on the bench, it has a slight movement to it.

It’s hard to explain what I mean, or do you know what I mean?

Anyway, I think this turned out pretty cool!

I love the look and the texture, and it works perfectly in the den.

I guess it sort of looks like a paper bag.

When this idea hit me, at first I was going to try using brown paper bag, paper.

I had a stash of that as well, but It thought that might be a little too stiff on top of the fabric.

So what did I learn from my little experiment?

As always, have fun and never be afraid to try something new.

If you have an idea go with it!

And guess what?

This little experiment gave me another idea for my next project.

What kind of an artist are you?

Do you take chances of follow the rules?

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Resources:

Transfer And Decoupage Gel

White Lace

Mocha

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