DIY Yard Sale Table With Crackled Finish

Here's the table before.

All you need to get started on this project are a paint brush and a bottle of Elmer's glue.

Step 1: Paint the table

I found it at a yard sale for $15 and painted it white. Paint your base coat the color you want to show through on the crackle. I wanted the crackle to show white and the finished piece to be a light gray color. If you are looking for a gray paint, I cannot recommend SW Mindful Gray. It's a gray paint with a hint of khaki and I've used it for more projects than I can count.

Step 2: Glob on the glue

Paint the glue on where you want it to crackle. Hint 1: use a lot of glue.  You cannot use enough glue. Seriously. I used almost the whole bottle. The more glue you use the more it will crackle. 

Don't be shy.

Glump it on. 

Use a 2" paint brush or larger to make sure the glue is applied evenly.

Step 3: Let the glue dry

And now you wait for the glue to almost dry. This is an important step.  Hint 2 you want the glue finish to be sticky.  If you let the glue dry all the way it will not crackle and if it doesn't dry enough it will just be a gluey glump. 

This is one time when tacky is perfect.

Step 4: Brush on the top coat

After the glue is tacky, you brush on your top coat of SW Mindful Gray (or what ever color you are using). Hint 3 brush it in one direction. When you apply the top coat, don't brush back and forth because this prevents the glue from crackling the paint properly. Where your glue is more thickly applied, you will have heavy crackling.

Where you have brushed the glue underneath will immediately start to pull away and crackle like this picture.

That's it.

Here's the finished top with it's crackles.

Where there is a lighter coat of glue, you will have lighter crackling.

Where you have more glue there will be a lot more crackling.

That's the long and short of glue-crackling.

For more amazing paint projects, be sure visit my blog to check out my DIY geometric hexagon wall and my simple painted stripe wall treatment.