$250 at Anthropologie? Don’t Think So....

Scarlett Butler
by Scarlett Butler
5 Materials
$10
2 Hours
Easy
Here is a photo of a $250+ end table from the Anthropologie site that I really liked but couldn’t possibly afford. I thought I could try to copy it and maybe improve on it pretty easily.
Enter one $5 yard sale find (below). It’s not an old table, but water damage stained the top and made it uneven. No amount of sanding would flatten the warped finish. It was literally bumpy and wavy to the touch. Also, it was silver toned, and I needed gold (like the Anthropologie table) to match my daughter’s home.
Here you can see the warped finish where the light shines on it.
The first thing I wanted to do was add some texture to the surface to disguise the bumpy finish. I wanted the texture to be crinkly and feel like crepe. I tried an experiment.... I took a piece of everyday tissue paper and crumpled it up into a tight little ball. Then, I unrolled the ball and used Mod Podge to glue the paper to the surface of the table. Then I cut the paper to fit and glued down the edges. The more wrinkled the paper was, the better.
Since my daughter’s decor is black and gold, after the Mod Podge dried, I painted the surface with regular black interior paint from WalMart. I applied a couple of coats to make sure the color of the tissue paper was covered. You could do this step with any color paint.
Next, I used one of my favorite techniques — highlighting the “wrinkles” of the table’s surface with gold paint by using my fingertip. Just dip your finger in the paint, dry it off a bit, and then lightly rub your finger over the surface of the table.
Here’s a closeup of how the table top looks with the wrinkled tissue paper base, black paint, and gold highlights. This was the perfect solution to camouflage the uneven surface of the tabletop.
A coat of gold spray paint on the base, and you have the finished product! Let’s see how it looks in my daughter’s house....
Hmmm... looks pretty nice, doesn’t it??
Here it is again next to the Anthropologie table. Can you see $250 worth of difference? I sure can’t!


I hope that this tissue issue paper technique will be helpful to all of you with warped table tops!
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Frequently asked questions
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  • Gina Nisbit Gina Nisbit on Apr 15, 2021

    Will the tissue paper technique work for my warped mind?

  • Auntie Em Auntie Em on Apr 15, 2021

    Would this work for an old cedar chest?

  • Linda Wilson-Smith Linda Wilson-Smith on Apr 17, 2021

    Tissue paper is very fragile stuff. How does it hold up under use? Won't it just rip apart?

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