Decoupaging Furniture Tutorial

Thank you to Mod Podge Rocks,  Addicted to Decorating for your Patchwork Top Dining Table and Down and Out Chic for your Vintage Side Table tutorials and inspiration!

Supplies:

• Primed and/or painted furniture piece
• Fabric, wallpaper, scrapbooking paper, or other decoupage material of your choice
• Mod Podge (for this table, I used one and a half 16 oz. bottles) 
• Foam brush, or other brush of your choice (if using foam brushes, you may need a few in case they fall apart)
• 400 grit sandpaper (if you are going to sand the Mod Podge between coats)
• Acrylic sealer

If you are going to use fabric for your project, I suggest you use something that doesn't stretch.  The fabric used in this project is Moda Simple Abundance Mums in Sunshine.  Although it is a beautiful fabric, when I received it I noticed it was slightly stretchy.  I didn't think this would be a problem if I laid the fabric down flat, but it was.  Note: On 1/19/10 I began working on my second project with the same stretchy fabric.  I made some changes and it worked perfectly, no more stretchy fabric!  I updated these instructions and marked the new text in red so if you've read this before you can tell the difference, and also so you understand why it is important to follow the new ones.  This update should make your project MUCH easier than my first one!

For this project, I primed the table and painted it in a color that coordinated with my fabric.

The first thing you should do is turn on your stereo, boom box or MP3 player to the music of your choice.  Relax and have fun!

The next thing you need to do is cut out your fabric, wallpaper, or other item you are going to decoupage onto your furniture, to size.

If using fabric, once you've measured and cut it, take a little Mod Podge and brush it along all edges on the back side of your fabric.  (My fabric was temporary laying on plastic during this step.)  After the Mod Podge has dried, place fabric where you are going to glue it to the furniture to see what you think, cut to resize if necessary, and cut any strings or threads from your fabric.  The Mod Podge you brushed on should stop the fabric from fraying any further, prevent the fabric from stretching, and make it much easier to glue down and remove any air bubbles.  Once you begin gluing down your fabric or paper, it's almost impossible to cut straight.  I did come across this issue in my first project, but decided that it just adds to the homemade look, I wasn't trying to make an Ethan Allen piece for this project. For my second project, after Mod Podging the back of the fabric, there was no stretch or frayed edges and the fabric went on perfectly!

Brush the Mod Podge onto your table in an area to glue down roughly 1/3 of your fabric.  If using fabric, use a thick coat of Mod Podge here as the fabric soaks it up.  If you Mod Podge the back of your fabric, it should help prevent the fabric from absorbing as much glue.  (Gluing wallpaper or other material may not need to be done in thirds.)  You should take an old credit card or other solid straight-edge item to smooth out any air bubbles before the Mod Podge dries.  I wasn't able to do this well on my first project because it made the fabric stretch worse, I did my best to rub the fabric on with my hands and fingers until it was flat.  When you work with the fabric, it could stretch and may not have straight edges any longer. Fabric that isn't usually stretchy may stretch a little when it gets "wet" from the glue.  Just Mod Podge the back of the fabric before you start and you shouldn't have this problem.  :)

Continue gluing your fabric down 1/3 of a section at a time until it's all glued to the furniture.  If you used a thick amount, it may take longer to dry.  I checked my fabric periodically to continue smoothing out any air bubbles while it dried.  During my second project, after I glued the back side of the fabric, I didn't have air bubbles to smooth out.

Between coats, rinse your brush in warm water.  If needed, you can use a little soap to clean your brush.  I didn't need soap, the Mod Podge rinsed out well with just warm water.

After the Mod Podge has dried, add a coat on top of your fabric, wallpaper, or other material and let it dry.

If you are starting a new coat after letting the table sit for a few or more hours, take a damp cloth and wipe the decoupaged area and let it dry before you start the new coat.  You don't want any dust or debris to be glued into your finish.  Although the Mod Podge instructions tell you to wet sand the fabric between coats, if you're using fabric, I don't suggest doing this until you have 3 or 4 coats, and, even then, be very careful.  (When I sanded after the first coat on top of the fabric, it sanded my fabric a little bit and lightened it.  Even after 4 coats, the Mod Podge sanded off easily in places.)

After the first 3 coats, you may want to lightly wet sand the Mod Podge with 400 grit sandpaper for a smoother finish.  Again, if using fabric, be careful you don't sand your fabric.  I very lightly sanded a section after 2 coats I believe because the finish was so rough it was pulling small pieces out of my foam brush, which then set into the finish.

After applying 4 or 5 coats of Mod Podge, you spray the decoupaged areas with a few coats of acrylic sealer.  You could skip the acrylic sealer, but the decoupaged areas may feel tacky.

Before (I didn't think about writing a tutorial until after I'd started priming and painting, so my "before" is a photo of the underside of my drop-leaf table so you can see the original color):

After: