The Union Jack Coffee Table: Part 1

I have always wanted to create a furniture piece that featured the Union Jack design. What kept me from doing it is my fear of taping.  I hate to tape stuff – I am much more of a freestyle decorative painter – so I have postponed doing this design.  I also am not very good at it – measuring etc.  It’s not my cup of tea.

But, I received a free drop leaf coffee table a few months ago and I thought and thought about what I would do with it.  The Union Jack came to mind and so I dove right it.  I am going to do a step-by-step on how I did the design tomorrow – so if you want to do something like this, please come back and read how I did it and the mistakes I made along the way.

Here’s some after photos…

And here’s what I started with…

My next Union Jack project will be a dresser – which will help me immensely because it’s the same shape as the Union Jack flag!  I have the perfect candidate waiting for me in my garage. 

Here’s what I used for painting the piece:  Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint in Old White for the most of the legs and the x cross and Annie’s French Linen for the table top base and for the other details – Annie’s Paris Gray.  Not your typical colors for the Union Jack – but a nice neutral statement. I used Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Wax and her Antiquing Wax to finish the table.

A few more photos…

If you like the art piece in the above photo, I’ll be doing a tutorial on that also over the weekend.  It’s a mixed media piece done with Faux Effects’ Lusterstone, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and a Melanie Royals’ stencil. 

Would love to see some comments.  Have you done a Union Jack design before on furniture? Let me know!

Click here for the updates on this post – a detailed tutorial on how to do the design

Sharing this project with…Miss Mustard Seed;  Redoux; Romantic Home, DIY Showoff