Paris Tea Cart

I told you Saturday that I was working on a reverse decoupage project and finally it is finished.  I did not take a before pic of this piece, but I'll describe it as truly a Bombay Company tea cart.  I'm sure you have a visual of it in your mind.  It was very traditional, and, just to ally your fears, no, I did not take a fine antique and shabby it up.

 I had my husband paint the cart with primer gray, and then I came back and repainted it with Annie Sloan Ochre.  Then I took my mouse sander and gave it a harsh sanding.  I was going for the faded worn vintage look so soft colors and worn paint were the order of the day.

 I did the top and bottom with only very slight variations.  I took different images I found on the internet and literally cut and taped them in layers so that I could go to the copy store and get one 11x17 laser copy image.  I made one copy for the top and one for the bottom.  Working with one sheet of paper made it easy.

 If you want to try this, don't forget to reverse the image if letters are involved.  I'll recap my images in case you like the ones I used.  An Old rose image search on the internet yielded this beautiful cluster of roses.  The Graphics Fairy yielded four of the post mark images, the bee and the postage stamp with the butterfly.  Just put in post marks and you should be able to find these.  The image in the bottom right is an image I found when I was searching for French perfume labels.

One of these days I will do a step by step tutorial of what each step entails because believe it or not each sheet of regular copy paper needs about five tries at dissolving the paper to reveal the image.   After the image was revealed, I came back in with a scrolly-type stencil and tried to make my paint a gray green to blend with my faded image.  When this was complete, I sprayed about three coats of Deft lacquer spray over the image to seal everything.  You can find Deft at Home Depot.  I like the Satin finish.  I'm still learning about this process, but I love the end result and I hope you do to.

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Mondays          Le Chateau des Fleurs       The Graphics Fairy    
                                      Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday
Tuesdays          Knick of Time       Coastal Charm  
                                      Boogie Board Cottage    A Stroll Thru Life   
                                     Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Wednesdays     Savvy Southern Style 
                                           
Thursdays        The Shabby Creek Cottage    No Minimalist Here 
                                     Between Naps on the Porch Tablescape Thursday    
                                     Rustic Restorations Homespun Happenings
Fridays            French Country Cottage       My Romantic Home        Miss Mustard Seed
                                    Potpourri Friday     Common Ground
                                    The Charm of Home    Rooted in Thyme
Saturdays        Funky Junk Interiors

Sundays           My 1928 Charmer Sunday's Best