National Geographic Table

ryantinney
Apr 22, 2015
2 min read

Since my love of antiques and desire to create appear to have come from past adventures with my Dad, it seems only fitting that the first project I share with you was inspired by his old maps and National Geographic collection.

My daughter-in-law had mentioned she was in need of a table for her living room and I remembered I had an antique coffee table I had been storing in the garage just waiting for that bright idea that was always this close to revealing itself. It was the perfect size for their living space. Sorry, I totally forgot the before picture, but trust me, it was in rough shape. I must apologize about the photos. I'm not the best photographer, but I do try. : )

I loved the idea of mod podging old maps on top but couldn't quite bring myself to cut them up so I decided to check out Michaels first. They had a specialty paper by Martha Stewart that was perfect for the job. I first removed the original knobs and filled the holes with wood filler. Then I sanded them down and gave the top a light sanding as well to smooth out the surface. Once that was done I painted the top with AS Old White to cover any cracks I might miss while mod podging the maps on. Once the maps were on I topped them with colored copies of some of the older geographic magazines from my Dad's collection. They go back as far as 1918. The old ads from these magazines are amazing and have sparked a few more ideas, but that's for another day.

I placed magazines strategically just so, as you might place them if you were staging your home.

I used a mix of AS Provence and old white for the undercoat on the lower part of the table. The second layer was a mix of AS Arles and Old White. Using the wet sanding technique to distress it I sanded with a wet sponge where I wanted the details to have that extra definition and where it might normally wear.

Since I wanted a bit more detail, once it was waxed with clear wax I did a second coat of wax and added some of the mixed provence to the clear wax. I let it cure and then did just a touch of dark wax.