I re-organised my room the other day so that I’ve got more of a workspace for milomade as before I just had a tiny cabinet against the wall that just ended up a mess everytime I worked on anything. It was also a genral dumping ground as it was just by the door. So I’ve salvaged an old work desk that Colin made for me when we lived in Abedour.
It’s a curved piece of MDF and fits into the corner of my room perfectly and it’s just by the radiator so it’ll be nice and cosy when I’m working. This picture is a sneak peek at my new workspace:
It looks a bit of a mess as I was in the middle of sorting stuff into labelled boxes as well as replacing boring buttons on a new coat with funky ones. The MDF is a bit boring and I’m thinking about doing a bit of decoupage using my lovely collection of envelope patterns – I have no idea how to do this, so looking for advice.
I’m guessing the best thing to do first is to paint the table white and then it’s a matter of decided what to do with the envelopes. I was thinking of cutting them into small squares and sticking them down in rows – would that look boring though?
Also not sure of what kind of glue to use yet either.
Any advice is very welcome.
E, just a thought – decoupage would mean your table would become a great “brass rubbing” surface, if you get my drift? Not sure if this is the kind of effect you’re after for a worktop, although I know it would look great… :o)
Hey Kwun – not sure what you mean about the brass rubbing?
oh – um, like, when you decoupage, you’re sticking little bits of paper onto a flat surface, and then those bits of paper, however thin, create a raised area. If you go for a mosaic effect, then you will have lots of ridges where the table beneath is exposed. Even after varnishing, those discrepancies between the paper height and the base table surface remain. When you place a sheet of paper on your new table to write/ draw on, you might find that those previously cute mosaic lines are now interfering with your ability to draw a smooth line… and if you were to get a crayon on its side & rub all over the paper, you’ll end up with a “brass rubbing” of your mosaic ;o) Just a thought…
Oh I see what you mean – I thought the idea with decoupage was that you varnished it and then sanded it and then varnished it and then sanded it and therefore got a flat finish in the end. I don’t think I’ll ever be sitting down and drawing/writing at the desk on pieces of paper and if I do then I suppose I could always use a cutting mat as a base.
Of to read up on decoupage and find out how to get a flat smooth finish and see if what I’ve heard about sanding is a myth.
E, I am sure you know a lot more about it than me, I must be thinking kiddy decoupage, lol – I haven’t heard of the sanding part, but seems to make sense – wow, what a lot of hard work! Now I will have to go & read up too & educate myself…
Fantastic looking work space!
I’m no decopage expert but I think it would take a lot of work to get the desk really smooth.
That said, if it did work out then it would look pretty stunning!
I know it sounds like hard work and I probably won’t be doing it for a while. I’m not so bothered about getting the desk to be totally smooth.
Smooth or not, I stil reckon it would look amazing and pretty inspirational!
Your workspace makes mine look like a council tip! I wish I was so organized, milo