Whimsical Australiana Coffee Table

This coffee table was a commission piece that came with a briefing of "Whimsical Australiana" so of course, I was totally here for it! First, the fabric was chosen and that gave me a colour palette to work from. When working with decoupaged fabric a really great tip is to work around the style and colour of the fabric, but in particular; use the background colour of your fabric as the predominant colour of your painted piece of furniture. This allows the fabric to 'flow' and seem a part of your furniture.  

Dixie Belle Paint Company colours used:

• Mermaid Tail
• Haint Blue
• Rustic Red
• Tea Rose

This coffee table is a handmade piece from Indonesia so it had imperfections that I really embraced. To me it added to it's character & charm! It gave me an excellent base to work from as there were dips and dents in the timber that allowed the piece to really tell a tale, particularly once I painted and then distressed it. 

The decoupaged fabric is the focal point for this piece, however I wanted to incorporate stripes and checkers to add some more interest and whimsy! My style is usually 'less is more' but I had to rethink that attitude for this piece. There is a lot going on but it all ties in because I used the colours and tones from the fabric.

For the stripes and checkers I made sure I was creating the colours from the same base colour. The stripes both have the Dixie Belle Paint Company 'Haint Blue' as a base. And the check colours both have Dixie Belle Paint Company 'Tea Rose' as the base colour. This allows the stripes and checkers to blend rather than contrast and not take away from the fabric. It took time (and a whole lot of painters tape!) but it was totally worth it for this effect! I enhanced the pattern further by distressing along the lines of the stripes and again on the checkered feet. 

Perhaps the most special part of this piece is the custom stencilling on the top saying "Windsong Farm" (which is the name of the family farm) and the special message stencilled on the side. I designed and then cut out these custom stencils using adhesive vinyl and my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine. This is a gift from one sister to another and I love how it will forever hold so much sentiment. Oh, and whimsy... don't forget the whimsy!

To see how I decoupage fabric to furniture head to my IGTV tutorial on Instagram!