Something I Love

The other day I mentioned that I hit the mother of all doily mother lodes. And even though I've wanted to make a mismatched vintage-feeling table runner for the past few years, once I got my hands on these creations, they were so intricate and interesting that I couldn't stop looking at them. It didn't feel right to lay them flat on a table where they wouldn't get much attention, so I decided to place them center stage.

I've wanted something big and dramatic to hang in our dining room for awhile, but I hadn't been able to find or think of the perfect thing. I decided to adhere the doilies to a large piece of painted plywood to make a big bold statement. Our style is very transitional; we have one large antique in almost every room of our house, but we like bold prints, black and white trim, and saturated colors. I love the contrast of these doilies against the dark background.

The Dons (my husband and father-in-law) built a framed piece of 1/4 inch thick solid plywood for me that measured 4 feet by 6 feet, just slightly smaller than our farmhouse style dining table. They attached mitered pieces of 1X4 plywood to the back of the front piece of plywood so that the wood won't warp over time. I painted it with black enamel, and once that dried, I painted over it with a coat of Martha Stewart's Metallic Glaze in Black Coffee, which I bought at Home Depot for less than $6. Painting this massive piece of plywood only used about 1/3 of the paint, so I feel like that six bucks was money well spent.  I hadn't planned on putting a metallic sparkle over the black paint, but I happened to see it when we bought the plywood and I thought it would give the background a nice sheen.

The picture above was taken close to midnight last night, and I think the paint definitely has more sparkle after nightfall. It's barely noticeable during the day, as you can see from the pictures I took this afternoon that are posted at the top of this post.

I let the glaze cure overnight, and this morning I adhered the doilies to the painted wood using 3M spray adhesive, which you can find in the spray paint section of Home Depot. I completed this step outside because the spray adhesive gets in the air and it's not safe to breathe in. It's also super tacky, and I ruined a bath towel making this project. I was in a rush to complete this and didn't take the time to find our drop cloth.

I have to say, I love it! I plan on eventually covering the entire surface with doilies and lace, and then using a light gloss spray to give everything a subtle sheen and tie it together, but I love it as it is, too.

In other news, William wanted to sit on my lap as I finished typing this post, and I realized that I can take pictures of us using Photo Booth. They're not as great as with a manual camera, but who cares. I just want proof that I raised this kid!