Funky Harlequin Side Table

I came across this little side table the other day at the Habitat Re-Store.  It’s nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before, and for $7, I really couldn’t pass it up.  You can see why it caught my eye:

So fun!

I hit ‘er with some Semi-gloss White Rustoleum spray paint, and did those fabulous pulls with some ORB.  Then it sat, needing something.  But what? 

Then I saw this post yesterday from Jenifer of The Magic Brush.  She added some pizzaz to a jewelry chest with a great harlequin stencil on the top.  Hellooooooo inspiration!

But I didn’t have a harlequin stencil at 6pm last night when I decided to do this project!  (As my kids and/or Spongebob would say) BARNACLES!!  I turned to the internet where I found some great tips on creating a harlequin pattern.  I graphed out my harlequin design (see the how-to below) and hand-painted it with a flat brush and some acrylic craft paint.  With some post-painting distressing, here’s how she turned out!

So here’s some tips if you’re interested in creating a harlequin pattern like I did.  First, I drew lines from top to bottom and side to side to find the middle point.  I found out online that a the diamonds in a harlequin pattern should have a 1:2 ratio of width to height.  For my table top, I decided I would make the width 2 inches and the height 4 inches.  Once I had the middle point, I began to graph out the table top in 2 inch by 4 inch rectangles, like so:

I then found the mid-points of each side of the rectangles, like so:

Then, connect all the mid points to make your diamonds, like so:

I marked the diamonds I wanted to paint, so I would screw it up after all of that.  :)  Then it’s just a matter of doing the painting. 

It was a little tedious, but worth the effort, in my opinion.  Here’s another look at the fabulous finished product:

Lots more to come in the near future!!

Linking to:

A Soft Place to Land, Domestically Speaking, Bobbypins Boardwalk, Miss Mustard Seed, Funky Junk Interiors, Tatertots and Jello

 

I’m linking this project up to the Paint Challenge at The CSI Project!