Creative Furniture Painting: Henna Tattoo Tabletop

Creative furniture painting was a way of life for us when I was growing up. My mother found all sorts of garage sale goodies, and she painted them a number of ways. In the early 90’s, she painted gold stars on the walls and some furniture. Stencils were a staple in our house. Other furniture was painted one color, then sponged over with another. Still other furniture was painted to look pure metallic silver.

In other words, I come by it honestly — this gravitation toward creative furniture painting. I can’t resist a blank furniture slate, and this little $5 Victorian-style side table called to me.

I was so excited to get started painting that I forgot to take a clear picture of the table as I bought it. The photo above shows the table after its top was sanded.

Now is a good opportunity to tell you about “oops!” paint, which is what I used for the creamy color of this table. “Oops!” paint is paint at the Home Depot that the mixing machine or a Home Depot employee has messed up. This paint is sold at a tiny fraction of the price it should be. Next time you go to the Home Depot, skulk around the paint department and see if you can spot it, or ask where it is. Your DIY budget will thank you!

In my haste, I didn’t document much of the process, but the painting process was pretty standard: primer. Cream-colored top coat. Second coat of cream color. Standard stuff.

Then, gloriously, I had a blank slate — the perfect vehicle for some creative furniture painting. I didn’t want to paint anything campy, but at the same time I didn’t want to go too simple. In the end, I decided on henna tattoo design for the tabletop.

I love the marriage of Victorian style furniture with henna tattoo design. Somehow the delicateness of the table marries well with the intricacy of the design.

I am certain that anyone could do this to their furniture. All you need is time, some black paint, and a fine brush (or be smarter than I am and go out and buy a paint pen). Then look up some henna tattoo designs online, or just start drawing circles, spirals, teardrops, dots, and criss-crosses. Here’s a fair warning, though: the design takes a long time. Originally, I had planned on making the whole table a henna masterpiece, but due to time constraints (okay, there was no time constraint … I just got bored after three days) and my fastidious other half telling me to stop while I was ahead, I only “tattooed” 1/3 of the table. I actually love the effect and think that henna-ing the entire top would be overkill.

I hope this post serves to give you some inspiration for furniture revamping! If you have pictures of furniture you have done like this in the past, send them this way. Garage sale season looms near, and I love having some ideas in my artillery.