Decoupage Chess Table (Parlor Project #1)

I have an area in my home that can be considered a formal living room, or sometimes people refer to it as a parlor; the space that you are suddenly in when you enter through the front door.

This is a completely unpractical space, one useful only for extra seating for guests during entertaining. Lately I've been trying to re-purpose this space so it can be used.

My first idea was to create a permanent chess board, which would be pretty enough to be seen all of the time. My boys are actually pretty good at chess, and even the 7 year old beats me when we play, which really probably says more about me than it does him.

I started with a neglected circular dinette table from Pier 1 (originally white) which had been painted by me once already in a shabby chic pale green. The pale hue turned out to be a bad idea for a craft and/or game table, as every dirty finger print and speck of dust showed up much too well.

The color scheme also had low drama compared to the other pieces in the room (which I'll talk about once I finish all the projects I'm working on). So I repainted the table a high gloss, dark red and added two wrought iron chairs.

The decoupage chess board was an idea I got from Cathe Holden of the crafting blog Just Something I Made.

I first created the board in Photoshop using two different marble texture photographs. Then I created a border using vintage clipart. I printed the board in two pieces and then pieced them together for the exact size I wanted.

  

Then I Mod Podged the board to the table (both to stick it onto the center and then brushed some over top to create a crisper surface). Once the Mod Podge was dry I covered the board with polyurethane. 

You may notice I didn't actually get the board to be perfectly centered, because that's how I roll. I suggest you don't roll like me. Be less lazy and measure for the center instead of winging it by eye.

The chess pieces are just cheap ones from an old set. The board design will accomodate much bigger and better pieces, but I'll wait until the boys (and cats) stop letting them end up on the floor before I invest in anything fancy.

The fabric I used for the seat cushions was a bright white and black flocked muslin I found in New York city. The pattern is fuzzy. The chairs are from the Salvation Army in Colorado Springs.