Inspiration: DIY Decoupage Furniture

I adore Josef Frank textiles and furniture but since my budget does not allow for buying furniture via Christie's Auctions, I always just figured owning one of his decoupage dressers would remain a dream.

That was until I came across this wonderful idea via An Aesthete's Lament! With a carefully selected IKEA purchase, (pictures 4—7) a quick trip to a hardware or lumber store for wooden feet, (picture 8) and an afternoon or two of craftiness, I could have a pretty darn cool reproduction! Sourcing the beautiful botanical prints is likely the biggest challange but eBay is a good source (picture 9) or I could make my own. Design*Sponge offers a great how-to. (picture 10)

(Images: 1 via Wee Wonderfuls, 2 designboom, 3 An Aesthete's Lament, 4 Bjursta Sideboard $249, 5 Cyril Computer Cabinet $199, 6 Norrsten Cabinet $399, 7Ivar Pine Cabinet $80)

Comments (6)

Great idea!

I can also see using the Cavallini paper with butterflies to create something similar to Fornasetti's famous butterfly tables

http://www.unicahome.com/p24896/fornasetti/butterfly-tables-by-barnaba-and-piero-fornasetti.html

posted by suby on September 14th 2009 at 2:04pm
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Check with your local botanical garden! Many botanical gardens have rare book libraries with tons of prints. Or, try sourcing through a library site like http://www.illustratedgarden.org/mobot/rarebooks/
or
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/

Since most of the prints are no longer under copyright, it's generally pretty easy to get prints.

posted by lucyfish on September 14th 2009 at 3:46pm
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I love the look. I think finding the right botanical print is the easy part. I think executing the decoupage with care and attention to detail, varnish, and lots of sanding is the hard part. Then making the piece work with other things you own.

posted by AustinSarah on September 14th 2009 at 5:40pm
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This might be cheating a little but how about printing your own on transparent copy paper. It even comes peel and stick. Also crafts stores like Michael's have decoupage that you slide in warm water and they lift off. They were real popular in the seventies but I think they are making a comeback. I have seen some really beautiful ones. Just a thought.

posted by citygirlincountry on September 14th 2009 at 6:13pm
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I LOVE this idea!!!

posted by NadyaN on September 14th 2009 at 8:31pm
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I also love this one from blueprint a while back:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/decoupage-crafts?&lpgStart=1&currentslide=8&currentChapter=1#ms-global-breadcrumbs

and I can't find it on her website, but I remember Martha did a spread of decoupaged furniture a while back and my favorite was covered in huge banana leaf looking things cut from wallpaper. It looked so great...I want to try it.

posted by giggit on September 15th 2009 at 8:24am
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