Marble – once an opulent stone used to craft the hallways, pavements, steps, staircases, and tombstones of the filthy rich is now the current must-have finish for anyone and everyone with an Instagram account and who generally just likes things to look nice. Whilst not all of us are wealthy enough to tap into this interior design trend for real, everyone’s cheating the system with marble-effect pieces using vinyl contact paper. So want to get in on it for super cheap? Here’s how to pimp a table out to look way more expensive than the Ikea price tag would ever suggest. Plus, when the trend is totally done to death you can simply pull back the contact paper and go back to how things were before!
What you’ll need
Table (mine is Ikea’s Lindved table)
Scissors
Marker Pen
Marble Contact Paper (I got mine from Amazon)
So here we go! A plain, simple, cheap Ikea table. Nice enough by itself, but it’s always fun to update things. Plus, I was clearing out my bedroom and found some marble contact paper left over from when I made my flat lay board, so figured why waste it when I could reinvent my bedside table and get a blog post out of it? It’s a clear win-win.
First things first is give the table a bit of a wipe down to remove any dirt or dust, then place it upside down on the reverse side of the contact paper and drawer round it to trace the outline. If your table is new or really heavy, it may work best to do this with the top unassembled as it’s less bulky. As this table was super cheap and therefore lightweight, I just flipped it over.
Cut around the circle until you’re left with the perfect shape. The next bit can get a little fiddly and two sets of hands work better than one, so if your mum/dad/boyfriend/housemate is around, grab them and ask them to help. Get things all lined up, then peel back some of the backing paper and stick the sticky side down. Use your hands to smooth out any bumps or air bubbles. With one hand continue to peel back the backing paper whilst smoothing it down with the other until you cover the entire table. I did this solo, hence no photos of me doing this…
Left with air bubbles? Most of them should go with a bit of pressure.
And with a stroke of luck, you should end up with something that looks a little bit like this!
Shop my favourite interior decor here!
ooh this looks so pretty, I'd love to try this out when I move house!
http://laurenslittleblogs.blogspot.co.uk/
I love this post. I've just bought some Marble sticky back paper from Wilkinsons and done the exact same thing for my background on my blog or instagram. It's great that you made a blog post on how to achieve it ☺
STUNNING! I loved the table after, and your photography is gorgeous xx
Such an amazing idea!
Will have to try this out.
Soph x
http://bleachedbeauty.blogspot.co.uk/
It looks lovely! When I moved house I headed straight to Wilkinsons for some marble contact paper, although all I've made so far is a marble notice board for my office.
Catherine | Hey, Mama