Ashlyn has a desk from Target (made from synthetic wood/finish), and on MULTIPLE occasions (even though after the first occurrence I established a NO WATER rule in her playroom) she HAS played with water ON her (synthetic wood/finish) desk. Of course every time she has played with water on her desk, sloshing it everywhere (Barbie swimming pool, fish bowl, Monster High Doll Hydro thingy-ma-bobby, etc.), the finish bubbles up. In the past I've tried sanding it down and repainting it, but the paint just flakes off, making a huge mess that I'm always vacuuming up.
So, the other day I happened to be in Hobby Lobby and saw that scrapbooking paper was 1/2 off. I picked a page I thought would match and bought 20 sheets (approximately $4). I already had a version of mod podge and a foam brush at home.
I first coated the desk in modpodge glue and adhered the scrapbook paper. The desk was obviously a different size than the paper so I did use my paper cutter to cut some of the pages to fit the desk.
After applying scrapbook paper, I coated the whole top with the mod podge sealing in the paper.
After the mod podge dried I then coated the top with a clear varnish and paint brush (I had some in my basement that I used).
I didn't need all 20 pages, but I did end up using 2 layers of paper. The first layer soaked up the varnish and left "stain like" marks, so I was glad I had plenty of extra.
Its not my best work, but Ashlyn is thrilled with the results and to me that's all that matters!
