Mod Podge Newspaper Furniture Makeover

*A quick note… a reader contacted me who used this tutorial and, unfortunately, her newspaper turned yellow through time. She used the Mod Podge hard coat as her top coat just as the tutorial states. I would highly suggest using a different sealer in light of this and hope that no other readers have experienced the same problems!

Welcome to Mod Podge week and Project #7 in particular! A few weekends ago I had a bang up thrifting day. I went just about everywhere and, I’m not being the least bit overly dramatic when I say, nothing more could fit in the car. In fact, getting this one last item, this chair was like playing freaking Tetris.

In fact this chair, or any chair, really, was not even on the list. I was looking for lamps, a side table, vintage sheets, a little this and a little that, all of which I  also got. But when I saw this chair that was sturdy and made of real wood for eight bucks (eight bucks!), I decided to buy in spite of the fact that I have 5 chairs  make that 6 oops, I meant 7 chairs. Some I’ve already made over and others are still ugly ducklings waiting to be made over. After all, this was THE chair to beat all other chairs.

When I got it home Marla was hardly interested. Look at that face. She obviously thinks its just another chair. None of the other cats seemed to care much either. Until I started working on it of course and then it was THE place to be and get fur stuck to.

I made Russell bring home newspapers from work and I set out cutting the text in strips for my project. In the end, I think that the new and improved chair is pretty darn awesome. AND the cats have been fighting over it a bit since completion which is a sign that this is one awesome sit spot.

For this project you will need:

• • chair or other bit of furniture
  • Mod Podge matte
  • newspaper
  • scissors
  • razor blade
  • Mod Podge hard coat **See note at top of post.

• fine bristled brush
• squeegee (I used this one from this Mod Podge brand set)

I decided I wanted no ads and no color. Black and white text only. I cut out accordingly and wound up using approximately one full daily paper’s worth of cut outs. This took a lot longer than I anticipated but I was being very picky.

Take your Mod Podge and brush on a decent coat.

Place the strip of paper on and smooth out with the squeegee. Overlap as needed to get full coverage.

See how on the side the paper is hanging down? That is because in a bit I’m going to trim it with a razor blade to get a nice, clean edge. Because whenever somebody is laying under that chair (and that happens ALL the time, right?) they won’t be able to tell that I slapped some newsprint on this sucker myself. Okay, so they will but I’m just weird about things like that.

When it came to corners on less visible areas, like the inside corners of the legs, I would just fold a bit over and seal down with Mod Podge. I had a hard time getting it to stay on its own and wound up using a bit of thumb grease to tack it down.

Sometimes I would have to wrangle the chair into weird positions to make things work. Just keep in mind of any areas that are still wet because you might accidentally push the paper around and mess up your smooth surface.

One of the areas I tried to be the most careful on was the seat. I made the paper go all the way over on the sides, let dry and then cut away with the razor blade. I did the same with the top and I was pleasantly pleased with what a nice, clean edge I got in return.

To finish up, after at least a few hours, but best a few days, give the chair a finishing coat or two of Mod Podge hard coat. Now remember that the hard coat formula has NO glue properties at all. If you see something that needs tacking down, you’ll need to bust out the original Mod Podge again.

Now, here is a close up of the seat. You can kind of see where the pieces of paper overlap but since I did the seat very, very last I was able to work out the kinks. The legs are kind of hinky, but they’re not what people concentrate on when looking at a chair. That’s why I went ahead and started on the legs first to get my method down as well as I possibly could.

Now look at that. My chair talks about bipartisan outrage. I’ve also seen the words “Hobby Lobby” about 20 times (they’re based here out of Oklahoma) and lots of fun words like murder and explosives. I didn’t really pay attention to what the words said as long as they were all the same type of black text on a white background. Maybe I should have been more concerned but I’m still not, really.

And here is the chair which I can’t seem to keep cats off of nowadays.

And there is Max, again. In the end the chair wound up being really, really impressive looking. I’m afraid the pics just don’t do it justice. I’ve been told it looks like “an art chair”.

Honestly if my dining set weren’t so super feminine almost cottage looking I’d do this to those chairs, too. The look is different without being totally out there and it fits into the decor in any room in needs to be in.

As an alternative, you can always paper your chair with just about anything. Gift wrap, scrapbooking paper, photographs, fabric, whatever strikes your fancy. So will you be covering up your chairs?

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for our very last bit of Mod Podge goodness. It isn’t a tutorial but I think it’s the best part of the week. See you soon!

Now if you’ve missed any of the other projects from Mod Podge Week, no worries. You can visit them here: #1 Mod Podge  & Gift Wrap Lamp at Mom Spark (featured on Mod Podge Rocks, y’all!) – #2 Mod Podge Outlet Covers – #3 Mod Podge Lace Vases Tutorial – #4 Mod Podge Lace Covered Vanity Tray. #5 – Printed Reverse Saddle Shoes. #6 – Crazy Cat Dolly Pop Art