This weekend I visited my sister in law in South Carolina and helped her paint her Ikea coffee table.  Visiting was even more fun with a project to work on together!  Unfortunately, I forgot to get a true “Before” picture, so here’s her table after we finished the first coat of paint:

Since it’s a a laminate table, we used my leftover Rustoleum Cabinet Tranformations paint.  Most paints will peel off laminate after drying, but you can use a primer like Zinsser or a specialty countertop paint.  After two coats of paint, we used a design we created and resized/printed using Block Posters with white carbon paper to trace the design on the table.

Then we painted along the lines with some leftover tester pot paint.  (You don’t need special laminate paint once you’ve painted the table, since regular paint will stick to the painted surface.)  You can see more of this painting method here.

After letting the design dry, we painted on a dark glaze, then wiped away the excess.  This darkened the design and left an impression of wood grain, and also cleared away the little smudges left by the white carbon paper.  With the glaze applied, it almost looked like the design was carved into a wood table rather than painted onto laminate.  The final step was a sealer.

This picture was taken from the side to avoid glare, and then we were on our way home so I didn’t get more photos.  The coastline was so much fun to paint that I wish I needed a coffee table topped with Norway’s fjords.  I’ll save that idea for another day.