A Greenleaf forum member suggested enamel tabletops, so I scouted around the net looking at examples. It seemed a grand idea, so I printed some designs I thought would work best in blue, black and orange-red. These are just on regular paper for testing the look, but I have some ideas in mind for transferring the design onto the table.
I was leaning toward the blue, so most of them are shown in that color. I’m not showing every printed design here since I narrowed down further. I printed open center designs…
…and filled center designs.
The one shown in all three colors is the design that appealed to me most on paper.
I made my notes on the pics as well. Granted, it is hard to tell with yellowish wood chairs, but you get the idea. The chairs and lower part of the table will be painted to coordinate best, even if that ends up being white with a coordinating color upholstery. I will also be toning down the red of the oak floors.
This one was too “dollhousy” to me. The design is rather bold and would compete with anything placed on the table.
This is more of a retro style than I wanted, though it has its appeal in the right setting.
This one is the best of the open center designs. It’s delicate and complements the teacup flower made by Debora.
Here is the same design shown in black for comparison.
This one is delicate but rather busy.
I had thought this one would work well from the paper printout, but it ended up being more “diner” than I wanted.
Here’s one showing the red. This is the design I like the most, but the red didn’t do it for me.
The black is almost there but a little stark.
The blue is almost there but perhaps a little too light.
So in the final trials, I printed grey and navy blue tabletop designs. First, the open grey…a little washed out.
Open navy blue…ooooh, gorgeous!
Filled grey…meh.
Filled navy blue…not as nice as the lighter blue before, and to me the open navy blue still has that beat. I love the open navy blue design because it will frame whatever is featured on the table.
Update: finishing the table here.
