Crackle Painted Nighstand

Oh, how I wish I could have taken a picture of this nightstand before I rehabbed it. It was a lovely shade of 1950s pink-- a light rose-- a worn "blush," really-- but, I digress. The boyfriend hated it. But I am in the middle of FINALLY convincing him that we should get rid of the posters from his college days that have been forever cluttering our walls, and so, for the good of everyone I sacrificed my table in the noble name of redecoration.

I found inspiration on Pinterest (of course), with the instructions linked to a blog here.

My process didn't exactly go like her process-- as usual. I first primed the nightstand with a dark brown color so that would show through the "crackle" (as opposed to my beloved pink). When this was all the way dry, I followed the blogger's instructions, applied the glue (only on the table top), and waited until it was "tacky." Then I painted quick, long brush strokes over the top of the glue. Aaannnd it looked like paint on top of glue. Plus, it wouldn't dry for hours.

So. Resigned not only to a DIY failure, but to complete and utter ruination of my nightstand, I went to bed, defeated. When I woke up in the morning, the table was finally dry. I figured I would just paint enough white over the top so at least you couldn't see the glue. As the paint began to dry, a miracle occurred: CRACKLE!

Not that I don't miss the original, but the new crackled Shabby-Chic-like white does go with the bedroom decor much better. Not only that, but I believe my nightstand sacrifice is responsible for my bathroom decor victory as well...