Add a Little Dixie Shine to Make Mass-Produced Furniture One-of-a-Kind

All Things New Again is a family-owned furniture and paint boutique. We hunt all over for unique furniture and then we work really hard to transform it into one-of-a-kind works of art for your home.

But I have a confession to make …

I have a lot of mass-produced furniture in my own home that was purchased at a big-box store and assembled in my living room with an Allen wrench.

(Or as I like to call it … The Ikea Tool.)

Gasp!

It’s OK. I like my Ikea furniture—not as much as I love my grandmother’s vintage table that I painted—but ordinary items and special pieces can mix and match in your home. Yes, really, they can.

If YOU like how YOUR home looks, that’s all that matters.

And I do like my living room very much.

However, a few months ago I created a pretty Cherry Blossom Table that I loved so much, I almost kept it for my living room. The only problem was I didn’t really have a spot for it. And my sofa table purchased at Ikea a few years ago fit my space perfectly.

So why not glam it up?

Don’t be afraid to personalize furniture purchased at big-box stores!

I do mini-makeovers all the time with a little paint. (You can read about them here. That little table has been painted a few more times since this was posted.)

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience.

Here’s how I transformed an ordinary old Ikea table using paper napkins and Dixie Shine, a new metallic foil product from Dixie Belle Paints, an easy-to-use chalk/mineral paint line we carry at our store All Things New Again in Leesburg, Virginia. You can see the full line of Dixie Belle products here…and they ship everywhere!

I took my leftover cherry blossom napkins and Mod Podged them to the panel on my table.

Check out my tips for decoupaging paper napkins onto furniture.

After the napkins were in place, I added even more gold shimmer using Dixie Shine.

Dixie Shine comes in a kit that includes: 1 foil roll (You can choose from 4 colors. I used gold for this project), a jar of Tacky Goo and a stiff-bristled brush.

Applying Dixie Shine is easy. You simply paint on some of the Tacky Goo in a very thin coat wherever you want to add some bling. Wait about 5 minutes for the goo to change from slick to tacky. Cut your foil to fit the spot and lay it down SHINY SIDE UP. Then rub really hard with the brush to transfer the metallic onto your surface.

Here’s a video showing the entire process on my Ikea table:

Peel back the foil and—voila!—your mass-produced table is now one-of-a-kind!

Dixie Shine can be used on furniture and more. It looks great on molding like on my little table or on chair legs to get that popular “dipped” look. It is also pretty on appliques.

Here is a frame I used it on. The Dixie Shine just catches in all of the high spots on the embellishments to give the frame added dimension and a little bling.

This is a metal candelabra I applied some of the blue Dixie Shine over white and gold paint. This was a bit of an experiment, and I really like how it looks.

The possibilities are endless. One word of caution: The Tacky Goo is VERY sticky. It can take a long time to dry. Apply it very, very, very lightly and wait at least overnight for it to dry completely after you have applied the foil. If it still feels tacky to touch—or you are impatient like me and don’t like to wait—you can seal it with Dixie Belle Clear Coat. Once the Clear Coat dries, the sticky feeling should be gone.

Here is my one-of-a-kind Ikea Cherry Blossom Table right below my prints from my time working at the airports. There’s a Washington, DC theme going on here so the cherry blossoms fit right in.

I love where we live in the world … and I love this little corner of our home. I hope this post inspires you to personalize your big-box furniture to make it perfect just for you. Please share your photos of your projects over on our All Things New Again Facebook page.

We love to see your work!

~ Courtney

All Things New Again is a family-owned furniture and paint boutique located in Leesburg, Virginia–about an hour or so west of Washington, D.C. We offer our own eclectic brand of handprinted furniture, several lines of paint for your next DIY project (including awesome Dixie Belle Paint!) and fun painting classes and workshops. Please stop by and see us the next time you are in town!

(If you can’t make it out to Leesburg, no worries. Here’s the link again to Dixie Belle’s full line of products, including Dixie Shine.)

 

 

This post is linking up with Friday’s Furniture Fix.

Check out some of the best furniture makeover projects on the Internet!