This is a cool piece. I am going to get a lot of use for this outside by table for cookouts.
I found this table and stand at a flea market for a good price. I think it was because of the ducks on it that I got a good deal. (Not that I have anything against ducks mind you, but look at it. It was screaming at me "Take me home and turn me into something Happy Please")

 I am painting with chalk paint. I am using a home made version which is made with one part plaster of paris and two parts latex flat or eggshell. For all of you who want to use CeCe Caldwell or Annie Sloan chalk paint, please do. Turquoise shades seam to be very popular this year and decoupage is very hot.So, I have been doing a lot of both. I love the colors out now, so no problem here. I want to say that the stand and tray were wood, but the duck bottom was a fiberglass piece, so that it could be used outside. 

I always start with the plaster of paris first. Add enough water to make a peak, like a thick milk shake. Make sure all the lumps and clumps are all stirred in good. Then add you latex paint and stir completely. Keep that milk shake in your mind. If it starts to thicken up too much, just add a little water to it and stir real well. (Note-i pour mixture into a old butter dish or equivalent and put lid on it, and put a smidge of the color on the lid. It keeps really well. You may have to add a little water, but it keeps great.) 

 As with all good chalk paint, it covers in one coat. No sanding, priming or preparing the wood. Having been in the painting business with my husband for years, it is hard to train my brain to not think i have to prep these pieces first. Yippee, glad I don't. Now I want to tell you something here. If you want a solid color no distressing showing, I would use two coats. If you are going to only distress in a few spots, you may want a second coat but if not, when your paint is tacky, you can take a wet paper towel and lightly rub on the area's that you want distressed. Not too hard, play with it. The coats you decide to use are really personal preference. I use different ones on different pieces. Now I want to share another little secret or two. I wanted some like gray distressing on mine. Many of you may not know this but after doing murals for almost 30 years I have learned a few things. Glazing liquid that you use in faux finishing is really just paint base. you know how you go to the paint department and they have to go pick up a base to mix your paint tints in. Well clear base is the same as glazing liquid. If you buy glazing liquid in say one of the name home builder stores, it will run you about $35-45. A gallon of base with no tint added off the shelf (clear) runs typically $12-14. I'm just sayin'! Now i take another small butter tub poured about 1/3 cup of base in it, took some craft paint in black, and added a few drops, and a couple drops of white and stirred. When I liked the gray I got i added about 3 tablespoons of water, stirred and i was good to go. Then I simply brushed on with foam  brush and wiped off immediately. This works really well on pieces that have a carved or ridged surface to them, because it goes down in the cracks and darkens it. If you get an area that is a little to dark or concentrated, simply dab a t-shirt for wiping in clean base and rub over what you did and it will fix it. No problems - Happy accidents.

 Now the tedious but fun part. Tear up a bunch of scrap book papers in complimentary colors and start to decoupage them on the tray. I put the scraps on a few paper plates so that I can keep like colors sort of together. Then when I start, I will have everything in front of me. I use Mod Podge decoupage medium and spread a section about 8" square with the mod podge. OOPS first I have to tell you. When you are mosaic decoupaging, make sure the color you want popping thru like a grout color is what your piece is painted. I almost went black, but this worked out good too. Now apply the medium and start laying out your pieces, leaving about 1/8" between each piece. This is a good thing to sit in front of you and work on while your watching tv. I put four coats of mod podge on the mosaic part of tray to seal in the pieces really well, to hold up to wet drinks and such.

 The rest of the piece I used CeCe Caldwell's clear wax, and applied one coat and let dry then wiped with soft t-shirt then repeated the next day. It will be very soft to your touch. I love the wax. If you don't have wax, you could just seal with a polyurethane also.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Thank you, and I appreciate any and all comments. Have a Blessed day!