How to Stencil Raised Designs on Furniture: The Finished Table

For heaven's sake! Just as I get a moment to breathe and finish my table project, I'm once again bombarded with scads of orders and new project invitations and again it got put on hold. But finally, it's finished! Varnish and all.

As I showed in my last post on this stenciling project, I had added the raised designs to the round sides of the table with our Raised Plaster Tremont Borders Stencil Set and then had fun adding a bit more to the design using a cake decorating bag to create additional dots and curved lines.

I then painted the entire table, designs and all, jet black. I LOVE black furniture! It's regal, seems mysterious somehow and shows off a design in a spectacular way. I use black as the accent color in my living room in rugs, pillows and occasional tables. It looks very high end as the anchor color to the soft golds I use in everything else. 

Because the designs from the Raised Plaster Stencil protruded from the surface, it was super easy to paint just the design with an artist brush and metallic paint. In fact, it's totally fun!

I decided that the top of the table needed something spectacular, so I added our Alana Medallion Raised Plaster Stencil design with multi colors of paint. Soft brown, pale green a hint of pink and the same gold I used for the raised design created a lovely addition to my table design.

I finished off the table by doing just some of the trim in the same gold paint color that I used for the raised design. It's easy to go just a bit "nuts" when adding more gold trim so it's important to keep balance and simplicity in mind when ultimately designing your piece. For instance, I could have painted the entire table leg in gold paint. But the result would have taken this project from "elegant" to "gaudy". 

The final table project thrills the bajeebaz out of me since I now have an occasional table for my love seat in my living room (and I'm giving a party in two weeks so it will come in quite handy!)

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for elegant stencils, ornamental plaster molds and oodles of ideas and inspiration!

How to Stencil Raised Designs on Furniture Part ll

As I sat looking at the table project last night, I got a brilliant idea! I think I will add piped flowers to the peaks of the raised stencil design. I'll simply fill a cake decorating bag, cut a small hole in the tip and start creating! If you've never done this, it's a blast!


Try creating your own raised designs on your walls (such as vines, poke-a-dots or geometric shapes. It's a kick in the pants and when you do it with joint compound, if you don't like it, simply scrape it off and start over.

How to Stencil Raised Designs on Furniture

Applying raised designs to furniture is easy with a raised stencil specifically made for that application.

This old table I found at a flea market becomes my target "save it" project and I can't wait to see the finished product of my efforts.

I first sanded the piece, fixed a broken leg and then applied the Raised Plaster Furniture Borders Stencil design around the entire edge of the trim piece. Simply tape the stencil in place over the intended area. If need be, mask off areas you don't want to expose the medium you are using.

Once the medium is completely dry, I'll then lightly sand any weird raised areas that appear abnormal.

I applied the raised stencil to the trim of the table to create a piece that winds up being much more ornate than the original version. I love hand carved designs on furniture and that's exactly what this will look like once it's completed.


Now I'll wait for it to dry so that I can get it primed, painted and "prettied". I LOVE projects like this!

Visit the VictoriaLarsen.com website for lots of projects, stencils and plaster molds for your decorating design needs.