Vintage table fix

This table was purchased by my MIL 30+ years ago, it was actually the first item she ever bought after getting married. She gave it to us 17 years ago, we used it daily and when we made the trek to CA it unfortunately stayed behind. The matching chairs are long gone and the table itself was so damaged due to the unpredictable climate changes of a MI basement storage area.
We used our IKEA table for a re-purpose project in the basement (another day, another post) and needed something to eat on in the dining room so I asked for it back.
MIL gladly let me have it with the promise that we would fix it and use it :) No Problem!

So here it is start to finish...
What isnt pictured is the lifting leaf was cracked from underneath, I removed the piece, pulled off the cracked part, glued it reset it on the table, glued and sanded the whole top. Set in 2 layers of under-lay-ment and a piece of oak veneer (that Lonewolf had happened upon years ago at a garage sale)

The veneer was a slight touch too big so Lonewolf needed to shave it down just a touch, we used the clamps and straight edge to hold it in place.

As you can see the old veneer was lifting and cracked.

The original top had this fabulous stencil work on it, that happens to match the legs, you can't tell from the damage on the top but the stencil actually had a 4 tone fade to it. (you might know what I mean when I get to the end pics) Not wanting to lose the charming effect, I make a copy of the stencil by tracing it on velum.

After a few tests with the stencil...

 
I decided that wasn't going to work...

After some debating and internet searching... I happened upon a Martha Stewart video about stenciling. She was using contact adhesive to adhere the stencils to her project and said "contact paper" after she sprayed the glue on. Light bulb moment! Shelf paper, luckily I had some stashed!
So using the velum trace I retraced the stencil, this time I doubled over the paper to get 2 at the same time, as I knew the contact paper would be a one shot deal and I couldn't replace it for each end.

I used 4 different colors of paint, to get the blended effect like the legs. And what came out is beautiful!

A little rub on Poly ( I did end up adding several coats of this type of poly and not getting the desired finish and eventually busted out the good old water based poly satin finish) Much, much hardier and I can never be too careful with the artists in this house.

There it is! Hope this is of some value.

Thrift Store finds!

I love a day when good shopping Karma is on my side!
Score, score, score!
2 new pairs of shoes, never worn! $4 each and a killer new dress, cant wait to be able to wear this one for the burlesque show! Only $9!!! Needs a little alteration, couple of inches along each side seam and maybe a little more bling! Cant you see it... opera gloves and a killer feathered head piece singing the blues, I can!