Brand new at this, so let's see how it goes!
Here's my contribution.
This was an old stand that someone gave me. Notice the peeling veneer and the overall overused appearance. (Please disregard the bicycle in the background and other "clutter"; although a crafter never has "clutter."
After base-coating the base of the stand in a fawn color and antiquing it with a soft black, the top was the next thing to attack - lovingly.
I purchased some old sheet music a while back and was just waiting for the right occasion and item to use it on. This was it. I tore the nice straight edges from the pieces of music and applied it to the table top with wallpaper paste. Yep, wallpaper paste. I found that Modge-Podge changed the color of the paper, making it darker and kind of transparent. The wallpaper paste did not have this effect. The paper dried opaque and true to the original color.
This is the same application to a different table.
I then used washes of different strengths: a black acrylic craft paint and a clear faux finishing glaze to create the flleur de lis design on top. The fleur de lis is a piece of clip art that I found on the net. I put a topcoat of Modge-Podge for furniture over the entire design ("ms thinking that I may put a coat or two of Poly, as well.
And voila!!! A new, modern, revamped piece of furniture.
Fro more creative ideas, see the Shabby Creek Cottage - a great resource for great ideas!