I'm in love! I'm in love! And I don't care who knows it! {Name that movie!} I think it's becoming increasingly difficult to hide how much I love campaign style furniture. What's campaign furniture you ask? Don't be embarrassed for not knowing! I myself have only just jumped on the trend. Ok, quick terminology lesson shall we?

Campaign furniture... is portable furniture that was designed for use in military campaigns.
- Apartment Therapy

Well done Apartment Therapy, thanks for sharing with us and a gold star for you. That's right class, campaign furniture was originally designed to be durable and on the move. This meant recessed handles, corner braces for bumpy rides, collapsible bases and easily disassembled parts. Most often, these pieces were foldable chairs, tables and desks, small chests and trunks.

Chelsea and I have featured some campaign furniture of our own over the years. Remember these campaign cuties from our Garage Sale this past June? Note the recessed pulls indicative of the portable style and the reinforced corners for extra protection in travel.

And then more recently my flatware box to campaign nightstand. The x-base fits the collapsible for storage criteria of many campaign pieces.

Well today, I have another little table to share. This table was a recent craigslist find. Originally from World Market (the Walker Campaign Accent Table), I lucked out because it is discontinued and out of stock. However, when I was looking at it in person, I realized it seemed rather dark to me. Maybe it was the wrought-iron base and the dark walnut top, but as is my MO, I really wanted to GLAM IT UP ;)

So what's the first rule of glamour? GET SOMETHING SPARKLY!

I knew I wanted to paint the base gold, but wasn't sure what to do with the wooden top. As I pondered what to do to the table top, I started to lean toward some sort of stencil. But I kept finding this particular image popping up in my head of a rimmed top with some sort of gold accent to match the base.

So I darted out to my local Home Goods {a dangerous pre-holiday quest. Partly because of the parking lot crazies and partly because of the REALLY tempting loot they always have in stock}. But I successfully turned on my infamous tunnel-vision and within minutes of entering the store I had found 2 suitable new table top options.

One was a hexagon shaped tray with metal handles. The other was a round mirrored tray with cut-out hand holds. So which of these candidates did I take home with me on the campaign trail? {See what I did there?} *wink. Well, let's take a look are their debate platforms:

The Hexagon

The Hexagon was solid wood so I could easily mount the accordion table base to the bottom and paint the handles to match the gold finish.
The Hexagon was an awesome shape.

The Round Tray

The Round Tray was an inch bigger and closer in diameter to the original table top.
The Round Tray was mirrored. And nothing says glam like some gold and mirrors.

But the swing vote came down to the budget {like it always does}. The Hexagon was $10 more so the Round Tray won my vote. So now, without further ado, may I present to you the lead candidate for your holiday entertaining needs:

The Campaign Bar Table

Mirrors are tricky to work with {as I learned the hard way in this mirrored accent table post}. However, in that project I actually bought and inset the mirror pieces myself so having a mirror already in the tray makes things much easier - as long as you're careful. I removed the mounting hardware from the original table top and attached it to the round tray. I was careful not to screw anything in until I was sure the screws would not protrude and fracture the mirror.

The mirrored top bounces light around and helps liven up any corner of the room.

Instead of the x-shape, this table has a collapsible accordion-style base - also true to a campaign piece!

Even though Rust-Oleum® Specialty Metallic Spray is an awesome gold spray paint, sometimes my vintage-loving self can't help but feel like I'm not fooling anyone with a faux finish. It just doesn't stand up to the real thing right? But there are a couple small tricks you can do to help deepen the gold finish and therefore give it more of the dimension you can see in a real brass or gold base.

1. It helps to have a black base coat. If your piece is not black, paint it black first before you go gold. Then when you add a gold topcoat, allow lapses in the coverage where the black can peek through and give the finish a little touch of shadow.

2. After the gold top coat is dry, buff over the gold paint with a dark wax. This will add just another level of color dimension to the finish - giving it depth. I didn't have any dark wax so I just mixed a little Minwax Oil-Based Dark Walnut Wood Finish Interior Stain with some Americana Decor Clear Creme Wax I had on hand from a previous project. I am very happy with the end result. - hopefully these pictures are doing it enough justice for you to get the gist.

I even gilded the handle cut-outs to complete the look!

Aaaaaaaaand thank you Thor for the ever-popular cameo appearance.

I love that the glamorous tray table is so easy to move around {ready for the campaign trail!} Styled like a sparkling bar stand, this table would be a perfect drink station when your home is in holiday entertainment mode or a wonderful accent table in the off season.

Elect this round tray Campaign Bar Table for your home holiday entertaining!
21"L x 21"W x 28"H
SOLD

If you are interested in this piece or a custom order like it, please contact cate@stylemutthome.com.