What should I do to my coffee table?

Question

I got an antique coffee table from a thrift shop. It's a real antique but not a "brand" table, so I'm not too worried about messing up its value. At first I thought I'd just leave it plain - it's the original wood, no finish. However, since I'm taking it with me to the dorm next week I decided I should finish it out to protect it from my roommates and friends. haha.

Any ideas on what I should do with it? It's going to be in an apartment of 4 girls. I thought about doing a mosaic on the top, but it might be too time consuming. I'm not an amazing artist - I'm good at painting replicas of old paintings (I did a starry night that people thought was a poster of the original), but ask me to paint a tree from memory and it'll look horrible. lol...

ideas?

I love reds... bright colors... fun colors...

something cheap :-) thanks

Answer 1

My daughter did a night table with a variety of stencils like moon, stars, chinese symbols, and a lot of others.  Something like that or your college colors, emblem, mascot.  For a dorm I would put a clear acrylic type protector on top for easy clean ups.