Craft Marble marvels

This luxe-look finish doesn't have to cost a lot. Make your own marble decor with these easy, budget-friendly projects

CREATE A COFFEE TABLE

Marble is the hottest material in decor right now, but real marble tables can be exxy STEP ONE Lightly hammer nail into the dead centre of the MDF. STEP TWO Slip the hole in the end of the ruler over the nail and measure and draw a circle that is 29.5cm from the nail (the circle will be 59cm diameter total). Take into account the distance of the hole from the Ocm mark on the ruler. On our ruler this distance was 2cm so we positioned the pencil at the 27.5cm mark. Once you’ve drawn your circle, remove the nail. STEP THREE Clamp the MDF board securely to your work bench. Using the jigsaw, cut out the circle from the MDF board. STEP FOUR Remove dust from sawing and lay the circle in front of you. Slowly cover circle with marble contact, smoothing it out with a ruler as you go to remove air bubbles. You will probably need to do this in two sections. Cut around the circle with scissors to neatly trim excess contact. STEP FIVE Cut out five 6mm-wide strips of contact (to suit the thickness of the table top). Apply contact strips around the edge of the circle. Smooth out to remove air bubbles and trim off excess length to finish. STEP SIX Turn your basket upside down and place marble-contacted MDF circle on top. WE USED Customwood standard MDF panel (900mm x 600mm x 6mm), $6.75, Bunnings. Marble contact paper, from $9.95 a metre, Crockers Paint & Wallpaper.

UPDATE AN OLD TRAY

Add a faux marble look to your kitchen basics by refurbishing a serving tray. It’ll look so good, you’ll want to keep it on show! STEP ONE Place the serving tray on the back of the contact paper, and trace around it with a pencil. STEP TWO You’ll need to reduce the size of the circle by the width of the tray rim, so that it fits neatly in the base. To do this, measure the width of the rim (ours was about 6mm). STEP THREE Using the ruler, make a series of small marks 6mm inside the edge of the circle, to create a new, smaller circle the size of the tray base. STEP FOUR Using the small marks on the inside of the traced circle as your guide, cut out a circle. STEP FIVE Peel the contact paper away from the backing and apply it to the tray using the ruler to smooth out any air bubbles as you go. Style the rest of the tray as you like – we painted the edges of ours white! WE USED Skala tray, $19.99, Ikea. Marble contact paper, from $9.95 a metre, Crockers Paintnt & Wallpaper.