Cold War Coffee Table

I found a $3 light-weight silver table at a garage sale and decided to make it more interesting. I set down newspapers and painted the entire table bright red, after deciding that this was, in fact, a communist table.

The world map used was five cents at another garage sale, and I found the missing parts endearing. Also, the fact that the Soviet Union existed on this map added to the theme.

At Finnegan's toy store (Portland, OR) they have this packet of toy soldiers called, "The Good Ol' USA vs. the Red Commies" that is absolutely hilarious. My boyfriend's old history teacher gave it to him as a gag gift, so this part of the project was free.

After painting the table and letting it dry, I glued the map down by completing it and then lifting up each piece individually. This part was a bit time consuming. After that, I arranged and super-glued the toy soldiers down on each side in battle positions. The next day I sprayed on furniture varnish and re-glued all loose parts.

Coffee will never be the same again!