I am on a really tight budget right now, but I desperately wanted a patio table for my backyard. My solution, of course, was to go garage selling! I found this beauty for a whopping $5. Can you say score? I will admit, at first I didn't see the potential. But desperate times call for thinking outside the box, right? Here's what I did...
After getting rid of the hideous, I mean dated, glass tabletop, I made a trip to Lowes and picked up some fencing. I got the board for under $2 each. I then placed the table base on top of the base to get it centered and added the bracing boards from scrap wood in my garage (I added two braces in the center as well, but they aren't shown here). This gave the tabletop stability and nestle it on the table base so it wouldn't shift.
See the tops of the fencing? I chopped them off one the tabletop was assembled. I wasn't lovin' the red hue of the wood, so I sanded it down and gave the tabletop a wash.
I mixed some black and white craft paint until I got a medium grey color. Then I watered it down 50-70% so that it was really watery. This part was all trial and error until I got the consistency I wanted.
You can see here how the wash got rid of any remaining "too new" looking wood, but the finish looked a little bit flat. Sooo...
I got some white craft paint, and using a really dry brush with just a touch of paint on it, I gave the table a quick once over.
Close up again, you can see how the white paint added some depth to the boards. Next I did some hand painting using the same process I used on my sign. I got the graphic from The Graphic Fairy. Love her stuff! I finished it off with a couple coats of polyurethane to give some protection from the elements.
Here's the after.
LOVE IT!
Here is the close up of the graphics. I was going for a old french crate feel.
Pay no attention to the old peeling deck, its on the list.
Who'd a thunk... a $5 garage sale patio table...