An out-of-date table passed on to us by a family member became a quirky mix of craft and restorative techniques. Needless to say, that family member, lured by bright clean lines of IKEA, spent a lot more money on their new dining table than we did restoring their old one. We, of course, spent a lot more time!
The before photos show a white pine-edged, chrome-legged glass-topped table with white rattan underneath the glass. In shabby condition.
Speaking of which, I could have very quickly turned this into a “shabby chic” piece, with a little sanding of the timber edge to create a distressed look, and a coat of clear lacquer. But I don’t tend to do things the easy way. Anyway, I wanted something that appeared hand-crafted, folky almost, and definitely unique.
And so, the after photos show a completely different story: achieved using a sander, some very cheap second-hand materials, a can of paint, some silicone, a scanner/printer (yes, I went hi-tech with this!), some coloured felt-tipped pens and a few hand-stitched details. Oh, and a lot of time: snippets stolen in-between kids, pets, work, husband, house-work, and life in general; but not necessarily in that order.
And here’s how it was done…
I knew I wanted to create some sort of artwork under the glass, and as I’m handy with a sewing machine, I decided to stitch something instead of doing a painting or a drawing, which could take me months, or let’s face it, years if you factor the kids in. (“Hey mum, what are you doing? Ooh, can I help?” There goes the artwork, unless finger-painting is the style you’re aiming for.) So without a firm design in mind, I bought some fabric remnants from a local op shop, guided only by what patterns and colours appealed to me. I spent no more than $3.
Here are some of the fabrics that I brought home. I chose my favourites, and then an idea began to form… If I sewed some of the bigger scraps together in panels, I could create a large enough circle to fit under the glass. I used the spotted and leaf-design pieces for this.
Then I cut out the butterflies from another scrap, and stitched them each with a button onto butterfly-shaped borders of colourful fabric I had in the cupboard. The colour makes them stand out from the background.
I ran out of butterflies and photocopied the fabric originals to make more. Some of the paper butterflies then had to be coloured with felt pens to match the originals. No-one has noticed yet that some butterflies are fabric and some are paper!
Feeling that the design was too bland, I added a few hand-stitched details to the spots on the central panel, using some embroidery cotton that I had in the cupboard. I used colours that matched the butterflies.
With the fabric artwork done, the table was the next step. I took the glass top off (which wasn’t attached, just held in place by its own weight in a slight recess) and prepared the timber edges. This was the most fun part, because I let the kids have a go on the sander: their first power-tool experience! Yes, after not letting them near the sewing machine, I relented. Pick your battles, they say! I think they were 6 and 4 at the time. They loved it, did a far better job than anticipated, and we managed to complete the process without disaster or any tantrums (from either the kids or myself). Best of all we spawned two little DIY helpers of our very own. ygdh Infact, my daughter is helping me type right now… I love dragonssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks hon, I’ll have the keyboard back now…
Finally, I sprayed the timber edges with a fresh aqua to add a bit more colour.
When the table top was dry, I placed the fabric panels on top of the rattan, placed the butterflies on top (they’re not stitched on) and laid the glass back over. To prevent spills leaking under the glass and ruining the fabric (I’m sure you’re aware that dining with a 4 and 6 year old is a barbaric act, at best) I siliconed the join where the glass meets the timber. Voilà, a cheap and simple project that cost just a little over the price of a can of paint.
Renovators Dream - blog 