French Country Bistro Table Trash to Treasure Makeover

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Would you believe that I’ve had this French country bistro table in my garage for about two years now?

I originally found it at a thrift store for $3. I can almost never pass up a deal like that on a piece that has good bones. However, once I got it home, I realized it didn’t fit quite as well in the house as I thought it would. And I’ll admit, I was a little stumped on how to make it over. I just wasn’t using my imagination very well I guess.

When the new round of the Thrift Store Decor Upcycle Challenge came around this month, I forced myself to actually NOT shop at another thrift store. Instead, I search through my ridiculous stash of thrifted items I already had that need some love.

The Rules:

• Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
• There’s no monthly theme.
• There’s no budget to stick to.

Meet the Hosts

Amanda | The Kolb Corner    Erlene | My Pinterventures    Kim | Made in a Day
Dru | Polka Dot Poplars    Maureen | Red Cottage Chronicles    Pili | Sweet Things
Debra | Shoppe No. 5    Marie | DIY Adulation    Havalah | Sisters, What
Chelsea | Making Manzanita    Ann | Duct Tape and Denim
Molly | Just a Little Creativity    Ashley | 3 Little Greenwoods    Kimm | Reinvented
Kim | Farmhouse Made    Victoria | Dazzle While Frazzled    Sara | Twelve on Main
Chelc | Inside the Fox Den     Michelle | Our Crafty Mom    Jeannee | Shepherds and Chardonnay
Jennifer and Vicki | 2 Bees in a Pod    Lora | Craftivity Designs
Ali | Home Crafts By Ali    Denise | My Thrifty House    Kathleen | Our Hopeful Home
Jeanie | Create & Babble    Michelle | Michelle James Designs

Make sure you follow our board on Pinterest for more upcycled decor inspiration!

French Country Bistro Table Trash to Treasure Makeover

Supplies:

• Black spray paint
• Gray chalk paint
• White chalk paint
• Clear gloss spray sealer
• Satin polycrylic sealer
• French wreath with butterfly image from The Graphic Fairy
• Wax paper

Tools:

• Palm sander
• Ink jet printer

As you can see, this darling bistro table didn’t begin life so precious. Like I mentioned, I could see past the drab brown and badly painted tabletop. I really don’t think this was even the original top, it’s probably a replacement for a piece of glass that may have broken.

Who knows. But that’s the fun of thrifted items, right? You never really know, so you can create your own story in your mind. Once I decided how to upcycle and makeover the bistro table, I imagined it had been sitting in an outdoor cafe patio in Paris.

The first thing I did was to spray paint the base black.

Easy.

Next, although I knew I wanted to use chalk paint, I went ahead and sanded all the chippy wood.

Then, I gave it a coat of white paint, let it dry, and went back in gray. I let some of the white show through though, for added depth of color.

The Graphics Fairy actually shared THIS POST for 12 easy image transfer methods. It’s absolutely full of great methods, including how to resize your image on BlockPosters.com for a larger area like a dresser or table. For example, my little tabletop required the image to be printed on four separate pieces to fit.

I chose the wax paper transfer method shared by Unexpected Elegance , mainly because it seemed easy enough and I had everything I needed on hand.

I’ll leave you to check out her full and detailed tutorial, including a video walk-through.

But a very shortened version is you cut wax paper to size, print your image onto the wax, and then press your image onto your surface with a card.

The hardest part of the wax paper transfer method is getting all the pieces to line up well. It takes a steady hand and a little patience.

To give the table just a bit more character, and to make it look as though it’s been sitting on the patio of a French cafe for years, is to simply sand over a few strategic areas again.

I let the ink dry for several hours. The, I sealed the design with a spray sealer first just to try to avoid bleed from the ink. Once that was dry, I used satin polycrylic on the top for additional protection.

I haven’t quite figured out a good way to attach the top to the base. I thought of gorilla glue?

If you have any suggestions, I’m totally open to them. And if I figure it out, I’ll be sure to update my post.

And now for more thrifty goodness!

Check out what my fellow upcyclers created below!