DIY- Upcycled End Tables

When starting my DIY projects for the new house, I tackled one of the toughest ones early on- reupholstering some Parsons dining chairs. I'll go over how I did that in a future post, but I bring it up today because I think Sam had his doubts about me and my approach to decorating the house because of those chairs.

When our offer on the house was accepted, I immediately starting working on decor ideas and in the process ended up buying some pretty ratty-looking furniture with the intent of making it over. At one point in the move-in process, Sam looked at the furniture I'd brought in and said, "Why do you keep bringing trash into our new house?" What Sam didn't know about me yet is that I LOVE the challenge of turning trash into treasure and I love doing it on a dime. And as much as I might try to explain that to him, what he really needed to understand was to SEE.

That's why I bring up the Parsons chairs. They cost $2 for all four of them. I spent another $30ish on fabric. Then I spent about 10 hours meticulously re-upholstering them. When they were done and I showed them to Sam, he started to understand and I think I may have even impressed him a little.

So, upon seeing my finished Parsons chairs, he actually agreed to buy me a pair of absolutely stunning gold end tables. At about $150 each, he thought they were crazy expensive. BUT I LOVED THEM and after seeing the Parsons chairs, I think he felt I deserved a treat. But before he whipped out the credit card, I said, "Before we buy these expensive end tables, I want to visit Deja Vu, a hit-or-miss second hand furniture store down in Derry." He seemed confused, but I explained that as much as I loved the expensive tables, I wanted to shop around and just see if I could find something fabulous for a little less.

So, the next day I made the drive down to Derry and visited Deja Vu. This store is massive and you never know what you're going to find, but usually there'll be at least SOMETHING interesting to take home.

Anyway, because Deja Vu will often empty out an entire building, they have a LOT of duplicates. For example, when a hotel decides to redecorate, Deja Vu will clear out all the old furniture and re-sell it. So, if you see an end table or a headboard or a set of lamps, you could ask if they have more and the answer will likely be, "Dozens!" Because of their surplus, they've started putting a selection of items outside under a tent and referring to it as the "Free Tent." If it's under the tent, it's free. You can leave a donation for a local charity, and they're just happy to have gotten rid of some inventory.

So, the day I went to Deja Vu, I saw two matching end tables under the free tent. They weren't pretty. Boring wood color, square-ish, but sturdy and in pretty good condition. I left them there and wandered around the rest of the store for about an hour. When I didn't find anything I liked, I went back outside and the tables were still there under the free tent. I thought, "Eh, what the hell?" and loaded them into the Mini Cooper. They barely fit. On the way home I bought a can of gold spray paint and a roll of faux marble contact paper.

About ten minutes worth of spray painting and the tables were already 1,000 times better, but I'd recently seen a YouTube tutorial on using faux marble contact paper to refinish a table top and I wanted to give it a whirl. Since the tables were free, if it came out terrible, I wouldn't even feel bad about tossing them on the curb. The roll of contact paper that I'd bought at Walmart was the right look, and definitely the right price at just $6. However, the tables were about 2 inches too wide. The contact paper wouldn't even cover the top, much less the beveled sides of the top piece.

So, I went to amazon.com and found a slightly wider contact paper. It was a lot more expensive- $18- but still a bargain if I could make it work.

With Sam's help, each table took about 10 minutes to cover with the paper. I lined the edge up carefully and then he slowly peeled the back off. Using the edge of a credit card, I made sure the paper went down smoothly without wrinkles. I trimmed the edges with an Exacto knife. The key was to go slowly, trying to make it as smooth as possible. It's almost impossible to avoid the occasional bubble in the paper, but there's an easy fix. Just take a sharp pin or the end of a needle and poke a hole in the bubble. Smooth it down with the edge of the credit card. You can't even see the hole when you're done.

In the end, these tables turned out fantastic and I seriously couldn't beat the price! Even after buying the spray paint and contact paper, they cost less than $30 for the pair!

Similar tables sell for about $100 each, so I can't help but be happy with these! If you want to attempt a similar project, I recommend finding tables with a very simple, clean edge. If it's curved, it will be very difficult to get the paper to be perfectly smooth. If you have small enough tables, you can find the contact paper at your local Walmart for about $6. If you have a bigger table, you can find the contact paper I used here.

Next time I'll tell you all about my Parsons chairs, especially since I teased you so much in the beginning about them! Have an awesome day and thanks for reading!