I love old wooden furniture and am a professional online classifieds lurker. I’ve scored some amazing deals: my ginormous early 1900’s wardrobe & matching vanity (€80), the gorgeous rocking chair that helped send my munchkin off to dreamland (€8), a massive oak chiffonier (€40) & even my two vintage kitchen buffets (€100) were all discovered in online classifieds. Another fab find was our 1940’s dining room set for €15 and when we went to pick it up they gave us this beauty for free!
Only one little problem – the top looked like this:
As I didn’t want to pay the €300(!) to have it refinished I came up with a (free) solution that looks fab, is washable and is proving to be quite permanent in the long run!
Check out my crazy simple mend and make do DIY method for salvaging a damaged table top: Table Top Saviour – fix that vintage table for cheap!
I completely covered the top of the table using some brown packing paper I had on hand, an equal parts water and glue mixture and this easy decoupage technique.
Once it was completely dry, I painted it with some leftover wood stain:
Once that dried I brushed on 4 coats of clear varnish.
A quick waterproof refinish!
2015 update: it’s still going strong as my fab nightstand:
2018 update: the table survived an international move and is still going strong:
2022 Update: This little table fix has survived 2 more house moves and is STILL going strong:
