BEFORE & AFTER: Shabby French Bedside Tables

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I absolutely love ugly furniture, much to my husband’s chagrin.

Lately he’s been ragging on me to “get rid of the furniture” and send it all back to whatever secondhand hell hole I got it from. Oh–wait–I’m putting words in his mouth. He didn’t say that….LOL

He actually said to send it “back to the thrift store.” Same thing, right? 🙂

But I’ve been rescuing stray furniture for most of my adult life. It’s my creative passion. I could never give it up.

Anyhow, I’m going off on a tangent….

 

The REAL Meaning of “CPR”

Did you know that CPR really means “Crap! Paint Required!”?

Well, it does. 🙂

Take these ugly bedside tables, for example. I bet they’re ecstatic that I performed CPR on them.

I had found two of them at a yard sale for a mere $7.00 each a couple summers ago.  It wasn’t until recently that I decided to refinish them by gluing fabric onto the wooden drawers. (Watch the video segment from my local news where I talk about creative uses for fabric around the home).

Here’s the crappy before:

BEFORE

AFTER!

 

And now, these feel cool and edgy. They’re not girly, they’re not masculine. Maybe they’re just androgynous. LOL. Yep, my shabby French androgynous little bedside tables. LOL

I really love the way they turned out! They’re a little different than most of the stuff I usually do. So it’s fun to change it up sometimes, you know?

 

Go Grab This Stuff

Here’s what I used to resuscitate these bedside tables:

• Chalk Paint® decorative paint by Annie Sloan – Duck Egg and Old White
• Clear Wax
• Your favorite fabric (I picked up this Premier Prints from Hobby Lobby) – yards will depend on the size of your drawer fronts
• Mod Podge(or decoupage)

 

What I Did

I sanded out the top a little bit because they were sticky. You normally don’t have to do with this paint, however. But you do want a smooth surface to begin.

I used Duck Egg, which is such a soft, pretty color, but I tried using a coat of Old White underneath, so that when I distressed, the white would show through. It wasn’t as noticeable as I would have liked, though. Meh– oh well!

 

Next, I took some of the fabric and cut a rough estimate to fit over the drawer.

WATCH NOW: Glue Fabric to Wood Drawers

And because I love you awesome people that read my blog posts (and comment!), here’s the video on how to glue fabric to wood drawers. (SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss my next video!):

 

 

Next, I removed the handles, which were in crusty condition, and used a little Rub n’ Buff to make them look less crusty. LOL

Handles BEFORE

I used one of my favorite products, Rub ‘n Buff  (gold metallic finish), to make them look a little prettier :). Dramatic difference, right?!

Handles AFTER

Then, I tried the Annie Sloan Decoupage for the fabric. I didn’t care for it much. My tried and trusty Mod Podge glue dried quicker and more stiffly.

One of the drawer fronts had a broken edge, so I used wood filler to create a fake edge. Once dried and painted, you can’t even tell it’s fake ;).

 

Here’s another look at the BEFORE. Not very inspiring to have in your bedroom, huh?

Now, it looks a bit more shabby and cool. (FYI, they’re for sale if you live locally here in MD!).

 So what do you think??!

Have you ever tried to glue fabric to wood? If not, what’s stopping you!? Go get some fabric and Mod Podge–NOW!

Link Party

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