Decoupage Glass Tabletop

As part of my patio furniture renewal project, that you can read more about here, I decided that I didn't want to just re-paint the metal on the table and chairs.  I wanted to make the patio set unique; I wanted to make it stand out from the typical patio furniture they sell at the big box stores.  And, I was able to achieve this by decoupaging the glass top with fabric.

I think it turned out pretty good!  But, when I first started Mission: Patio Furniture Renewal, the word "decoupage" wasn't even in my vocabulary.  Read on for details about how I got here!

Robert Allen Alexa Shadow fabric

Like most of you DIY'ers, I spend a lot of my time on Pinterest perusing ideas.  Naturally, this is first place I looked for ideas on up-styling our glass tabletop.  I found a pin where Nicole, on her blog Parlour, described how she decoupaged an old table with fabric (check her post out here).  This is where I first learned about the art of decoupaging.  I had a yard of Robert Allen black and gray fabric that I'd been dying to use.  But, my project was a little different from Nicole's and I couldn't find any other blogs where someone had decoupaged the underside of a glass table. After some investigative work, I found a few youtube videos of women adhering scrapbook paper to the underside of clear glass plates.  I figured I would just play it by ear, combining the technicques Nicole used for her tabletop and the techniques described on youtube for decoupaging glass plates.  Here goes nothin'! 



We started by laying the glass down on top of some cardboard so that the bottom-side was facing up.  I laid the fabric out on top so we could cut it to fit, leaving about an inch of overhang on each side.  I then removed the cut fabric and wiped the glass down with rubbing alcohol to make sure there wasn't any dirt on there that would prevent the fabric from fully adhering to the glass. 


Once the glass was prepped, we were ready for Mod Podge.  Usually with decoupage you are adhering smaller cut-outs and you put Mod Podge down in the one small area where each cut-out is going to be placed.  Since we were planning to adhere one big piece of fabric, we needed to completely cover the glass with Mod Podge as quickly as possible so it wouldn't dry before we got the fabric down.  So, we dumped small puddles of Mod Podge across the glass and Joe and I each used a paint brush to spread it out as quickly as possible.  As soon as we had completely covered the glass, we put the fabric on and smoothed out all of the wrinkles. 

We let the Mod Podge underneath start dry some before we coated the back because we were scared we were going to wrinkle the fabric.  After about 15 minutes, we coated the back of the fabric with Mod Podge.  Then, we brought it inside to let it dry.  I have to admit, I was starting to get a little nervous.  As you can see in the picture, we could definitely still see the Mod Podge through the glass even after it had been drying for 5 hours!  But, don't worry, it does eventually all dry clear.

The next day we used a razor blade to cut off the extra fabric and cut the hole for the umbrella.  We ended up putting a total of 4 coats of Mod Podge on the back (letting each coat fully dry in between) to ensure that our fabric would be protected from the weather.  I made sure to pay extra attention to the edges to make sure the fabric was sealed and wouldn't be able to let moisture in.  Then, just to be especially sure that our new fabric tabletop would be weather-proof, we sprayed the back with several coats of Rust-oleum Clear Polyurethane.

We put everything back together and we were finally done with our first DIY project!  We can't wait to display our renewed patio furniture set at our new house when we close on August 15th!!  Until then, we'll just have to enjoy it at our rental.

Materials Used:

• 1 yard of Robert Allen Alexa Shadow fabric
• Rubbing alcohol
• 2 16 oz jars of Mod Podge (we didn't use all of it, but we definitely needed the second jar)
• 1 can Rust-oleum Clear Polyurethane

UPDATE 10/30/2013:  In my absence (see most recent post), I have gotten some questions about how the decoupaged glass has held up.  The first time I had it out in the rain, the Mod Podge underneath the glass turned white again, like I first showed when it was still drying.  After some investigation, I realized that even after applying Mod Podge to the back side of the fabric, moisture was leaking in from the edges.  I got some water-proof silicone and applied it all the way around the outside of the table where the fabric ended to seal out any moisture.  This worked and I am proud to say that we are still using this table on our deck today!

Renewing Patio Furniture

So, Joe and I have anxiously been awaiting for August 15 to arrive (fyi: that's the day we close on our first house!!).  As I kind of talk about in my "About Me" section, our house is a typical builder's grade house that has had no additional work done to it.  I have been scouring Pinterest like there is no tomorrow collecting ideas for DIY projects that we can start when we move in to make the house more our style.  Well, August 15 feels like an extremely long time to wait and I got impatient!
Joe inherited a hand-me-down patio set from his parents a few years ago.  It served it's purpose by giving us a place to sit outside, but after sitting in the weather one too many months the paint was faded and coming off the metal.  And, when I say the paint was coming off, I mean that it was basically a powder and it would smudge off anytime you touched it.  As a new homeowner, I want my new house to be as perfect and cute as possible, but I also need to prioritize what I spend my money on.  A few weeks ago, Joe and I decided that we wanted to buy a beautiful new sectional for our great room (pics will be posted when we move in).  So, the cash for a new patio set was absolutely out of the question.  Enter: our first DIY project!












The first step was removing the mesh fabric from the chairs. This was very easy and just involved taking out a lot of screws. The fabric was held in on the top and the bottom by slats that screwed in to the metal of the chair. Taking the tabletop apart was also just a matter of removing a few bolts and screws.

After removing all of the fabric and separating the glass from the tabletop, since we don't yet have a garage (come on August 15), I laid down plastic and put everything in the middle of the yard.  Before I could start spray painting, I needed to get all of that old paint/powder off.  I used a few sheets of 180 grit sandpaper to rub down all of the metal surfaces to remove any rust and any loose paint.  After sanding, I wiped the tables and chairs down with rubbing alchohol just make sure everything was clean and dirt- and dust-free.

After I did all the dirty work, Joe decided to come out and help me with spray painting!  (I'm just kidding...he was working on an exam and I impatiently started without him, so he came out as soon as he finished.)  And, just to give you an idea of how new I am to DIY projects, I originally bought only one can of spray paint and clear enamel each for this project not realizing I would actually need 4x that amount!  At least Joe got a good laugh!  After I went back to Wal-Mart to get more spray paint, we began painting the table and chairs.  We put about two coats on (I say about because I wasn't good at keeping track and I think some got more and some got less).  Once the spray paint dried, we put on two coats of sealer to make sure the chairs were water-proofed and had that pretty, glossy look.

We reattached all of the mesh fabric to the chairs once everything had dried (we allowed 24 hours). And, voila! It looked like we had a brand new patio furniture set. 

But, I still wasn't happy because I thought the glass top still looked rundown and, after all of that hard work, there was nothing that really made our patio furniture stand out from the store-bought stuff. So, I decided to makeover the glass tabletop. But, you'll have to wait for the next post to see that because it is still in the works! (And I promise to post better "after" pictures once I get the tabletop finished.)

Materials Used During This Project:

• 180 grit sandpaper
• Bottle of rubbing alcohol
• 6 cans of Rust-oleum Metallic Black Night
• 4 cans of Rust-oleum Crystal Clear Enamel