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!