Last week I had the privilege of being invited to speak at the Ottawa Home and Garden Show. During my talk on Upcycling, I also did a demo to show how easy it is to take something that is ready for the trash and make it into something beautiful for your home.
I stated with this side table that I found that was unusable because the caning on the top of the table had become brittle and broken.
The wood, frame and legs of this table were in great condition so I decided it would be perfect as a bench. I love the lines of the legs and they are very sturdy so it will definitely hold some weight.


To being, I attached a piece of cardboard to the underside of the table to keep the caning from falling in little piles on the floor.
Next I gave the legs and lip of the table a coat of Annie Sloan’s Chalk Paint® in a custom blend of Old White and Pure White. (I don’t have a picture of this stage as it was done at the Home Show)

After the paint, I began layering up the top of the table to form the bench. Between each layer I used some spray adhesive to hold them in place. I began on the top of the table with another piece of cardboard (just to hold the staples from the bottom layer) and then a piece of foam cut to match the size of the top of the table.
Once the foam was in place, I covered it with a piece of batting to soften the look of the corners and edges. I attached the batting with a few staples under the lip of the table to hold it in place.
Finally, to cover the foam and batting and finish of the bench, I used this gorgeous piece of Annie Sloan Fabric®*. I covered the top and then stapled it under the lip of the table to hold it in place. I then folded the ends like you would when wrapping a present because I wanted to see the beautiful stripes at different angles.





This beautiful bench is a perfect example of what I love about Upcycling… something that was broken and considered trash, was recreated into a beautiful bench that can be used anywhere and was saved from ending up in the dump!

*A special thank-you to Katrina from Malenka Originals in Ottawa for the beautiful Annie Sloan Fabric® that she kindly donated for the demo!
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Beautiful and what imagination !! ( :
Thanks Diena! It does come in handy most times but sometimes gets the better of me 😉
My cats would love to sit on this.
🙂 My cat loved to sit on another bench that I had like this one too! You’ve just got to love them <3
What an amazing tranformation!
Thanks Angela!
This is great and what a wonderful idea for a broken table.
ps. cute dog 🙂
Thanks! I had a lot of fun with this project and loved how it turned out… as did my dog:) He is pretty darn cute, but I'm pretty biased 🙂