This fabric coffee table was easy to make with Mod Podge! Buy a piece of furniture from IKEA or the Goodwill and give it a unique makeover.
Fabric Coffee Table
There are so many things I like about sillie.smile’s table.
1) You would NOT believe how easy this is.
2) The fabric is from IKEA and reminds me very much of Orla Kiely, whom I love.
3) This table is so easy to make.
So? How do you do it? First of all, you need a table. IKEA as some great ones, cheap, but so does your local Goodwill if you are not located near the great IKEA or just want to recycle. Secondly, you obviously need a piece of fabric. You may have a great local fabric shop or live near a Jo-Ann.
All you are going to do – and yes, it is this easy – is cut the fabric to fit the table and then Mod Podge it down. My recommendation to you is that you cut the fabric just slightly smaller than the table, because during your smoothing operation the fabric will expand.
I would work from the middle out – applying Mod Podge to the table as well as to the fabric, and then smoothing outward to the corners. DO NOT put Mod Podge all over the table at one time, as it will dry before you even have a chance to work your way out.
Good smoothers include squeegees, rulers, even a rolling pin. Be careful that the edge of your smoother is not too sharp as you run the risk of tearing the fabric. Smooth gently but consistently and you shouldn’t have any problems.
Finally, I recommend Hard Coat Mod Podge to seal any furniture piece, for added durability above and beyond the regular stuff. Now you can wear and tear your finished project!
If you enjoyed this coffee table, I’d love for you to check out these other project ideas:
thanks for featuring my table! we love it too. it matches are living room SO much better, now. i also posted a how-to on my blog. altho, yours is much more to the point!
Wow, I never even knew that could be done. Apparently Mod Podge DOES rock! ../
I LOVE this idea! I’ve got a couple of tables in my den that need this treatment. Can the fabric be (easily) removed without hurting the table, or would you just recover it if you were to decide you wanted a different color, etc??
Hi Val – the Mod Podge can be removed with an ammonia-based product, but it depends on the table material as to how it will hold up. You probably would have to sand it (if it’s wood) and refinish it after removing the Podge. If it were me, I would just recover it, which is easy enough! ;p
I’m new to decoupauge and trying to cover a wooden kitchen island top w/Calvin & Hobbs cartoons. Does anyone have any tips for preventing air bubbles from rippling the paper? I’ve had mixed luck w/using a wallpaper smoothing roller…will try a rolling pin. Any tips? D
Love it! SO awesome!! Im new to using mod podge generally… but never used on furniture at all. You dont need to sand down the furniture at all right? I want to cover our ugly wood dresser but dont want to go thru the work of sanding!! ugh! LOL.
Also, Did you use the gloss or the flat kind (whatever its called?) It seems like the gloss always feels tacky..? Thanks for your tutorial 🙂
First let me say….. I love it. With that said, I have a table I have wanted to do this with but I have been hesitant because the few times that I have used the Hard Coat it never seemed to dry completely and stayed very tacky/sticky. I even tried using a sealer/spray coat of something over it to decrease the stickiness (as suggested by some other mod podgers) and that did not work either. Any suggestions? I do not want to ruin the table by using something that is going to make it sticky and have to start over.
Again, thank you for the post… I love it…
@Kelly R, Brush on varnishes like you can find at home improvement stores (Minwax Polycrylic) will remove tackiness completely. Try it, you’ll love it!
@Amy A. Thank you… I will definitely try it. I have not tried the Minwax brand yet.. Thank you again…
Love the fabric on the table. I have a glass table top. I would love to glue some fabric on top of it since it has noticeable scratches but I am not sure if I can use modge podge on glass. I also don’t know what to put on top of the fabric to finish it off so the table could be used and cleaned off.
I want to finish the top of a glass table because I am absolutely sick and tired of cleaning glass! I have a question that I may have missed however, would I put the fabric on top of the glass or on the underside? I know with painting glass you’d do the underside so I’m just curious…thanks look forward to hearing from someone…thanks!
Cheryl, you could do either – depending on the look you want! If the table is going to get a lot of use and you want to be able to spray it off with cleaner, underneath would be nice . . . . fingerprints won’t be as noticeable 😀