fabric project 2: kitchen table

The day after I moved in, I picked up this table outside my apartment (it was right outside!! I wasn't actively searching through the trash!)

I knew it would be an ideal kitchen/dining table, so I ignored the surface scratches and brought it up. I had been mulling over several ideas to try and cover the surface defects: sand and repaint, decoupage with wallpaper/magazine clippings (see the last dresser in this entry), or just slap on a table cloth.

After I acquired my fabric stash, I spent a day rummaging through it and playing with the different pieces. I didn't have anything big enough to serve as an actual table cloth, so eventually I decided on this:

The piece was just big enough so that I could tuck an inch of fabric under each side of the table and secure it with a generous amount of packing tape. Perhaps not the most sophisticated construction method, but it's working for now. My sister gave her stamp of approval, calling it "shabby chic".

And the best part of all is that it was all free!