Polka Dot Fabric Table

Psssst… this post *might* contain affiliate links: see my disclosure here.

*Pssst… Online Fabric Store provided me with the meat and potatoes for this post (read: the fabric), but I pretty much begged for it and all opinions obsessive or otherwise, are entirely my own!

A while back I tried something for our new guest room.  And I looooooved it.  Fabric. Furniture. 2Gether. 4EVR. I’ve had this side table in our garage for… a bit.  I loved the bamboo detailing and I wanted to cover the rest of it with a fun fabric to go up in Martha’s room.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

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To prep the side table, I cleaned and sanded and painted it with leftover green paint I had from this dresser.  The drawer front had a basket weave texture to it, so I used some spackle to fill this in just a bit.  (I was low on the green paint so I only did the spots that weren’t going to be covered with fabric, but ideally I would have done the whole thing… the paint shows ever so faintly through the thin fabric.)

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

Onto the fabric.  I chose this polka dot pattern and it’s a quilting fabric so pretty lightweight.  I measured the dresser and cut my fabric.  Polycrylic is the magic ingredient for this… just paint on a layer of polycrylic, lay down your fabric, and paint another layer right on top of your fabric.  Note: my fabric stretched out a bit when I saturated it with the polycrylic so I had to trim it a bit… I mentioned because you don’t need to cut your fabric EXACTLY to size.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

To protect the surface of your fabric treatment, go back over with a few coats of polycrylic.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

I love the whimsy and the pattern this fabric brings to the room and I love how it brightened up this $15 side table!

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

It’s also nice to have a place for her favorite books other than scattered across her bed!

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

Oh! And Martha personally selected a mouse drawer pull similar to this (affiliate) to use as the drawer pull. Super cute.

Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

This technique is one of my favorites and is the perfect way to bring in some fun pattern to a furniture piece… whether the top of the sides or even the back of a bookshelf… something to remember!

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Easy way to upcycle and refinish furniture with fabric.

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8 Comments

    1. We got it at Anthro but I don’t think they carry it anymore… I did see some on ebay (I think I included a link on the post…)

    1. Hi Jill,
      I had Polycrylic on hand so there’s that, but I also feel like it holds up better to moisture. I feel like ModPodge might get a little cloudy if something damp is left on it too long. So for the drawer fronts, no problem, but I figured I’d err on the side of caution for the table top! I also find Polycrylic easier to work with for something this large because it’s not quite as thick as ModPodge. Hope this helps!

  1. Love this and I know you told me to do this for the side table I asked about but my concern is being able to cut it nicely – it is a round top and I am NOT good at cutting neatly – any suggestions???