Round painted patio table

A few weeks ago, my glass patio table was destroyed in a summer storm. Since then, I’ve been thinking about what type of table I might want to replace it.

I thought it might be nice to have a round table. I always feel like it’s hard to include everyone in a conversation with a longer table. I casually mentioned this to my husband, and he asked if he could build the table.

He’s been working all summer on replacing the boards on our deck. He decided he would like a “break” from that project to build a table. You might remember that I’ve painted a few picnic tables in the past. I wasn’t originally planning to paint this table, but when he finished building it, I found that I also was craving a creative project.

What’s the worst that could happen, right? If I hate it, I can sand it down and just stain it again.

So, I went to work and painted the whole table on a Sunday afternoon. Here’s a video of the process: (Sorry that the sound is terrible. Turn up the volume!)

Before I started painting the table, I designed what I wanted it to look like in Photoshop. I then exported the image as a PNG so I could import it into my Silhouette Design Studio software.

I have been a long-time user of the Silhouette cutting machine, although the Cricut has surpassed the Silhouette in popularity. I like the Silhouette because it can handle media that is three feet in length. The table is nearly 66 inches in diameter. So after importing the image and creating cut lines, I need to cut it in sections that are 12 inches wide and no more than three feet long. (Watch the video for more details.)

I painted the table using regular acrylic craft paint from Michael’s. I am going to coat it in three coats of poly, which will protect the paint. I hand-painted the sunset/waves on the image. I sketched them first with a pencil and then freehanded it. You can watch the video to see how I did the sun rays and stars. Finally, I added shadowing to the moon.

I love how it turned out! Here are some photo of the construction process as well as past tables I have painted:

Before painting the table, I stained it in dark walnut.

This is the first table that my husband also built.

A friend gave me this table. It hasn’t held up as well in the weather so it’s currently in need of repair, which is why I wasn’t able to just use it on my deck.

What do you think? Would you ever paint a table?