Refinished Wood Plant Stand With A DIY Vinyl Clock Tabletop

This refinished wood plant stand came out so cute! It’s been a little while since I’ve done a furniture makeover. I picked up this old plant stand from my local thrift store several months ago. It’s been in my front room waiting for a makeover. Here is the before and after.

Before and after picture of a refinished wood plant stand.

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I loved the glass insert and had several ideas for it, finally settling on a clock face. I learned a new paint hack with this project, too. The details are down below. So, here we go…

SUPPLIES

DOWNLOAD THE FREE PRINTABLE CLOCK FILE

To download the clock face, just subscribe at the top sidebar or at the bottom of this post. You will be sent a welcome email with the password to the library. Go to the library page and enter the password, then download any of the designs you would like. These files are available as a PDF, SVG, and Silhouette Cut File.

How to use vinyl to add a clock face to a tabletop.

DISASSEMBLE THE PLANT STAND

I always start my furniture makeovers by taking them apart. I find it easier to disassemble any removable parts. It requires less taping, gives me more flexibility and helps prevent mistakes (drips). You can remove the “Made In Taiwan” sticker at this point, too. LOL!

I always put my hardware in a small cup or sandwich bag so nothing is lost or misplaced. I then took it outside to spray down with Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

How to spray paint the hardware for a refinished wood plant stand.

SAND THE WOOD

I knew I wanted to re-stain the top of the plant stand, so I sanded the old finish off. I used an 60 grit paper to remove the varnish then finished with a 320.

How to refinish the wood top on a plant stand.

Then I roughed up the surface of the base with a medium grit sanding sponge and a piece of sandpaper.

How to sand the base of a wood plant stand to prepare for paint.

I always vacuum and wipe down the surface to prepare for paint.

PAINT THE BASE

At this point, I did the unthinkable. I painted the base with wall paint. There I said it. Do I recommend this? Not really. But, I was out of white furniture paint and chalk paint. It worked out O.K. for this project, since I was only painting the base. It did dry too fast and left more brush marks than I would like. I wouldn’t use it for an expensive piece or for a tabletop. But, for a $3 thrift store find…it works.

I ended up doing two coats of paint and primer in one. I will say the paint adhered very well, because distressing it later was a bear.

How to age white paint on the base of a plant stand.

So here’s the scoop. Wall paint is meant for walls. It goes on thicker and doesn’t harden the way chalk paint or furniture paint would. It also leaves more brush strokes.

I recommend using a white chalk paint, like Rust-Oleums Chalked or going to the paint counter and asking them to point out a good paint for furniture. If you use chalk paint, be sure to use a protective top coat.

STAIN THE TABLETOP

To stain the top I used Varathane, Early American. You’ll want to wear gloves for this part. I used a cheap dollar store foam brush. Then I wiped it off with blue shop towels. It was a little lighter than I wanted, so I did a second coat. Let it dry completely. Then, I finished it with two coats of Krylon Crystal Clear.

How to stain the oak wood on a plant stand.

So, here is the new paint hack I learned. Did you know that you can use stain like glaze? Now, I want to say that I’m fairly new to this technique, but it worked well on this project.

I applied the same stain as the tabletop all over the white latex paint.

Then I wiped it off. It left the white paint with a beautiful creamy antique white look. If you look at the table legs in the image below, you see the original color of the paint. The pedistal and circle have been coated in stain and wiped down. It was so easy to do and it really makes the table.

I haven’t tried this with other types of paint yet. So if you plan to use a different type of base coat, try it on a piece of scrap wood first.

CUT OUT THE VINYL CLOCK FACE

You can snag the cut file for this clock image (and over 60 other files) by subscribing at the top sidebar or bottom of this post. Once you download the file, you’ll need to cut it out on your Silhouette or Cricut cutting machine. Then weed away the extra vinyl until it looks like the image below.

Then grab a piece of clear transfer paper and remove the backing.

Place the transfer paper over your clock image.

Rub the transfer paper with a credit card or bone folder. You want to concentrate on the areas with the clock image, like in the picture below. Then peel off the backing from the vinyl.

For my project, I placed the vinyl clock on a piece of off-white card-stock under the glass on my table. I used my cutting machine to cut the card-stock in a circle the exact same size as my glass.

Then I took the transfer paper with the clock image, centered it over the card-stock and pressed it in place. Once again, go over the image with a credit card, then peel of the transfer paper. Now you can place your card-stock image under the glass.

If you want to stencil the image with paint, use the reverse part of the cut vinyl as a stencil (the part you weeded away and discarded). Then use black paint and a makeup sponge to dab the numeral areas. I have a post on stenciling here.

Now reassemble your plant stand and you’re done.

Refinished wood plant stand after paint, stain and vinyl clock tabletop.

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