Thrifty mother upcycles drab dining table using £16 paint (and it saved her £700 in the process!) 

A thrifty mother has revealed how she saved herself £700 by upcycling her drab dining table using £16 pots of paint.

Kerry Green, 49 from Hull, bought the piece of wooden furniture for £100 in an IKEA clearance sale a decade ago. 

Although she was thrilled with her bargain at the time, the mother-of-four –  who works as a health visitor  explained how she recently started to notice how outdated it was. 

Speaking to Latest Deals, Kerry said: ‘Four years ago, I painted the top black. However, I recently decided I wanted a change. I looked online for similar tables to buy, but the average cost was £800!’ 

Rather than splashing out on something completely new, Kerry started searching Facebook groups for ways she could update her dining table and chairs.

She said: ‘I browsed DIY groups on Facebook for inspiration and saw someone had created a great wood effect technique on their radiator cover using Frenchic paints and a special brushing technique.’ 

With nothing to lose, Kerry decided to give it a go herself and bought two tins of Frenchic paint in the shade Blackjack from their Alfresco range.

She used this darker colour on the table legs and the chair frames before covering the tabletop and the back of the seats in Frenchic’s white shade Cool Beans.  

Kerry was delighted with the end result and says friends and family assumed she’d bought a new kitchen furniture set

Kerry (pictured) couldn’t find any alternative kitchen tables online for less than £600 so set about upcycling the one she hadf

To revamp the top of her MDF table, she started by lightly sanding it down and then scrubbing it with sugar soap.

She said: ‘Then I applied three light coats of paint for full coverage, allowing an hour of drying between coats.

‘For the finishing effect, I used the browning wax from Frenchic which is brushed lightly onto the dried paint and left to dry.’

In total, Kerry says she spent roughly £100 on all the paint and tools she needed to complete the transformation – which saved her £700 from when she was considering buying a whole new set. 

Explaining how she achieved the faux wooden grain finish, Kerry said she used two different brushes to apply the wax and then went over it with a dry brush once it had set.

She sanded down the tabletop, scrubbed it with sugar soap and then used the £15.95 wood-effect paint

The mother urged anyone else undertaking a similar home project not to rub away the brush strokes – as she says this is key to getting a convincing wooden grain effect

She said: ‘I left the brush marks as they were, and even though it looks odd at first, you can see the wood effect pattern taking shape by the time the second coat is done. 

‘Then you add another coat of the wax brushed in and it creates a wonderful wood effect. It took three light coats of Frenchic browning wax in total. I paid £15.95 for one tin of wax, and I have plenty of paint and wax left over now the project is done.’ 

Although it might be temping to rub away the brush strokes, Kerry says they make all the difference in the end.

‘This project really wasn’t difficult to do – the hardest part was the fact you have to let the paint and wax cure so I couldn’t use the table and chairs for about two weeks, just to allow the finish to harden. 

‘Now I get plenty of compliments from people who think I have bought a new table – they are always amazed when I reveal I created the wood effect myself.’