Our Hopeful Home: Vintage French Farmhouse Clock Table

french farmhouse DIY clock table plants cloche

Join me today as I share my DIY shabby chic vintage French farmhouse clock table and prove that with a little bit of paint and some stencils you can easily breathe new life into old furniture.

The stencil was provided by Stencil Revolution but all opinions are my own. Also, this post contains affiliate links. A purchase of any one of these items helps to support this blog and its creative efforts at no cost to you. To read more, please see my disclosure page.

side table French farmhouse three legs two tier

A few years ago I attended one of the best flea markets in the country -- the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, Illinois -- with birthday money burning a hole in my pocket. I came home with two vintage French farmhouse side tables -- in pastel blue. It was a weird color choice for me, but I loved the pretty lines of both tables and the obvious distressing which gave them even more of a vintage feel. The larger one was round, and the top had pretty fluted edges. I've used it as a bedside table, even though the blue never went well with our neutral-toned bedroom.

Although the carving details are undeniably lovely.

painted wooden table distressed gold spindles fluted edges

And the distressing revealed what looks like gold leaf underneath the blue paint. Score!

This picture shows just how "blue" this table really was.

laser cut French farmhouse clock stencil fleur de lis

Fast forward to my being asked to review some stencils made by Stencil Revolution. After reviewing their website and stencil choices, I knew there was at least one stencil I just had to have: their Clock stencil. Coincidentally, the stencil was the perfect size to fit on top of my vintage round French farmhouse table. The stencils I ordered were expertly packaged and arrived in perfect condition. All of Stencil Revolution's Mylar plastic stencils are laser cut. There's such a big selection that they have something for everyone. They even sell wall stencils. (I found it hard to choose!)

Here's what you'll need to get started:

Materials List

1. stencil of your choice

2. something to stencil on (furniture, canvas, basket, etc.)

3. chalk paint for the table
4. acrylic paint for the stenciling

5. paint brushes for your main piece
6.paint brushes for stenciling (or actual pouncers)

6. painter's tape

7. sanding pad or sanding sponge

8. cheese cloth (optional)

9.baby wipes (to clean paint off of stencil)

How To Stencil A Clock Face Onto A Vintage French Farmhouse Table

white two tiered table French farmhouse fluted edges three legs

1. I started by painting the entire table white. I've always said that you can fix just about anything with a coat (or two) of white paint. And in this case I was right.

Can of Rust-oleum Chalked Paint in Linen White

The paint I used was Rust-oleum Chalked ultra matte paint in Linen White. They claim one coat coverage for most things but I actually needed three coats. I think that's due to the fact that I'm known to be shy when it comes to applying paint and my individual coats are sometimes too thin.

sanded distressed white paint farmhouse side table

2. Once the table was painted and completely dry I got to work with my 3M SandBlaster sanding pad 180 grit (fine). The Rust-oleum Chalked paint distresses beautifully so I got a great result.

Even after painting it white the detail work on the legs looked great.

3. After distressing the table I used a piece of cheese cloth to wipe off most of the dust. I finished it off by using a clean, dry paint brush in all the nooks and crannies. If you don't have cheese cloth it's okay to just use the paint brush. A small shop vac might come in handy as well.

4. Since the stencil is square -- but the table is round with fluted edges -- the stencil couldn't lay flat on the table. You can see where the stencil extends over the edges of the table in the above photo.

clock stencil round French farmhouse table

Therefore, I took the liberty of cutting off the square corners of the stencil so that it could lay flat. It's important that your stencil is as flat against the surface as possible before you begin filling in the stencil with your paint. You can see in the above photo that after I cut the corners off the stencil it laid perfectly flat.

5. The next step is to secure the stencil to the surface with painter's tape. You need to make sure the stencil won't move around while you're painting.

5. Once secured, I began filling in the stencil using a small paint brush and my black acrylic paint. You are perfectly welcome to use "pouncers" (as opposed to paint brushes) which are made specifically for stenciling, however, I stopped using pouncers a long time ago since I actually prefer using a paint brush. Technique-wise you'll need to make sure not to put too much paint on your brush to ensure that the paint won't bleed underneath the stencil. You also have to be careful of bleeding even if you opt to use the pouncers.

NOTE: Once you're done filling in the stencil, but before lifting it up, your project might not look as pretty as you had hoped. Don't panic! It will ALWAYS look better once you lift the stencil and uncover your final work. (Also.the stencil cleaned up nicely afterward with just a few baby wipes.)

table plants basket plant holder fiddle leaf fig tree

Here it is in my French farmhouse living room sitting in my only east facing window on the first floor. My plants really seem to like it there. (I know, the fiddle leaf fig tree looks sad there, but I watered it afterwards and it's all good!)

ironstone boxwood topiary stenciled plant basket

I was thrilled to be able to display some of my ironstone collection on the bottom shelf.

Here's my large, boxwood topiary ball that I picked up at an estate sale.

And here's my DIY painted basket that I turned into a planter for my fiddle leaf fig tree.

The table looks great with nothing on it, but I also think it looks great with the plants on it.

I don't see this baby going back into the bedroom any time soon. I'm loving it too much in the living room where I can see it all day long.

It's definitely one of those projects that makes me smile every time I see it. Thank you to Stencil Revolution for hooking me up with some of their awesome stencils.

Well, that's it for today, friends! I
hope you enjoyed reading about my

Vintage French Farmhouse Clock Table

and that I've inspired you in some way.

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