Let’s be honest: not all of us have a ton of cash to drop on farmhouse style furniture. After all, you could easily spend a couple grand on new pieces for just one room— which sort of defeats the whole “shabby” part of shabby-chic, right?! To solve this, we scoured the web and found a super easy DIY farmhouse table project to get you started on your room makeover.

Today’s tip comes to us from one of our all-time favorite DIYers, Kathryn from the YouTube channel Do It On A Dime. Today she is going to show us how to take an ordinary coffee table and turn it into a rustic farmhouse-inspired piece.

white farmhouse table in living roomDo It On A Dime

Gorgeous, right?

The secret ingredient? Chalk Paint!

First thing’s first— if you have yet to use Chalk Paint, then you’ve seriously been missing out. This ultra-versatile material can be used on pretty much any surface, including plaster, bricks, cement, metal, old or new wood, and even plastic!

Kathryn opts for Chalk Paint because it is goof-proof and requires only a little bit of sanding and basic painting prep.

All you need to do is wipe down your coffee table with a wet rag and get to painting! When it comes to chalk paint, it’s best to use natural bristle brushes, as they provide the most even finishes.

Once you’ve got your hands on the right equipment, simply brush on the “chalk”. According to our host, this particular paint doesn’t require artistic skills, per se. In fact, Kathryn swears that “the messier the paint [job], the better it looks!” Well, we can certainly do that!

With that being said, there is one thing you will want to keep in mind as you paint—drying time. Though we love the fact that chalk paint is relatively hassle-free, it is known to dry very, very quickly, so it’s important that you paint each layer in one shot. This means no Facebook or nap breaks on this project!

Because Kathryn prefers the “rustic, farmhouse” look, she goes in with sandpaper to distress the surface, and even adds some extra dimension by brushing a darker color onto the table’s top.

In the last step, the DIYer adds on some satin finish polyurethane. She warns us that the paint store may try to sell you a wax to layer on top of the Chalk Paint, but Kathryn stresses that the sealant is not the way to go—it’s far from long-lasting and it can even distort your finish. Good to know!

Now that you know just how great your coffee table can look when you add a bit of Chalk Paint to it, it’s time for you to get started on the project yourself. For a full tutorial, which includes super helpful step-by-step instructions and bonus tips, watch Do It On A Dime’s video below. We think this piece will display well in any room!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on this offbeat DIY. Have you ever attempted a similar project before? If so, were you happy with the results? What is your all-time favorite shabby-chic furniture transformation project?