Scavenger Chic

Upcycled Barrel Bistro Set DIY

• By Joan
• January 31, 2018
• 7 Comments

My sister always has the coolest things and sometimes I find myself wanting to do her projects more than my own.  Remember the chicken incubator…that was hers. I also stole this toolbox from her.  It’s a coffee table.  Oh, and the termite trunk, that was hers and now it’s  a coffee table too.

She never has the time to work on her projects, because unlike me she has a real job, and I, on the other hand, am always on the lookout for a good project…so we’re a good fit.

She had found this barrel in a barn owned by her husband’s, friend’s, parents, who were looking to clean out some of the “junk” in their barn.  She had placed a temporary table top on the barrel until she could get around to working on it.

And I had bought two  stools at a thrift store, the perfect fit for her barrel.

The barrel has the lettering “The N. L. C. Co, Frederick Md”, on it’s side but I couldn’t find any history of the company online.  

I also knew that this barrel could look brand new if I gave it a fresh coat of paint, but there was no way I would ever cover up all that beautiful chippy history.  I had also promised my sister before I stole it from her that I would preserve her barrel as best I could.

I wanted to use the counter height stools with the barrel but that meant adding 4 1/2 inches to the height which would equal 3, 2 inch thick boards that are milled down to  1 1/2″.

To the bottom of the barrel I’m adding my first 1 1/2 inch board cut to the same size as the base.

I stained the base then attempted to paint this addition as close to the color of the barrel as I could.

Screwed these pieces onto the bottom of the barrel.  These were actually the only pieces that were screwed directly onto the barrel.  I didn’t want to damage the barrel any more than I had to.

I’m using more scrap wood cut into triangles to hold up my table top.

From those triangles I made my own pattern for wood brackets.

Cut out with a jigsaw, bandsaw or scroll saw and sand.

When I placed my brackets on the barrel they stuck out a little too far.  Easy fix, just trimmed off an extra inch and resanded.

For the tabletop I’m using 3 old pieces of 2×10’s I rescued from my son’s back yard.  He had a bunch of old wood left over after he was finished rehabbing his fixer upper.  It’s the same house whose new stair treads you can find here and which needed an unobtrusive attic access cord.

His excess wood was much better in my garage than under a blue tarp in his backyard.  I gladly took it off his hands. I’m such a nice mom.   😀 

If you find the center of the wood you can draw a circle using a string and marker (or chalk).

Cut out once again using a handheld Ryobi Jigsaw , scroll saw or band saw.

This was the second 1 1/2″ height addition.

For the last 1 1/2″ addition, I cut and sanded one more circle the exact circumference of the top of the barrel.

The top of the tabletop was assembled with kreg jig screws and wood glue.  The smaller circle was then screwed and glued to the upper piece.  This also helped keep all the top pieces together.

Finally, I screwed the brackets into both pieces.

Those pieces I just assembled fit neatly over top of the barrel.  No screws necessary.  The brackets keep the tabletop from sliding or tilting.

Gave all the pieces a good sanding with a DEWALT electric Sander  .

The color on the bottom barrel piece matched really well but it still looked like I had stuck on a new piece of wood and attached it.  Well, that is pretty much what I did.

The barrel had ended with a bunch of leftover barrel hoop rustiness.  I needed more rust.  

I had found this rusty hoop a couple years ago in a dump and I have wondered why I ever brought it home.  But wonder no more, it’s absolutely perfect for my barrel….at least it’s super close.

Used some old roofing nails to tack the piece into place. I’m only nailing into the added piece, not the original barrel.

This is why I said it was almost perfect…so close.

Back to my junk pile where of course I had a piece of rusty metal sitting around that could bridge the gap. Now it’s perfectly imperfect.

Doesn’t that piece look like it was always meant to be there?

I stained the stools dark before painting them with white chalk paint and distressing the edges.

By the way, these were also thrift store finds and they could have joined my 50+ thrift store makeovers from Monday.

The tabletop was finished in the same manner as I did my faux railroad tie mantel with a couple coats of vintage wax and just a few drops of black chalk paint.  I like using the black on some of the wood edges.

My sister loved the transformation and didn’t even notice the bottom addition.  I think she also appreciated that I left her barrel intact.

Stay inspired.

Shared at Salvaged Junk Projects,

Metamorphosis Monday, Talk of the Town,

I was featured at

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