DIY French Country Furniture Makeover

This project was part of a group of bloggers coming together to share a makeover based on a theme. The theme this time around was French. To be honest, I had a hard time with this one. It didn’t come to me as quickly as the DIY knobs for a dresser I did last month. When I think “French”, a lot of things come to mind: Paris, Eiffel Tower, pastries, old books, old architecture and then I thought of French country furniture.

That’s it!

I will be interpreting “French” into a French Country Furniture Makeover.

I found this beautiful piece at a sale I was not even going to walk up to.

Thank goodness I did.

The sale was inside what looked like an old farmhouse shed or garage from a long, long time ago. There weren’t any lights inside and it was pretty run down. When I was looking around I felt like I was on an episode of American Pickers. The man having the sale said his band used to play music inside this shed and he has been collecting things for a long time and it was time to start getting rid of some of it.

He had old signs, old furniture and pieces he brought back from traveling. There were a lot of unique things inside, but the lady walking ahead of me was buying things left and right so I didn’t think I would get anything.

Then, I spotted this piece. There were wood railings piled on top of it so it was hard to see.

It was missing the doors, but that didn’t bother me. It was still a sturdy piece.

Nothing like having pieces fall apart on your way home.

That’s okay. The other side fell off when I was working on it so it evened out. 😉

The top looks worse than it was. I was able to sand it down and clean it up pretty well before I painted it.

Okay, I have to be honest and say that I was really excited about seeing real worm holes in the top! I didn’t have to get out a hammer, nail and chains to get this look. It was already here. Score!

Since old books entered my brainstorming idea for this project, I had to incorporate them into the piece.

I decided to put old book pages inside the drawer.

All you need for this is some Elmer’s glue, water, old book pages and a paint brush or foam brush. (My daughter had this pouncer out the day before so I used that).

Before I go any further, I wanted to show you how bad this old book was. I couldn’t keep it together if I tried.

***No pristine, ancient books were harmed in this project. 🙂

I mixed water and Elmer’s glue together so it was a thick, spreadable consistency and spread it on the inside of the drawer. Then, I laid the book pages down randomly.

I put a thick coat of the glue mixture over the pages and once it dried, I applied two more coats.

I painted the rest in “Elegance” from Country Chic Paint. It was the perfect color to transform this run-down piece into a pretty French Country Cabinet!

I went around all the edges with my sander to wear down the paint a little.

I replaced the white knobs it had with beautiful knobs from Hickory Hardware.

{Affiliate links are used in this post. You can read my disclosure HERE.}

The moral of this makeover is to never judge a book by its cover. If I would have, I would not have stopped at that yard sale and found this piece (along with some amazing architectural pieces). This French Country Furniture Makeover is a great example of being able to decorate your home exactly how you want it while staying on a budget. 

*UPDATE: A friend of ours bought this little piece from one of our yard sales. We came to find out that the book I used on the inside of this piece was worth a little money. HAHA! It was in such horrible condition that I don’t know if it was worth much because of that, but if it was in good condition, it may have been worth something. Another lesson learned in this project ……. research the titles of old books you are using to make over a piece of furniture. 😉

If you don’t want to create your own french country furniture, I found some beautiful pieces online:

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If you liked this French Country Furniture Makeover, be sure to check out these other transformations:

White Farmhouse Hutch Makeover

Curbside Picnic Table Makeover

Easy DIY Farmhouse Table