You never know what you'll find when shopping for vintage furniture, making it a gamble if you're searching for a specific style or size piece. Admittedly, new furniture is easier to peruse online but lacks that authentic, rustic feel that comes effortlessly with all things vintage.
DIY projects are the cheaper, more bespoke alternative to shopping vintage furniture trends. Drew Michael Scott (A.K.A Lone Fox) recently proved this by creating an elegant antique-style console table from an inexpensive and unexpected household material.
Using some cheap wooden fence posts, Drew created an organic tabletop to go alongside an iron base he thrifted. Taking to Instagram to share the behind-the-scenes of the project, the finished result proves that sometimes bringing together new materials and an antique piece that needs some love results in perfect, unique furniture.
He's made the process look surprisingly simple too, explaining, 'I used fence posts to create the top of this console. It looks so good and it's super budget-friendly.'
Proving that DIY is often cheaper than buying a new piece, Drew says, 'I only spent $50 on the top of the console, and the base was from Facebook Marketplace, and it was a little bit of a splurge. I wanted to think of a way to save money for the tabletop and I ended up getting these fence posts for $15 a piece.'
Don't be put off if you can only find long fence posts, Drew's were originally eight feet long, but he used a tape measure and woodcutter to 'cut them down to seven feet and connected them with silver brackets.'
Ensuring that they were wide enough to cover the width of the console stand, Drew explains, 'I got these silver brackets that span the four pieces of wood. I bought four of these brackets and spaced them evenly across the entire piece so it was evenly distributed.' Using nails and a screwdriver, he secures the brackets in place. These Flat Straight Brace Brackets from Amazon should do the job, depending on the width of your fence posts.
Drew says, 'I brought the tabletop back inside and it was time to construct our console.' Get a friend or family member to help with this step as the tabletop will be heavy and should be carried at both ends.
Drew shows the finished results and says, 'I just love how this ended up looking. I put the tabletop right on top of the iron base, and I love the tapered look from the smaller console, and the iron mixed with the wood looks so good. It looks like an elevated vintage console that we made by ourselves!'
Teaching us how to style a console table, Drew opts for rustic decor to enhance the area and make the console truly shine. He hangs a pair of small antique prints and continues decorating with vintage by positioning an earthenware vase filled with foliage at the other end of the table.
Style your console with these vintage style pieces
With a rustic green base and woven rattan shade, this table lamp is the perfect rustic accessory that will elevate a console and give your hallway a warm glow.
With its scalloped corners and dark wood frame, this vintage-style mirror is an effortlessly chic piece that would look best hung above a console for a convenient yet stylish arrangement.
Drew scatters some vintage prints in rustic antique frames around his console. This ornate gold one from Amazon is the perfect size for pairing with other pictures and will give your display a grand, lived-in feel.
Drew clearly sees the potential in all things, taking some boring old fence posts and transforming them into an organic, rustic tabletop that sits perfectly on top of an antique iron base. It's a lesson to think out of the box when it come to making your vintage purchase work for your space.
