Repainting a Wine Half-Barrel Table

Kevin and I recently took a bit of a holiday and spent a week and a half socially distancing at self-catering holiday accommodation. If you’ve been wondering why we were so quiet, it’s because we were enjoying breath-taking views in the Vanrhynsdorp and Elgin areas of South Africa (road trip!). When we got back from our break, Kevin got straight back to work on electrics for the next section of the container house project. I decided to rather ease myself back into the work and helped Cindy repaint a wine half-barrel table.

What’s The Table For?

The wine half-barrel table is a nice little addition to Cindy’s patio area. Of course, if we were to actually “restore” it we would have had to replace some of the wood. The elements have affected the barrel. We really don’t think think that it is worth all that trouble, so we made a quick afternoon project out of it.

The nicest thing about the patio area during this time of year (winter, Southern Hemisphere) is that it gets a lot of sunshine. There’s nothing better than sitting out there and thawing out your toes while drinking some hot coffee. Therefore, the table is a fabulous and useful addition. (Shout out to my sister who originally owned the table).

A bonus on this project, is that the table can be easily replicated if you’re looking for a different table idea. In the Cape Town area it’s not too difficult to find wine half-barrels.

Repainting

We didn’t spend much time on the barrel itself. There’s not too much to tell you about the repainting process. We used sandpaper to sand off the loose paint and crumbly sections of wood. After that we masked off the barrel rings. We did not repaint the rings; we left them as is. Cindy and I painted the barrel inside and out using a turpentine based paint.

We left the paint to dry for a few days before cleaning the glass and popping it in.

If you’re looking to make a wine half-barrel table like this, you might want to know what the glass sits on. On the inside of the barrel four flat, metal pins are driven into the wooden slats. The glass sits on that. Those plastic stoppers that you add to the inside of cupboards to stop the doors banging when they close are perfect for protecting the glass from the metal pins.

It looks quite different from the day we installed the sliding door!