Thrift Store Home Decor | Easy Cake Stand

Today. I am sharing with you an easy tutorial for an adorable thrift store home decor piece that also has practical use! Let’s dive in!

This post is sponsored by Dixie Belle Paint. All opinions are my own. Rest assured that I have used these products and would not share them with you if I wasn’t thrilled with the products!

Pinterest graphic showing before and after of thrifted cake plate repurposed into a cake stand

The following post may contain affiliate links. That means if you click and then buy something, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you! Thank you for supporting my blog. full disclosure here.

supplies on surface for thrift store home decor tutorial

thrift store shopping

Do you love to thrift? I do! It’s always such a surprise at what I come across. Sometimes, I find things I wasn’t even looking for.

Like this wooden cake plate. I was actually looking for a tray of some sort. I’ve been on a kick lately making risers using thrifted wooden trays that often held holiday nuts like walnuts in the shell.

Anyway, I didn’t find a tray but I did see a solid wood plate. I knew I could do the same type of upcycled project with the plate as I did with the trays!

list of supplies:

how to remove sticky residue

To start the project, I scraped off the price sticker with my chisel and then I followed up with Goo-Gone to remove the sticky residue. Then I used the flexible sanding pad and went over the top and bottom of the wooden plate.

lady sanding wood cake plate to prep for painting

I also used this Gator detail sanding block. It did a great job in the groove of the plate I had. You could also use the corner of the flexible sanding pad to get into that grove.

When I had gone over the whole plate, I wiped it down with a tack cloth. You can use a slightly damp microfiber cloth too. Let the wood plate dry before the next step.

close up of Gator Micor Tool detail sander

Dixie Belle products

I had been seeing these silkscreen stencils by Dixie Belle in projects around the web and I knew I wanted to use them for something. Dixie Belle provided this gorgeous silkscreen stencil for the project.

I’m a sucker for a scroll design!

close up of Dixie Belle silkscreeen stencil

Dixie Belle offers an amazing chalk mineral paint that my furniture painting friends love so I knew I had to give it a try. I chose Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint in Cotton because the light color would show up so well against the dark wood of the thrifted plate.

container of Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral paint for upcycle thrift store home decor tutorial

how to use Dixie Belle Silkscreen Stencils

Choosing which design I wanted to use was the hard part. The design I chose was small enough to move around the circular shape of the plate easily.

This is the first time I have used a silkscreen stencil. I knew it would be easier to work with if my design was separate from the whole sheet.

So I separated the stencil from the backing and cut it with plenty of allowance around the design.

The next step is to apply the silkscreen stencil to the surface. There is a good amount of repositionable adhesive on the backside of the stencil. The package says each stencil can be used 10 times.

I’ve stenciled in the past many times but I haven’t used a silkscreen stencil so I decided to try it out on the underside of the plate. I figured if I goofed it up, it would be easy to sand it off with my Dewalt Orbital sander 😉

The stencil comes with a plastic, flat-edged smoothing tool. I used it to make sure the stencil was firmly in place.

I dipped my artist’s brush into just a bit of paint and then dab off most of the paint on a shop towel. Then I painted and dabbed a light coat of paint over the stencil.

There is a thin layer of silkscreen in the decorative part of each stencil and it helps the paint not to get too gloppy.

The silkscreen stencil peeled off easily. Do this step while the paint is still wet.

Then, I immediately cleaned off the painted side of the stencil. I used the cellophane packaging that the stencil came in. The adhesive stuck to it on the underside and allowed me to clean the top side without the stencil slipping around. I used a damp shop towel to clean off the excess paint.

Let me mention laying out the design. The stencil design I chose was about 4.5″ in length. I stenciled the first section and then positioned the second design directly across from the first one. The third placement was halfway between the first two and then the fourth placement was directly across from the third.

It’s probably easier to think of a clock face – place the first at 12, the second at 6, the third at 3, and the last at 9.

how to paint resin

add some weight

The candle stand was made from resin and was hollow. I painted the base in the same Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint in Cotton and then did a light distressing. BTW, the paint adhered to the resin perfectly!

I mentioned that the candle holder was hollow, so I knew that it needed some weight. Fortunately, I had a bag of leftover aquarium pebbles my daughter left at our home from one of her wedding projects. I filled the candle handler with as many of the pebbles that it would hold. Then I glued a piece of cardboard to close up the open area.

I used super glue to glue the candle stand to the plate. I applied plenty of the glue around the outside perimeter of the candle stand and then pressed it down firmly for a couple of minutes so that it could dry.

how to protect wood furniture

The candle holder had a bright green felt piece of fabric on the bottom to prevent scratches on furniture surfaces. It was pretty ugly (think artificial turf green! agh!), so I removed it and replaced it with a tweed scrap of fabric from my stash.

After gluing with the same super glue, I cut off the excess fabric with sharp scissors.

silkscreen stencil the top

The top of the wooden plate needed to be stenciled too. I followed the same steps for laying out the design except for the placement of each motif. Picture the clock face – I laid the motifs out at 12,2,4,6,8 and 10.

The silkscreen stencils are flexible so they curved around the area on the top of the plate with ease. You just can’t get this flexibility with the more common mylar stencil.

lady applying silkscreen stencil to wooden cake plate for thrift store home decor tutorial using a cake plate

how to apply big mama’s butta

Now it was time to seal the piece. The top surface of the wooden plate could come into contact with food – you know, like a yummy chocolate cake. Get focused Cindy!

I hear the word chocolate and I get distracted!

Dixie Belle makes a food-safe wax that enhances wood grain. I chose to use Big Mama’s Butta in Orange Grove.

Dixie Belle Big Mama's Butta Orange Grove wax

It’s super easy to apply. Use a chip brush and work a small amount of wax on the surface. I used a circular motion to be sure I was getting the wax into the grain from all directions.

I applied Big Mama’s Butta over the entire piece, the top and bottom of the plate, and the candle holder base.

lady applying Dixie Belle Big Mama's Butta wax to wooden cake plate

All that is left to do is to buff the surfaces with a blue shop towel and then let it dry overnight.

So easy to use this super soft wax and the scent is AMAZING!! I didn’t feel like I was working at all. I felt like I was in an orange grove!

lady buffing Dixie Belle Big Mama's Butta was to thrift store home decor tutorial

And look at the results! Isn’t this the most adorable thrift store home decor piece you’ve seen?? And it is practical too!

thrift store home decor cake stand staged with blue pitcher, stack of plates and napkins on a wood table with wreath hanging on wall in background

how to distress Dixie Belle paint

I forgot to mention that when the paint was completely dry, I lightly distressed the stenciled design. Just a little rub with the sanding pad until it is distressed to your liking!

You can see in the image below that the distressing creates a worn-over-time look.

close up of stenciled cake plate using Dixie Belle products

Doesn’t the paint show up so good on the dark wood?

top view of thrift store home decor project cake stand and pillar candle holder upcycled

fun surprise underneath!

Even though the underside of the plate was for practice with the stencil, I’m really glad I did it. It’s a fun surprise underneath.

You can also see the piece of tweed fabric I used on the bottom of the candle holder to protect any surface this stand might be on.

wooden cake stand upcycled project showing undersside of stenciled cake plate

uses for this thrift store home decor piece

Let’s chat about uses for the thrift store home decor piece.

The obvious one is a cake. Ok, I’m back to the chocolate cake idea!

You could also use it to serve other desserts like cookies or brownies.

close up of painted base on cake stand upcycled project

Let’s think of some ideas outside of the obvious food serving ideas.

Next to a kitchen, this could be used to hold a pretty dish soap dispenser and a small scrub brush. If you decide to use this cake plate riser for something similar, I would suggest sealing it with Dixie Belle’s Gator Hide. It is a super-strong, water-repelling top coat.

This piece could also be used in the bathroom to hold glass jars filled with cotton balls, q-tips, and maybe a pretty bottle of hand lotion.

Wherever you choose to use a piece like this, it will be gorgeous!

close up of thrifted wooden cake stand on a candle stand staged with pitcher, stack of plates and napkins

Pin the image below to your home decor and furniture boards! Just click the pin button at the top left corner!

Pinterest graphic showing before and after of thrifted cake plate repurposed into a cake stand

the thrifting fun continues!

This post is part of a blog hop I did with some of my thrifty blogging friends! Be sure to visit their posts to see the fun projects they have to share with us!

Boys Rocking Chair – My Repurposed Life

Sand And Seashells Beach Jar Idea – Petticoat Junktion

Large Farmhouse Metal Basket – Domestically Speaking

Outdoor Coffee Table Makeover – Our Southern Home

Boho Chic Jewelry Tray – My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Coastal Coasters – Sadie Seasongoods

Upcycled Shutter Angel – House Of Hawthornes

Thrifted Child’s Wall Easel To Wall Decor – Organized Clutter

Easy Cake Stand – Reinvented Delaware (that’s me!!)

Refresh Bathroom Vanity Light – Shop At Blu

Thanks for joining our journey!

Thanks so much for joining us for this post! Join our journey so you don’t miss any fun projects, tutorials, and inspiration we share with you each week! You can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. We share even more inspiration on Pinterest!

Until next time…

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34 Comments

  1. I love this project so much Cindy. Stained wood or natural wood with white accents is one of my favorite decor looks!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Mine too Kathy! The high contrast is so pretty!

  2. That turned out so cute! Thanks for the inspiration. BTW, I didn’t even know Dixie Belle carried silkscreen stencils! I’ll run over and check them out right now!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      The stencils are amazing!! You can use my links for shopping too! Thanks for stopping by!

  3. This is just beautiful! I so need that little sanding tool for hard-to-reach areas. I love the stencils added. I can so see a pumpkin sitting on this!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Omgoodness, I never even thought of a pumpkin sitting on top! Perfect for fall!

  4. This is absolutely adorable, I love the stencil on the top as well! Beautiful makeover!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      So glad you enjoyed it Kristin!

  5. So beautiful! Love the details you added to make it so special.

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      And the details were so easy to add!

  6. Regina Jenkins says:

    Cindy you killed it again. You lay out every detail and of course your pics are amazing. Wish we lived closer, would love a thrifting bud. Happy to hear about the food safe wax. I need that!

    1. Cindy, this ia an amazing post. I have been curious about Dixie Belle products.

      I follow all their socials and gave been thinking about trying the products.

      Your information sold me. I’m thinking about using it for a few large paint projects I will tackle after the holidays.

      This piece is so pretty. I love that tge stencil is on the bottom.

      I have never tried these kinds of stencils either

      Pinned!

      1. Cynthia Gayle says:

        You will love Dixie Belle Cindy! The coverage is amazing. I have another fun project in the works with the paint too so stay tuned! Thanks for your encouragment 🙂

    2. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Regina, we would thrift and shop for hours together!! It would be so fun!

  7. Looks great and I especially love the tip to add the pebbles to the bottom of the stand. Good idea! The stencil is quite lovely too! Thanks for sharing and all of the tips!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      The candle stand was a bit on the lean side – in fact the plate was heavier than the stand!

  8. Oh my Cindy! This is sooo stinkin’ cute! I have a wooden charger in my stash–I think you have inspired me to do something with it. 🙂

    Great idea to add the pebbles for weight. Not sure I would have thought of that.

    pinned!
    gail

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Yay for having a stash of goodies!! I would love to see you project – the silkscreen stencils were sooooo easy to use! Thanks for stoping by Gail!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Wood and paint are best friends arent’ they? Thanks for stopping by! Stop in anytime for our tutorials!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Thanks Sarah! It was a good place to practice. This was my first time using this type of stencil 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!

  9. This turned out so pretty. The stencil came out so well. You are so creative & crafty!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Thank you! You are pretty creative too my friend!

  10. You did an amazing job on this project! It was brilliant to think to fill the candle holder with small rocks. Now the cake stand won’t fall over!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      The candle stand wasn’t the most substantial piece – hopefully the stones will prevent a cake from falling when on the cake stand! Thanks for stopping by Paula!

  11. Such an informative article! All the information provided by you is really very helpful. By using tack cloth you can easily remove small dust particles from the surface and it also gives you perfect finishing. Thank you for sharing! Keep posting!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Yes! A tack cloth is so helpful to remove dust. Thanks for reading out post and for your kind words!

  12. That looks like such a fun project! I’m subscribing to your blog. Do Dodson sent me over via her email this morning.

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Omgoodness thanks so much for joining our reinventing journey Linda!! So glad you are here!

  13. Do sent me over! I love your style, and am looking forward to seeing the lovely ideas you have. The cake plate is so eye-catching and I appreciate your step by step instructions!

    1. Cynthia Gayle says:

      Hi Marilyn! Thanks for joining us here! And thank you for your encouraging words about our projects! If you ever have any questions about our projects, please feel free to email me!

  14. Cynthia Gayle says:

    Thank you Marieza! Thanks for stopping by!

  15. Cynthia Gayle says:

    Thanks Marieza! And thank you for stopping by!