DIY Cake Stands

DIY Cake Stands – learn how to make your own using some wood rounds and unfinished candlesticks!

Cake Stands are a perfect way to showcase desserts, centerpieces, or floral arrangements. Today I’m sharing some styling ideas (for Thanksgiving AND Christmas) but also how easy it is to make your own cake stands.

This post is sponsored by my friends at Saltwash. I’m a brand ambassador and absolutely love this product. My readers can receive a discount on splash cans when clicking the Saltwash ad in my side bar.

Wouldn’t you think these were old cake stands I found at an antique store or were passed down through my family?

Nope.

This is how they started:

Can you believe that?

I honestly couldn’t believe how easy these were to make. I thought it would be fun to share two different styles with you. One simply stained, making the wood feel warm. The other with a more coastal look of limed wood base and a textured, Saltwash top.

DIY Cake Stands

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Materials

• Unfinished Wood Round (I found mine at Michael’s)
• Unfinished Candlesticks
• Saltwash® Powder
• Paint (I used this)
• Stain (I used this)
• Salad Bowl Finish
• TiteBond II

Method

Glue your candlestick to your wood round. You may want to mark the center of your wood round. I didn’t and it slid when I placed the book on top.

Place a heavy book on top and allow to dry. I let it dry overnight.

If you want a Scandinavian look you can leave the cake stands unfinished, or with a coat of salad bowl finish. I wanted to have some fun with stain and Saltwash. To create this looks read on:

Easy Stained Cake Stand

For this cake stand I used a great stain and sealer in one by Homestead House. I love cappuccino stain because it has a really warm, old look. I like to use affordable brushes from Ikea to apply the stain.

After 12 minutes, I wiped the excess with a clean cloth.

This stain has a sealer built in, but to make it more durable, I added their Salad Bowl Finish which is food safe. It really added a luster to the wood.

Coastal Style Cake Stand

I wanted the other cake stand to have a beachy feel so I went with something more muted. Originally I was going to paint the entire thing but thought it would be fun to show some of the wood color through it. I decided to do a wash on the base and a Saltwash / Paint finish on the top. To create a wash you add a little water to your paint and paint it on. I used Raw Silk, which is a creamier white by Fusion Mineral Paint. When doing a wash I like to wipe back with a paper towel, if you wipe it back be sure to use a non-textured towel.

I like that you can see the wood grain through the paint.

I wanted the top to look textured and coastal. That’s where Saltwash Powder comes in handy. Saltwash is a paint additive that actually contains sea salt. You can mix it with any paint. For this project I mixed it in with a Fusion Mineral Paint called Putty. It’s a muted tan and thought it would give a nice neutral texture. If you want something a more boho, you could definitely do bright pinks or blues under the white.

I stipple the paint on (as pictured above). For a more detailed “how to” you can watch this video on mixing and applying Saltwash, you can watch this video I made:

Once that’s dry you apply a second layer of paint in a different color. I used Raw Silk to tie into the base.

After all the second layer of paint is dry, it’s time to sand. I used 220 grit sandpaper.

Here you can see that layered Saltwash texture. You want to sand selectively, go heavier on some areas and leave some areas unsanded. I clean the sanding dust off and add a topcoat. As with the first cake stand, I used Salad Bowl Finish on this. I wanted something that was food safe and will be durable.

I’m really loving these cake stands and so excited to use them for Thanksgiving!

I know this post was a bit long with three DIY tutorials in one but I hope you enjoyed learning to make these DIY cake stands and learning a few painting techniques, as well. I’ve been wanting to make these for so long and now I’m wondering what took me so long 🙂

The great thing is these can go from Thanksgiving to Christmas really easily, too! Actually, they work for any holiday or just every day living. I thought it would be fun for you guys to see them for Christmas, too.

Which cake stand do you guys like the best?

Let me know if you have any questions about them or about using Saltwash. If you enjoyed this post you might also like my eBook on painted furniture and more Saltwash tutorials.