The smell of turkey and pumpkin pie is in the air as we celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in early October. This year I'm decorating the table in simple farmhouse style with a DIY scrap wood table riser for a Thanksgiving centerpiece.

The bonus, it cost absolutely nothing to make with salvaged wood. I also added a vintage pumpkin patch graphic on the top and I'll show you how easy it is to transfer images onto wood.

DIY Thanksgiving Wood Table Riser

When not functioning as a table riser for food dishes during Thanksgiving dinner, it can be used as a fall centerpiece. One idea is to display real mini pumpkin tealight holders like I did. They look so pretty illuminated at night throughout the autumn season.

Alternative Use For Wood Table Riser

If you eliminate the feet, the wood table riser could be used as a fall sign either hung on a wall or leaning on a fireplace mantel or sideboard.

What You'll Need To Make It

I had everything to make the pumpkin patch table riser on hand but I've included a supply list below. It includes affiliate links so you can see what products I used or recommend to make it. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.

Supply List

Wood Board (salvaged)
Vintage Pumpkin Patch Graphic (free download)
Printer (color laser recommended)
Mod Podge Transfer Medium
Canadian Maple Saman Waterbased Stain
Autumn Orange FAT Paint
4 Unfinished Wood Turnings
Mouse Sander
80-grit Sanding Pad
Liquid Nails Glue
Clear Coat

Here's How To Make It

The inspiration for the table riser came from this salvaged 7 x 16 1/2 inch cedar board found in our workshop. The routered edge makes it a perfect candidate for a table riser.

Alternatively, a salvaged cabinet drawer front would work perfectly too. Places like Habitat ReStore or architectural salvage yards are a great source for inexpensive recycled drawer fronts.

Because I plan on adding a graphic to the top of the board, the rough cedar needs to be sanded smooth with a mouse sander and 80-grit sanding pad.

Stain The Wood Riser

Next, I stained the board with Saman water-based stain in the color Canadian Maple. The perfect stain color name for my Canadian Thanksgiving table riser!

Table Riser Feet

For the table riser feet, I found these unfinished wood turnings in my stash. I painted them with two coats of Autumn FAT Paint, a burnt orange color that I had on hand.

Once dry I attached them to the bottom of the table riser with liquid nails and set heavy books on top until the glue cured.

How To Transfer Graphics Onto Wood

First, you'll need an image to transfer onto the wood. I found this vintage botanical pumpkin graphic at the Graphics Fairy website. I uploaded it into PicMonkey and resized it to fit legal size paper in landscape orientation.

It's important that you print a mirror image (reversed) of the graphic. I recommend printing it with a laser color printer. However, you can use an inkjet BUT you'll need to let the ink dry for a few hours first or you risk smudging during the next step.

To apply the printed graphic onto the wood you'll need to use Mod Podge Transfer Medium and this Image Transfer Technique.

This is completely optional but I had an afterthought to add Give Thanks on the graphic after it was transferred onto the wood. It can be done with this Image Transfer Technique.

What I Would Do Differently

You can see in the photo above how the graphic doesn't completely cover the top of the wood table riser. Normally I resize graphics on the Block Posters website before printing but their website was temporarily down while I was working on this project.

Knowing the graphic was shorter than the riser, I should have whitewashed the top first before transferring the graphic. This way the graphic blends in with the color of the whitewashed wood rather than a stark contrast with the dark maple-stained wood.

To remedy this I waited until the graphic was completely dry. Then with chalk paint that I had on hand, I whitewashed the top of the riser only and not the routered edge. I liked how it gave everything a time worn patina.

How To Whitewash Wood

Thin white chalk paint with water to a milk-like consistency. Brush the paint on with an inexpensive chip brush and wipe it off immediately with a lint-free rag. The white paint nestles into the grain of the wood and gives the dark stain just a wash of white where you can still see the dark stain peeking through like pictured below.

Protect Wood Riser

To protect the table riser brush or spray two or three coats of non-yellowing matte clear coat over the wood and pumpkin graphic.

That's all there is to making a scrap wood table riser for Fall. We'll be using our handy wood riser to hold condiments and such during Thanksgiving dinner. We usually do buffet style dinner on our kitchen island so the dining table isn't cluttered with bowls of food.

Visit our DIY Fall Ideas page for more budget-friendly fall decorating ideas.

Happy Thanksgiving

For more pumpkin inspiration you may like these 12 DIY pumpkin ideas that are easy on the wallet. Thanks for stopping by the Interior Frugalista today! I hope you were inspired by this Thanksgiving wood table riser idea.

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