Turn old, battered and reclaimed furniture into new treasures with a few easy to do DIY tricks.
Old furniture is often far from done serving a purpose, even ugly furniture may have a little life left in it. The key is to stick with furniture that has solid bones and is structurally sound to continue being useful. Good lines are also important but even dated designs can be transformed with a little elbow grease. Just a few DIY tips and tricks and suddenly a rundown piece or a new found garage sale treasure can garner jealous glances from guests.
How to Refinish Dressers
- Re-stain – One way to give new life to a solid wood dress is to sand it and refinish it. To make it even more exciting, try using two different colors of stain and create a simple design with stencils and painter’s tape.
- Paint – Paint is an old friend to the DIY’er and repainting an old dresser is an easy fix, especially if the dresser is cheap and its natural wood needs a little hiding.
- Distress – One way to turn old furniture into even older looking treasures is by using some furniture distressing techniques. Distressing furniture is fun and easy and remarkably therapeutic.
How to Update Couches
- Reupholster – It is possible for someone with a lot of DIY skill to reupholster a couch, it’s not an easy task, but definitely a cost saver in the long run. If reupholstering the entire couch is too challenging, try just reupholstering the cushions, this mismatched look is very popular and recovering seat cushions is actually fairly easy.
- Slipcovers – Buying a slipcover is a very easy way to instantly update the appearance of a couch, and skilled seamstresses can create their own and replace them regularly,
- Change the Throws – One of the easiest ways to refresh the look of a couch is by draping a new throw blanket over the back and tossing on a few matching throw pillows. Go for an unexpected color that may even clash a little bit and voila, fresh and exciting change.
How to Give Shelves a New Look
- Paint – It’s an easy answer and an equally easy task but adding paint to shelving can make it look completely different. But by getting a little creative and painting the inside of a shelf, or even just the back wall, a different, contrasting color really makes an old shelf exciting.
- Decoupage – Create a theme shelf by decoupaging the back wall of a shelf with images that relate to the items being held, or select a patterned wallpaper or wrapping paper and decoupage it to the inside of the shelf.
- Hardware – Give freestanding shelves a little excitement by buying corner hardware and attaching it to the top and bottom edges. If there are handles and pulls, change them as well.
Creating new treasures out of old furniture can be as easy as throwing on a few pillows or slapping on a coat of paint. The key to getting more life out of old furniture is looking at things from a new perspective and imagining what it can be rather than being stuck looking at what it is.
Copyright Kristin Abraham. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
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