Are you eating dinner off of your Aunt Tilly’s beat-up kitchen table? Are you still sitting on the same couch you used in college? Do you wish you could magically swap out your bedroom room set for something that wasn’t made in the 90s?
When you are living on a budget, it is not always possible to replace furniture when you get the urge to redecorate. One of my favorite type of project to share is furniture makeovers, where I take an old or inexpensive piece and give it a new look. I am going to share five of my favorite ways to make old furniture new again, starting with methods anyone can try and moving on to more advanced techniques.
Few DIY techniques are easier than spray painting. If you are looking to give a piece of furniture a new look in a hurry, spray paint is the way to go. I revamped my old metal desk with a vibrant pink spray paint made by Plutonium Paint. The table was given a custom look by masking off certain parts of the table design, painting, and then peeling off the masks.
Be sure to buy paint that is designed to work on the surface you wish to paint. Different spray paints work better on metal, wood, or plastic.
Gone are the days of dated ivy stenciled borders of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Today’s decor stencils are trendy and easy to use. They come in a range of styles and sizes and can be used on walls and furniture. Our hallway storage bench was stenciled with a modified herringbone patterned stencil from Royal Design Studios. The bench was given a coat of plain white wall paint, and then stenciled with bold colors.
Embellishing furniture takes a little more time and skill, but the results are well worth the effort. This table was given a glam makeover with gold thumbtacks from the dollar store. By lining the thumbtacks close together in the Moroccan pattern, they give the effect of nail head trim. Of course, you can also embellish your furniture with everything from real nail head trim or traditional mosaics to decoupage or glass gems, and more!
You can give a piece of furniture an entirely new look with colored stain. This beat-up park bench needed to be stained and weatherproofed, but adding the blue stain also gave it a new life. Refinishing wood furniture requires specific products and a little know-how, but no one should be afraid to tackle re-staining a piece of wood furniture. You can find all the materials you need at a local hardware store.
If the piece is painted or heavily finished, you will need to strip the finish down to the raw wood. Once the piece has been stripped, you will sand it to remove any remaining finish or imperfections. Next, apply colored stain to the wood, using as many coats as it takes to reach the color you like. Give the piece of furniture a few coats of polyurethane, sanding between coats. Now the piece of furniture is beautifully protected for years to come!
Slip covering is probably the trickiest method for refreshing a piece of furniture, but it has the potential to make the most dramatic change. Whether you purchase fabric or repurpose it, you can completely change the look of a chair or couch with fabric. The chairs in our sunroom were given new life just by covering the cushions with clearance fabric.
Brush up on your sewing skills, and follow a basic slipcover tutorial to recover your seat. Gina from The Shabby Creek Cottage has a full series on slip covers, making it a good place to start.
There is no need to keep hating on your furniture. Get your DIY on and give those old pieces new life!
This post was originally created for ForRent.com
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Thanks, Jessica
Love all these projects! Paint surely gives a lift to almost anything!