Various factors motivate homeowners to give their furniture a makeover. One primary reason is when such equipment or accessories show visible signs of wear and tear, significantly impacting their appearance and functionality. One can upgrade one’s furniture with new upholstery or paint or by replacing hardware. Various DIY strategies and ideas inspire homeowners to get creative and save money while remodeling their furniture, reducing the costs of hiring a professional for the task.
1) Reupholstering chairs
Instead of purchasing new chairs whenever old ones wear out, reupholstering them is a much more sustainable idea. This is one of the easiest and most elegant DIY furniture projects to give homes a new look and feel. Reupholstering is especially effective when the chair’s legs and support are in good shape but the fabrics have gotten old. All users need is a staple gun and new fabric to customize the cushions of their chairs with design patterns of their choice. Replacing the fabric on cushions for smaller chairs takes about an hour or two. Larger chairs, such as fully upholstered accent recliners or seats, will take longer to refurbish.
The quickest way to begin reupholstering chairs is to remove the cushion from the seat and replace the old fabric with a brand-new one. The size and shape of the material help people determine how much new fabric they will need for the task. Generally, one yard of durable, long-lasting fabric will be enough for reupholstering two standard dining chairs.
2) Painting furniture pieces
While many people paint their walls and ceilings, painting furniture pieces is not the most common idea. Unlike reupholstering, which takes time and effort, painting chairs, tables, and sofas helps update furniture pieces with half the time and effort spent. One can use their favorite shade of chalk paint to give their dining tables, chairs, coffee desks, and cupboards a whole new lease of life. Additionally, painting furniture pieces lets homeowners match the color scheme of their walls, curtains, and home appliances to make their spaces look visually appealing. Those looking to meet sustainability goals through their furniture upcycling efforts can use eco-friendly paints.
Choosing the right brushes and paints is key to successfully re-painting one’s furniture pieces and making them look incredible in one’s home. A furniture refurbishment idea similar to painting is re-finishing old pieces.
3) Repurposing old desks
People transitioning from on-site jobs to remote work will need a dedicated work desk in their home office. Instead of purchasing new desks, they can save money by doing a contemporary furniture redo. Repurposing a desk can be as simple as using some elbow grease and cleaning to remove ink stains, dried glue, and crayon marks from the surface.
But, it is important to note that repurposing old desks is not as straightforward as simply painting furniture pieces. People require the necessary skills and tools to cut furniture apart, replace missing parts to create separate units and build new tops to transform outdated desks into refurbished pieces. Examples of repurposing old desks include transforming them into small cabinets that can be used as end tables near a sofa. Alternatively, one could also use other DIY furniture restyling ideas to repurpose old desks into nightstands next to beds.
4) Adding pieces to existing dressers and cabinets
Many contemporary furniture redo ideas revolve around adding elements to a piece for enhanced function or aesthetics. Examples of elements that can be added to existing furniture pieces include bookshelves and cupholders on storage cabinets in one’s living room. This gives such cabinets more storage, new hardware, a possible fresh coat of paint, and, most importantly, a fresh lease of life, which makes such cabinets usable for at least a few more years. Other examples of modern furniture upcycling by adding pieces to existing fittings include adding a hutch to a set of drawers or putting a brand-new backing to the base of an old chair.
5) Adding new legs to dated furniture pieces
Many elegant DIY furniture projects involve increasing or decreasing the height or width of fittings in one’s home. If an individual needs to gear their furniture for it to reach the “right” height, they can add legs to it. These pieces elevate existing chairs and tables while also lifting furniture pieces off the ground to increase their use cases. Adding legs is a tried-and-tested way to give an old chest of drawers (or seats) a modern and chic look. These leg pieces are available in different sizes and materials, so users can mix and match them until they find fittings that go perfectly with their existing furniture. One may need nails, industrial glue, or other sticky substances to properly fix attachable legs on their furniture pieces. This fix must be strong and resilient and must not come apart even when the furniture is lifted or inverted.
6) Swapping out knobs and pulls
One can replace old hardware on their existing cupboards and cabinets by upgrading their handles and pulls. People who love the shape but not the finish of their existing furniture pieces can spray paint old pulls or use a bit of rub-n-buff to update their hardware. Replacing old knobs and pulls is an incredibly easy and quick way to take an old storage unit from unappealing to sophisticated within the span of a single afternoon.
