5 Ways To Refresh Old Furniture

Over the years, we tend to amass old furniture, and it can start to look pretty outdated. But there are some easy tricks that will transform that dresser from your childhood, refresh old furniture, and give your whole room an updated vibe!

No one deserves drab when they can have fab!

1. Paint Over It

The easiest trick, and the oldest. If you have a dresser with an awful stain – or one that just doesn’t resonate with the rest of the room – a little paint can go a long way.

If you’re looking to update a piece of furniture, paint it black. There’s nothing more modern and classic than black, and it can make even old antiques look contemporary in a modern space.

Not feeling the black? White is the other classic – and many people who restore old furniture love to artificially antique it. If you want something cute and a little farmhouse, a white distress might suit you.

But, if you’re feeling brave, any colour will do. You can paint your drawers in a pink gradient, or all over teal. It’s easy to refresh old furniture this way! Really, whatever you want to do, paint can help you get there.

2. Strip It Down

Alternatively, maybe someone has already painted over that furniture, or maybe it just needs to be a different stain of wood. Whatever the malady, you can solve it with a little sanding down and paint stripper.

If you’re not about all that wood – consider leaving some parts of the furniture painted. A dresser with a stripped frame and painted looks can be a unique piece that not everyone has! Although stripping is a fair bit of work, it’s mostly just time-consuming.

If you have the patience to treat your furniture right, this is one way you can refresh that old bit of furniture!

3. Wallpaper It

It’s best to use wallpaper sparingly – but that doesn’t mean don’t use it at all.

While covering an entire piece in a bright pattern can be a bit overwhelming (especially for larger pieces of furniture), if you use wallpaper correctly, you can transform a boring old piece of furniture into something one-of-a-kind.

Wallpaper just the top of a dresser, or the drawers. You could apply a chinoiserie design to the sides of a bedside table, or add something tropical to the back of a bookshelf. Whatever design aesthetic you’re after, there are so many different wallpapers out there for any project!

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4. Re-purpose It

If you’re tired of the sideboard sitting in your living room and looking bland, consider switching it up. Drawers can become cupboards and cupboards can become drawers – among all the other things that you can imagine for your furniture.

By rearranging the storage configuration within a piece of old furniture, you can transform the purpose of a piece of old furniture. A cabinet can become a drawer for socks, a bookshelf can become a dresser, and a church bench can become a bedhead!

The original purpose doesn’t have to be its only purpose!

5. Re-upholster It

Old furniture doesn’t have to just be wooden! Houses need chairs, and with chairs come upholstering.

Got a sad, grey office chair in front of your desk? Re-upholster it in some houndstooth fabric for an instantly grungy update! Do the dining chairs around your kitchen table look a little worn out? You can add some colour to them with any fabric you like!

There’s no limit to what you can do to your furniture, but remember to research how to DIY it before you begin! Quality results = no shortcuts.

Have you tried refinishing old furniture? Share your experience in the comments!

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