Furniture trends come and go and personal taste evolves over time. This means that you might fall out of love with your favorite accent chair you bought several years back. It’s totally normal to want to switch up your space from time to time and keep your home up-to-date. However, replacing all your furniture the moment you grow tired of it isn’t the most sustainable option. So, before getting rid of all those pieces that no longer put a sparkle in your eye, consider how you can reimagine them to suit your present needs and desires.
With a few creative tweaks, you can transform tired, outdated furniture pieces into fresh, functional designs that blend seamlessly into your current style. Below, we’re rounding up six designer-favorite ways to reimagine outdated furniture into something more current, attractive, and—occasionally—entirely new. From a colorful coat of paint to swapping out hardware, these small changes can have a big impact, helping you turn your dated furniture into stunning pieces that will feel right at home in your latest design scheme.
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Switch Up the Paint or Stain
One of the easiest ways to repurpose old furniture is by refreshing the paint or stain. Skill-wise, this type of makeover is as entry-level as it gets—practically anyone can achieve a beautiful finish with enough time and energy. Restoring a dull, wooden item with a new stain can completely transform the piece and make it look brand new. Or, you can paint an item to make it better fit in with the new color palette you’ve chosen for your interiors. A simple coat of paint or stain is so much cheaper than buying entirely new furniture.
Tweak the Shape
There are some parameters you’re stuck with when repurposing an old piece of furniture, but there’s also a lot of room for creativity, too. If you’re up for getting your hands a bit dirty (not to mention picking up a sharp tool or two), you can make small modifications to your furniture piece to help it blend more seamlessly with the size or scale of your home. Things like taking a few inches off a chair’s legs so it fits snug to a table or tweaking the molding on a shelf can go a long way toward refreshing a piece and making it feel brand new.
Add a Pop of Wallpaper
The best thing about reinventing old furniture is having the chance to infuse the piece with a bit of your personality. Beyond adding a new coat of paint, you could take things one step further and add a pop of pattern through wallpaper. This could include lining that back of an old bookcase or even the front of your kitchen cabinets with patterned wallpaper that suits your style. Adding wallpaper is such a simple repurpose job that is bound to give an entirely new look to your dated furniture.
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Reupholster
Any furniture with fabric on it is a potential candidate for reupholstering. So, don’t give up on those chairs you’ve had forever just because the fabric looks dated. “Due to their smaller silhouette, I love reupholstering vintage accent chairs because, despite their scale, they can completely change a space,” says designer Samantha Stathis-Lynch of Samantha Ware Design. “There’s nothing better than a cool mid-century chair decked out in a show stopping pattern.”
Add a Protective Finish
Sometimes, an older piece might be almost perfect as is, but it may need a bit of a boost to protect it from getting completely worn out. For those items where you want to preserve the existing patina (think: perfectly chippy paint or a well-loved wood stain), consider coating on a protective finish to essentially “freeze time” in the aging process. Products like protective furniture wax or acrylic sealant can help you guard your piece from wear and tear for years to come.
Attach New Hardware
Have five minutes to spare? Then you can tackle this furniture swap no problem. Think of hardware like jewelry; even the smallest sparkly upgrade can make a piece feel brand new. If you’re working with a antique furniture piece, you can aim to find hardware that feels true to the item’s original look. Or, you can add some contrasting modern hardware to give your antique a more eccentric, personality-packed look.
Reinvent the Piece
Our biggest bit of advice? Never take a piece of old furniture at face value. Just because something presents as a dresser doesn’t mean it needs to serve that purpose in your home! Said storage piece can just as easily become a bathroom sink or storage console with just a little imagination, a weekend’s worth of work, and a few handy tools.
