I have been refinishing furniture for my home since 2020. Yes, this was my COVID-19 project when we were all stuck in our houses. We had just redone our kitchen and in all the chaos my cat decided to pee on our particle board dining table. And let me tell you… you cannot get the smell of cat pee out of particle board! So, sadly this had to go to the dump. We were stuck without a dining table and did not have any extra money to go out and buy one. This is when I came up with the idea to redo an old one.
I decided it was time to do away with the particle board furniture and look for something of quality. So, I started looking for free solid wood sets that needed some love. Luckily, I found a solid oak set right in our town for FREE! And the rest is history. This began a journey of learning how to refinish old furniture and give quality pieces a new life. Now adays I refinish furniture as a side gig while I am a stay at home mom and I actually make money by saving quality old furniture. I love it!
I wanted to share with you my top 5 fast and easy ways to update old furniture. Not every piece needs a total makeover. Sometimes you can rescue and refresh the furniture in your home with just a few simple changes.
Table of Contents
Change the Hardware
Swapping out the hardware for something more modern is a super easy way to update your old furniture. I will often do a new paint colour or stain along withthe new hardware but this is not necessary. If your furniture is in good condition you can simply attach a new style of hardware and have a totally new look! I find most of my hardware on Amazon these days.
These side tables were funny because I posted them on Facebook marketplace with some new black knobs and no body wanted them. I will show you a photo below. However, when I switched the knobs to gold and reposted them; they sold within 2 hours. Let me know in the comments which color knob you like best on these.
Paint It
This might seem like an obvious way to change the look of your furniture but I have it on my list because it truly is a really easy way to update your furniture. Especially if you use Beyond Paint. This paint is great because you don’t need a garage full of furniture refinishing tools. All you need is a small roller, a chip brush and the paint. Beyond paint doesn’t require you to sand or prime so you save time and money that way as well. You can purchase beyond paint on Amazon or at Lowes.
Clean and Wax the Wood
It might sound a little silly but giving your furniture a really good cleaning and using some restoring products can breath new life into it without having to do a full makeover. I like to use Dawn dish soap mixed with warm water to get all the greasy hand prints and previous waxes off of the furniture first. Then I rinse with some clean water. Once that has dried, I go in with Murphy Oil Soap Cleaner. Once that has dried, I go in on the drawers and other bare wood zones with some wood wax. Your furniture will smell amazing after all this and it will look so much better too.
If you want to take it one step further, you can try Restor-A-Finish. This is amazing at getting rid of superficial damage and can make your wooden furniture look brand new in many cases.
Drawer Liners
If you have an old piece of furniture that is in good condition but you just want to make it more fun, you can add some stick and peel wall paper to the drawers. All you need to do is wash out the drawer with soap and water and allow it to dry. Then you measure the drawer and cut the wall paper to size. Next, you peel and stick the paper down and try to keep any air bubbles out by flattening the paper from one side to the other as you go. If there is excess on the sides of the drawers you can take a blade and slice it along the edge to make it look more tidy.
Pro tip: always buy more wallpaper than you need. In my experience, I always make a mistake and need to start over on at least one drawer.
Add Legs
A super easy way to update your old furniture is to add some height to it with some new legs. Now adays our furniture sets and beds are much higher than in the past. So adding some height to your furniture helps it to fit in with the more modern trends. I found these beautiful hairpin legs on Amazon for a really good deal and they really made this midcentury modern dresser look complete.
I hope these 5 fast and easy ways to update old furniture come in handy for you. Remember that you don’t need to get rid of old furniture and you don’t need to do a complete makeover either. Sometimes a simple little fix or change will make an old piece come back to life for years to come.
I love learning about new ways to rescue old furniture. Please leave a comment if you have additional ways to update old furniture. Thank you for reading and feel free to share this with a furniture flipping friend!
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