How to Update your house and furnishing for pennies!
Upgrading and Upping Your Savings in the Process
If your house is full of tired old armchairs and worn upholstery, it’s tempting to daydream about replacing it all with new items straight from the store. But there’s a more frugal and a lot more satisfying option: the newly fashionable practice of upcycling. This involves renovating old pieces of furniture for little cost, giving you an expanded furniture lifetime and lots of style!
Here are some tips for upcycling furniture, whether you’ve just picked something up from the local thrift store, inherited some second hand furniture, or you just want to upgrade something you already own.
Quality pieces
Even if a piece looks shabby, if it’s good quality furniture with strong joints and a sturdy frame, be it one of those armchairs we love so much or that coffee table you just don’t want to part with, then it’s certainly worth upcycling. Don’t waste your time on something if it’s likely to fall apart quickly after you’ve put in a lot of work.
Browse
Always have your eye out for a bargain, whether you’re wandering through an antiques market, browsing in a thrift store, or you spot something in the trash at the side of the road.
Surf
Because upcycling has become so popular there are many blogs, Pinterest pages and websites all over the internet. Do some research and look around for inspiration: you’ll be astounded by how much you find!
Don’t hoard
It can be really tempting to hang on to things ‘just in case,’ or pick up accessories at the store because ‘it might come in handy.’ Don’t fall into this trap. It’ll just leave you with more expenditure and clutter. When you shop for your upcycling projects, make sure you love the things you buy and believe in the project.
Paint and fabrics
This is the best way to really give a piece of furniture a new lease of life. Learn about sanding techniques, different paint effects and what fabric types work well as upholstery. This will put you in a great position for some fantastic furniture upcycling in your future!
You can give your whole house a smashing makeover for very little expenditure with a little thought and time. It’ll be great fun, and you can get the whole family involved.
You can also decoupage furniture to give it a whole new look.
I used to decoupage in the 90’s and I’ve not given it a thought since. Right now we are covering an ottomon because the leather is coming off. But we’re just using fabric. 😛
These are great tips! I’m not very crafty but I’d like to try.
I just love this article. I always have a very open mind when it comes to decorating which leads to my very eclectic style which I think people really appreciate more then very expensive furnishings. great information!
Don’t hoard… bahahaha too late for that! 😉 I have an refurbishing idea for a piece of furniture in my house! I can’t wait to actually do it! 🙂
We are moving next year and this is really going to be how I have to decorate. Thanks for the tip!
We just remodeled a few rooms in our house but need to finish getting the guest room and our room done– thanks for the tips on saving $$ when updating spaces in your home!