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Honored Contributor
Posts: 69,382
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture

You all have some really creative ideas.  I like the idea of using decoupage on a piece where you want a graphic of some sort.  I have a collection of wrapping paper I've saved hoping for the right piece on which to use it.  You don't need to be able to draw, just paste. 

 

I often take a brand new piece and make it my own.  I recently got a bakers rack to put in the kitchen to hold all the small appliances I'm accumulating.  It came a dark forest green.  I'm going to add some copper paint accents and sponge on shades of teal and turquoise to make it verdigris.  The dark green will add depth.  I'm going to do the same to a horse head sculpture I got from Zulily.  It's resin but looks like carved wood, mottled browns, and is about life-size for a miniature horse.  I'm going to make it look like verdigris bronze.  I got a cool craftsman style stand to display it on. 

 

So much fun. 

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Honored Contributor
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Re: Repurposing Used Furniture


@Lapdog wrote:

OH @Kachina624  those chairs are fabulous!!!!   My house is done in the 50's and I love them!!!!

Go for the color change for your table too!

Did you find those at a Thrift store?


@Lapdog  No, no those are from a website.  I just like them a lot.  I'd love to find some of those chairs and finish them like that.  I remember seeing them in offices.  They were laminated blonde wood. 

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,520
Registered: ‎03-04-2012

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture

My bed sidetable I painted a cream color and mosaiced the top with pastel colored dishes.  Also bought an old set of dresser drawers and painted it a rich golden color underneath, then used a candle over the edges and other parts of it, painted a flat black on top, then used a sanding block to remove the areas I put the candle on so the gold would show through.  I have it in my entryway with a tray and candles on top.  Turned out very nice.  Have another bedroom side table I painted a dark green, crackled and then painted white on top.  Then I stenciled vines over the top.  I love doing that sort of thing.

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Posts: 398
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture

I started refinishing furniture in the 70's.  My ex was very good at showing me how to do it and what to use.  I paint over pieces to use in my house since. 

I really love the simple french provincial's in beige and white to do over.  I have done my

diningroom buffet, long bench in there.  In the bedrooms I did over the night stands, vanity etc.

I have started to refinish my oak diningroom table to get it back to it's orig. finish.

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Registered: ‎06-28-2011

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture

@NickNack, that chest is beautiful.  I love it!

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture


@hoosieroriginal wrote:

My bed sidetable I painted a cream color and mosaiced the top with pastel colored dishes.  Also bought an old set of dresser drawers and painted it a rich golden color underneath, then used a candle over the edges and other parts of it, painted a flat black on top, then used a sanding block to remove the areas I put the candle on so the gold would show through.  I have it in my entryway with a tray and candles on top.  Turned out very nice.  Have another bedroom side table I painted a dark green, crackled and then painted white on top.  Then I stenciled vines over the top.  I love doing that sort of thing.


@hoosieroriginal  I'd love to see a picture.  It sound kind of different. 

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture


@Kookielady wrote:

I started refinishing furniture in the 70's.  My ex was very good at showing me how to do it and what to use.  I paint over pieces to use in my house since. 

I really love the simple french provincial's in beige and white to do over.  I have done my

diningroom buffet, long bench in there.  In the bedrooms I did over the night stands, vanity etc.

I have started to refinish my oak diningroom table to get it back to it's orig. finish.


@Kookielady  You have your work cut out for you.  I've heard oak is very hard to refinish, but sounds like you have some experience. 

New Mexico☀️Land Of Enchantment
Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,520
Registered: ‎03-04-2012

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture


@Kachina624 wrote:

@hoosieroriginal wrote:

My bed sidetable I painted a cream color and mosaiced the top with pastel colored dishes.  Also bought an old set of dresser drawers and painted it a rich golden color underneath, then used a candle over the edges and other parts of it, painted a flat black on top, then used a sanding block to remove the areas I put the candle on so the gold would show through.  I have it in my entryway with a tray and candles on top.  Turned out very nice.  Have another bedroom side table I painted a dark green, crackled and then painted white on top.  Then I stenciled vines over the top.  I love doing that sort of thing.


@hoosieroriginal  I'd love to see a picture.  It sound kind of different. 


@Kachina624 - I'll post and notify you when I get a chance to get around to it!

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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture

[ Edited ]

I have many antiques - some purchased , some inherited. I am not into leaving old peeling paint on furniture, I can't wait to strip a piece down to the pretty wood and refinish it or paint it (depending on the condition of the wood when I get it bare.)I love to make it , as much as possible, as beautiful as the original artisan made it. Often when someone comes into our home for the first time they just walk around looking at the antiques , fascinated.

I started out when I was 20 and first getting married in 1969, I bought several pieces of used old furniture at Goodwill, and refinished & reupholstered them with a lot of help from my Dad.

Except for things like mattresses and sofas & overstuffed chairs, my parents had the same furniture from when I was a small child until they died.My Dad kept things refinished/repainted and looking nice for decades.

Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Repurposing Used Furniture

[ Edited ]

I've successfully finished, refinished or painted a few pieces. While I don't see doing much more, I do have available to me an old buffet I'm considering painting and using in the kitchen, but haven't yet selected a color. I also have an old coffee table currently not being used that's solid as a rock and has been painted a number of times. I'm considering painting it again and using it... As for the chairs pictured. They're not for me. Not only do they look uncomfortable, but I thought mid-century design was unattractive the first time around and, new or old, I don't like it any better now than I did then.  For me, that's one look that's best left in the past, but clearly, we all have individual personal styles and tastes.


In my pantry with my cupcakes...