As I have gotten older, I appreciate old furniture more. I used to purchase all of my furniture from the big box stores. Don't get me wrong, those are definitely great places to buy furniture. But I have started to prefer furniture with a story.
I have several pieces of furniture that were handed down from my mom, and I love those pieces. I grew up with these pieces in my childhood home and now I have these pieces in my own home. I have also fallen in love with Facebook market place. I know that can be hit or miss depending on where you live. Since I live in a larger metroplex, I feel like I have hit the jackpot on Facebook Marketplace availability.
There are so many things I love about Facebook Marketplace. First, I can get quality furniture at a significant discount. Y'all I can find Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrell, and really anything I can imagine on these listings. Its amazing. Second, I have a crap ton of animals that live in my house. I own three dogs, two cats, and I usually have a foster dog running around. My foster dogs are usually puppies, so they literally eat and destroy anything nice that comes into my house. So I love that I can get discounted furniture without worrying about it getting destroyed because I can easily replace it with another discounted option. Third, there are so many great pieces for sale that need a little TLC. I love giving furniture a new life, and Facebook Marketplace allows me to do this.
When I moved into this house I new I was going to have two pieces of pre-owned furniture that I was going to refinish for this room. They are both sideboards and both have a ton of history. One of the pieces I had for this space was one of my moms favorite pieces of furniture. Growing up she had this sideboard china cabinet that she loved. She collects salt and pepper shaker, so she used this furniture piece to display her collection. She recently moved into a new house and did not have room for that piece in her new home so I got it.
Two pre-owned sideboards I was working with:
My mom has a super whimsical style, so this piece always looked great in her house, but when it got to my house it just looked really formal and out of place. She was gracious enough to let me refinish this piece to make it a little more playful and a little less formal. I was even able to replace the hardware to make it even more fun.
I tried to make it work, but it just wasn't happening:
Once I refinished the piece, it started to look like it belonged:
I also had this other piece of furniture that was a really cool mid century modern piece. It had great curves and a lot of potential, but it just looked really outdated. I needed to do something to make it more my style. So I did the same thing with this piece. I refinished the furniture and added new hardware.
For both of these pieces I actually did the same thing. I found black chalk paint on Amazon and a wax finish. My two favorite things about chalk paint is that it is incredibly easy to paint and you don't need to sand it! Win win! Amazon has a great selection of chalk paint if you don't have a local hardware store that carries or your like me and everything I purchase comes from Amazon.
One I painted the furniture pieces, I used the wax finish to seal it. There are a couple different ways you can finish chalk paint. I prefer the wax because you can apply it to add texture or apply it to have a matte finish. I prefer matte finishes with painted furniture, so this is my favorite option.
Then the finishing touches were replacing the hardware. If you don't want to paint the furniture, the easiest option to give furniture a new look is by replacing the hardware. There are sooo many great hardware options online. I love Signature Hardware, Wayfair, and House of Antique Hardware.
I am so happy with how these pieces turned out! This was an easy project I was able to do in a weekend. I love a quick project! And it is super budget friendly. You can find all the products I used in the links below.
x Caroline