THRIFT STORE FURNITURE GETS A MODERN MAKEOVER!

Don't compromise style for price! I'm going to show you how easy it is to transform thrift store furniture into unique show stopping pieces! Save money when you decorate your home by shopping in second hand stores! 

THRIFT STORE FURNITURE MAKEOVER

It's true! Looking at brand new furniture can give you a bit of sticker shock! But what if I told you that you could create breathtaking furniture and unique home decor simply by visiting your local thrift store and having a little imagination?  

Repurposing furniture from thrift stores can save you lots of money and it's not very hard! If you are new to painting and refinishing furniture, welcome! 

You're about to embark on a wonderful journey of flipping furniture. And I'm not going to lie, it's a little bit contagious. 

When you discover how affordable it is to refinish used furniture AND you learn that it's possible to customize your thrift store furniture pieces by adding legs or painting them in custom paint colors and finishes it becomes a no brainer! You are going to be hooked!

PIN THIS THRIFT STORE FURNITURE MAKEOVER FOR LATER!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links to products I love and use everyday. This means that I receive a small commission for purchases that are made through these links. Please read our full disclosure here for more info.

ADVANTAGES TO BUYING THRIFT STORE FURNITURE 

1. Buying Thrift Store Furniture Saves You Money! 

Who wouldn't love the look of high end furniture pieces in their home?! But, holy moly the sticker shock! Have you stepped inside a retail furniture store lately? Brand new furniture can be expensive.

In fact, according to MarketWatch, most new furniture retailers mark up their furniture prices by an average of 80%- and in some cases even more!

So, the next time you walk into a furniture store that's offering bargain prices and blowout sales keep in mind ... the price on that sales tag is still bringing in a lucrative margin for that company. Don't get gouged! 

2. Purchasing Second Hand Furniture Allows You To Customize Your Furniture To Match Your Decor and Style!

Ask yourself. How much originality do you get from furniture purchased at a big box store? 

Would you agree that most of the furniture in retail stores now a days looks like every other piece in the other store? Vanilla... plain... boring and not very exciting?

If you like unique and different and want to personalize your home, customizing thrift store furniture is a great way to do it!

3. You Can Get Some Really Nice Quality Wood Pieces From Those Furniture Consignment Shops!

Let's have a conversation about furniture quality. You know the saying, "They just don't make furniture like they used to." 

How often do you find tongue and groove drawers or real wood furniture on the furniture show room?

Sometimes it feels a little more like pressboard and staples.

So... let me present you with a choice. ...

Expensive + Vanilla + Mediocre Quality 

OR

Customizable + Affordable + Quality 

In case you can't tell I'm using my hands as a scale right now and one of those options is outweighing the other by a long shot. ;)

Now, I'm not promoting that all of your furniture should come from second hand stores. 

In fact, I recommend buying things like mattresses, couches and sleeper sofas brand new- for hygiene reasons. That's my rule of thumb for our family.

(However, in complete transparency I did paint the fabric on this couch several years ago and it turned out to be a real statement piece! You just have to be extra picky when selecting used fabric furniture pieces. )

But, there is A LOT of potential in thrift store furniture like:

• Dressers
• Buffets
• China Cabinets
• Headboards
• Tables and Chairs
• Console Tables
• Mirrors
• Nightstands
• Desks
• Armoires
• Media Consoles

that you CAN buy used & refinish to your style to create a GORGEOUS home... 

It's a super easy way to get beautiful furniture inexpensively without sacrificing quality! 

PIN THIS THRIFT STORE FURNITURE FLIP FOR LATER!

A THRIFT STORE FURNITURE MAKEOVER WITH A MODERN TWIST 

Case in point...

Here's one of my latest thrift store furniture flips. This is a great example of an inexpensive DIY furniture makeover that happened just this past week. 

I'll include the cost break down and step by step directions so you can see just how AFFORDABLE and EASY this thrift store furniture project was! 

I hope you'll be inspired by it. Because you know what? YOU could do something like this too!

Here's what happened...

I was on my way to the grocery store. Goodwill was not on my radar. But, it is just a few stores up from the grocery store. 

And I had a feeling. You know the feeling like today might just be your lucky day kind of feeling. 

My gut was right. 

I walked in and found this outdated mammoth of a cabinet. 

It was higher than a standard dresser and had large, deep drawers. It was well made and it was certainly straight out of the 70's-80's. 

It was in need of a monumental wipe down. 

But, the bones were good. It was HEAVY and I loved the storage capacity it offered. 

The framed out drawers reminded me of farmhouse kitchen cabinets. It definitely could have been repurposed into a kitchen island. 


....And because the dimensions were the perfect height, not only could this thrift store furniture piece have been repurposed into a credenza for an office, dresser for a bedroom or nursery, buffet or media cabinet for a living space, it could have even been transformed into a kitchen island with the right counter top.. 

I'd store my pots and pans and dish ware in those deep drawers!

But, I didn't need a kitchen island. So, I snapped out of that furniture repurposing daydream and came back to reality. 

I was however, in need of an office credenza and stood there looking at it trying to determine how if I could modernize it a bit?

Those knobs would be the first to go I told myself. And at $25, I could afford to get new hardware. 

So this came home with me.

Before I could even begin the painting process, I needed to give this thrift store cabinet a good cleaning. 

This consisted of vacuuming all of the drawers as well as the entire outside of the piece. 

I removed removed all of the old hardware and filled in the existing hardware holes with this wood filler.

Once dry, I sanded the wood filler down.



In case you're wondering which kind of wood filler is the best these are some top rated wood filler options for around $10 on Amazon.

Once the old holes were filled we began measuring to drill the new holes in our thrift store cabinet. 

Tip! I always like to do this step before I paint in the event I mis-measure and need to re-drill. 

D. Lawless Hardware sponsored this post and provide the hardware for this furniture makeover. If you have a hardware need for your next furniture project, I highly recommend them! 

They have such an amazing selection of furniture pulls AND I couldn't believe the prices that were attached to them- so affordable! It was really hard to choose, but in the end I fell in love with these sleek 12" Colossus Dee Pulls in Antique Copper.

Once the cabinet was wiped down and cleaned, I painted two fresh coats of Queenstown Gray and used maybe a 1/3 of the quart? There's still plenty of paint left for another few projects. 

I sealed it with General Finishes High Performance in Flat. 

This is the end result...

What do you think of this thrift store furniture flip?

It's a big change, right?!

WHAT DID THIS DIY THRIFT STORE FURNITURE MAKEOVER COST ME?

Here's the cost breakdown for this used furniture makeover. 

(Supplies like regular paint brushes, scrapers to apply the wood filler, sandpaper, and my drill were not included in this price breakdown because I already owned these.) 

These are staple furniture refinishing tools/supplies that I use over and over again for my second hand furniture projects.

Modern Furniture Makeover

Goodwill Cabinet = $25

Paint = $30/3 = $10

GFHP Top Coat = $35/10 = $3.50

Foam Paint Brush = $1.50

Wood Filler = $8.00/10 =.80

For a grand total of $40.80

Your furniture makeovers might not need new hardware. If they need replacing, your costs will go up slightly. 

If you were to purchase these exact furniture pulls, it would cost you close to $48. (They are on sale for $7.99 right now!) 

But, still spending $88.00 on a customized, all wood furniture piece is pretty amazing! What do you think you would buy at the big box furniture store for $88?


If your hardware is in good working order but they just need a face lift, you can always paint them or use Rub'n Buff to make them pretty again! Thus, saving you from buying all new hardware. 

If you enjoyed this DIY Modern Furniture Makeover, we would love it if you would share it on Pinterest or Facebook!


I hope this inspires you to check out your local thrift stores to see what kind of hidden gems you can find! If you'd like our FREE Furniture Painting Guide, leave your email below!

Carrie || Thirty Eighth Street