How to Update Furniture

When it's time to freshen up your home furnishings, you could toss everything and start from scratch, filling your home with brand new furniture. But where's the fun in that? Instead, try giving old furniture new life by making over the pieces you've got, or refurbishing flea market finds and other underappreciated castoffs. Your home will look ripped-from-the-pages-of-a-magazine chic-and you'll save money-and help save the environment by recycling.

Things You'll Need

• Old furniture pieces
• Paint
• Paint brushes
• Hardware (e.g. knobs and handles)
• Fabric
• Nailheads

Instructions

1. Never underestimate the power of paint. Sometimes all it takes to give an old piece of furniture a new look is a little paint job. When browsing for furniture at flea markets and antique stores, pay attention to style and shape more than finish-that can always be painted over. Just because a chair has walnut-stained legs when you buy it, doesn't mean they can't be canary yellow once you're through. And here's a trick decorators love: paint mismatched items (dining chairs, side tables etc.) in the same color to create a charming "set."

2. 

   Reupholster. Don't be put off by grandmotherly chintz or 1970s-era prints; sometimes what seems hideous is really just in need of some new fabric. With upholstered items like chairs and sofas, pay attention to how the piece is covered; sometimes a piece with a good, streamlined shape is hidden under baggy slipcovers or dowdy skirted upholstery.

3. 

   Make a switch. Sometimes all a dull dresser is asking for is new hardware. Switch out knobs and handles to give your furniture a completely new look. Anthropologie carries a good selection (see Resources below).

4. Add new details. To give your upholstered furniture a classic look (that also happens to be very in right now), add nailhead trim. To dress up plain white lampshades, glue on a border fringe or simple grosgrain ribbon. Ribbon detailing can also dress up simple curtains. (I like to use an iron-on adhesive like Heat'n Bond.) Use electrical tape or car striping tape (it's thinner and comes in colors) to create border details on cabinets or other furniture.

Resources

• Anthropologie