If you are like me and tend to tire of your possessions easily, it pays to go to thrift shops and garage sales for shopping. I pay $5 for a beat up old coffee table or chair, sand it down and paint it. After I'm done with it in a few years or so, it still looks like new, I place it in my own garage sale for $15. I have never lost money on this technique, usually I make about two to three times the money. I get to change my decor often without spending much money. It is so much fun to make something look so different!
By Susan from Elkhart, IN
On a trip to the laundromat, I saw what appeared to be a chest of drawers. I pulled over and stopped so that I could get a closer look. Indeed it was a chest of drawers. Looked ugly enough. Some sort of mustard yellow puke color. All 5 drawers were there. The bottom of the chest looked as though it had been sitting in 5 inches of water. Long enough so that the lower decorative part of its foundation and bottom slat of wood had disintegrated. I opened the top drawer and it appeared brand new, albeit dusty, dirty and webby.
Cedar chest restored and hand painted with Alice in Wonderland. Polyurethane finish. Donating it to a group that help children that have been abused.
My 44 year old rock maple kitchen set is going to look brand new, "I hope."
Painting smaller pieces of furniture is a wonderful way to utilize left-over paint. Not only that, but paint actually protects the wood.