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
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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.
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.
Cedar chest restored and hand painted with Alice in Wonderland. Polyurethane finish. Donating it to a group that help children that have been abused.
