Furniture Revamps: 15 Outstanding Ideas to Update Old Furniture

15 Great Furniture Revamps

Work Desk Makeover

With the growing need and desire for people to work from home, desk furniture revamps are currently one of the most popular and useful forms of upscaling. The work desk makeover is an excellent job for starters and to ease your way into the revamping industry.

All you need to do is pick a paint color for the desk and add new complementing handles and pulls. The natural beauty and design of the desk will do most of the work.

Vintage Desk Makeover

Here’s another great idea for a relatively quick and easy desk revamp in the vintage style. To achieve it, you’ll need to focus on the color you choose for the desk, the hardware, and the color of the drawers.

A white desk with black drawer handles is about as classic as you can get. However, for a vintage farmhouse flair, you can distress the drawers to add contrast and character to your desk.

Vintage Radio Reboot

Vintage radios and record players might be as popular today as they were during their origin in the 50s and 60s. They’re loved for how unique and decorative they are rather than for their actual functionality.

All you need to do is choose colors that complement the radio’s surrounding area. While this furniture revamp used darker tones, you can optionally use lighter ones to give the room a clean, open feel.

Radio Cabinet Redo

Here’s another great idea for a vintage radio reboot if you have a cabinet instead of a box. Using this example, you can remove the inner workings of the radio and use it as a shelf or storage area.

You can use the radio cabinet as a kitchen island, an end table, or a nightstand. If you want to use it as a kitchen island, you’ll likely have to elevate that cabinet slightly and replace the top with a countertop.

Dresser Upcycle

If you want to do furniture revamps that are cool and purposeful, you should upcycle an old dresser. Once again, colors and hardware are everything when redoing dressers.

You don’t have to make structural changes to the dresser aside from ensuring the drawers are functional. Apart from that, it’s all about the hardware you choose and the paint or stain colors you prefer.

Luggage Dresser Remodel

If you want to get extra creative with your dresser remodel, you can do the luggage dresser remodel. This is one of the coolest ideas I’ve ever seen for redoing a dresser.

While it looks like a ton of work, it’s not as hard as you might think. The dresser’s frame remains unchanged, aside from an optional color change.

You then have several options when it comes to adding the luggage faces.

• Paint the drawer faces and add luggage hardware.
• Cut the fronts off of suitcases and glue them to the drawer faces.
• Cut the tops off of suitcases and use the bottoms as your drawers.

As long as you do any of these options correctly, your dresser will be the envy of everyone who sees it.

Vintage Chair Reupholstery

Things get a little more complicated when it comes to furniture revamps involving cloth chairs. While upholstery isn’t the most complex thing in the world, it takes time and practice to perfect.

Therefore, you can either do the work yourself or take your chair and fabric to a professional. Aside from the fabric, you can change the legs and arms, but reupholstery will be most of the focus.

Hutch Revamp

Few pieces of furniture are more cozy and vintage than hutches. They’re about as classic as you can get, especially when you use vintage colors like white and brown, as they did in this hutch revamp.

Hutches are also a great way to display collections, antiques, or glassware that you’re proud of. You won’t have to make structural changes apart from repairs; the main work will revolve around the paint colors and hardware you choose.

Crib to Crate

Furniture revamps can also revolve around the furry members of the family! What better way to spoil your dog or cat than by creating a custom crate for them?

In this scenario, you can repurpose an old crib by removing the legs to bring the crib to ground level. Next, add swinging or sliding doors to the front of the crib to keep your pet inside when necessary.

You can optionally add wheels for a mobile crate or let it sit flat on the ground. Your pet will feel like royalty inside its customized, comfortable crib/crate.

Clock Table Transformation

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more adorable table transformation than this clock table revamp. You can use any type of table, big or small, as long as it has a round top.

Next, you’ll have to use your artistic side to hand-paint the clock details, including the numbers and minute marks. You can use actual numbers, Roman Numerals, or whatever else you prefer.

While they didn’t in our example, you can add second and hour hands if you want to. Finally, you can repaint the table and legs in whatever color you prefer.

Mini Table Revamp

If you want to do furniture revamps with a table that isn’t quite as detailed and involved, perform the mini table revamp. For this remodel, you can use a round or rectangular end table, nightstand, or coffee table.

The key to having this piece stand out is the colors you choose and what you decide to do with the top. While keeping the top is an option, you can also sand it down and install a flat slab of your preference on top of it.

The nice thing about this idea is that it’s very flexible, and you can choose colors and designs to fit any space.

Drink Cabinets

If you’re a beginner to furniture revamps, drink cabinets are another great place to start. Depending on your comfort level, you can do as much or as little work as you want.

Changing the paint color and hardware is an excellent place to start, but you can take it one step further by installing new doors with glass panels and adding legs. In this example, you would go all out and change everything about the cabinet aside from the structure and frame.

Chest of Drawers 2.0

Performing this chest of drawers revamp is very similar to the others we’ve looked at thus far. You paint the outside a different color, add new hardware, and maybe change the legs.

However, with the 2.0, you take things one step further and add custom designs to the sides and insides of your drawers. You can do this by hand-painting or adding stenciled designs wherever you prefer.

That way, your dresser will look great on the inside and outside.

Antique Chest Restoration

Chests are some of the most vintage and statuesque pieces of furniture imaginable. They’re a great way to add charm, warmth, and style to your home, especially when you do this type of chest restoration.

Once again, paint and stain will play the most significant role in this revamp and is often the only thing you need to do. However, you can optionally change the legs, add drawers, and install a floating top.

Basic Desk Revamp

We’ll finish our list of furniture revamps the same way we started – with a nice, simple desk restoration. This revamp works best on vintage, petite desks that aren’t very bulky or intrusive.

In this instance, you wouldn’t have to repaint the desk or add new hardware to the drawer. You simply clean it thoroughly, make sure everything is functional, and add a fresh coat of stain to make it shine.