Upcycling Furniture Projects to Give Your Home a New Look

As you continue to stay at home, you may have started to look at your belongings in a new light. Whether that means growing tired of the same old stuff or being inspired to give a piece of furniture a glow-up, we’ve collected some how-to videos to help you find fun new home projects.

Refurbish your couch and rearrange your living room for a fresh look. Rearrange your bookshelf and add decorative details. You don’t have to replace your possessions with shiny new stuff to make your environment feel brand new. We’re around our things a lot more these days, and these videos can show you how to make old things feel new again. We hope you get inspired!

Upcycled furniture ideas for your pets

 

In How to Make a DIY Dog Bed from an Old Table, YouTuber ClutterBug makes a comfy four-poster bed for her dog by flipping an old sewing table. Paint, cushions, and a few extra details bring this project to another level of cute.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:35
• End result: 3:23; project ends at 4:30

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How to Create a Litter Box Cabinet – Pet DIY, by the channel Fix This, solves an age-old problem plaguing cat lovers: what to do about unsightly litter. Replicating popular (and expensive) litter box cabinets, this DIY helps save money by repurposing furniture.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:43
• End result: 3:40

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Elizabeth Huerta takes you through the steps for turning an old closet organizer into an indoor rabbit habitat in DIY Rabbit Hutch. The end result is a multi-room and level bunny oasis that fits even small spaces. For more small space ideas, check out our Small Space Furniture Hacks.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:50
• End result: 6:01

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Repurposing furniture for your kids

What are the benefits of upcycling? How about bringing joy to children? In this tutorial, MuralsbyMarcy upcycles an old nightstand into a fun play kitchen for kids.

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• Tutorial begins: 1:53
• End result: 6:15

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Dollhouses are a cherished childhood possession, but they can get expensive, as well as unimaginative. Get creative with a bookshelf that you already have, plus a few craft supplies, to make a personalized dollhouse for your little one. Use this as a starting off point, and get as wild and unique as you want with the décor!

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• Tutorial begins: 0:05
• End result: 1:20

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Repurposing furniture with paint

Upcycling furniture for beginners is as easy as using paint to spruce up bland pieces. As April Bee shows us, any DIYer can use a mixture of paint and staining to look like a pro and make your furniture look très chic.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:20
• End result: 6:32

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This upcycled furniture DIY uses arguably the best paint for upcycling furniture: chalk paint. This stuff goes on clean and easy, usually without primer or sanding. It’s remarkable how far a little paint can go to transform drab to dazzling.

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• Tutorial begins: 1:54
• End result: 10:56

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Upcycling particle board furniture

Particle board bookcases are the perfect candidates for repurposing furniture projects. They’re cheap, almost everyone has had one in their lifetime, and they serve as a blank canvas that’s easily transformed. Checking In With Chelsea’s video gives a boring bookcase new legs (literally).

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• Tutorial begins: 1:18
• End result: 9:18

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To fancy up a plain bookcase, Alexandra Gater replaces the cheap shelving and answers the burning question: Is recycled/upcycled furniture usually better quality and value than IKEA? (Hint: the answer is yes.)

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• Tutorial begins: 3:00
• End result: 6:07

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Simple bare wood dressers are easy to upcycle to fit personal style and the mood of a particular room. This option by Mr. Kate would be at home in any eclectic, nautical, or stylish space. Use some of the sanding and refurbishing skills from other tutorials if you don’t have a plain dresser to start.

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• Tutorial begins: 3:00
• End result: 5:33

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Upcycling your old sofa

Inherit an ugly sofa from grandma? Find a couch for a steal at a thrift store, but hate the color? Try painting it. You read that right—fabric paint takes the place of dyes, and you don’t have to take the couch apart. FabulousNtheKitchen shows you how.

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• Tutorial begins: 1:15
• End result: 3:39 and 5:14

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A heavier lift, but a rewarding result, reupholstering your own couch is not as impossible as you might think. Ashley Spearman takes you through the steps in a series of videos and shows how some upcycled furniture ideas are well worth the effort.

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Video 2 | Video 3 | Video 4 (from a different couch, but teaches you the cushions process)

• Tutorial begins (Video 1): 4:00
• End result (Video 3): 8:29

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If you’re starting from scratch when it comes to sofas, you can build your own using pallets. Pallet sofas lend a cool, lofty vibe to an apartment and work really well as outdoor furniture, too. You can enhance this Ollari’s tutorial by adding sanding and staining steps or make your own pillows and cushions. Read more of our tips for sustainable furniture design.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:07
• End result: 1:46

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Restoring furniture to its original glory

Sometimes furniture only needs a little love to shine. A perfect example is this old drafting table restoration. An outdated piece with some clunky details gets a fresh look that pulls it into the modern day. You never know what natural beauty is hiding under old stains.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:52
• End result: 11:01

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Cocktail hour has a romantically nostalgic place in our history. And the accessories that come with it are no different. This cocktail cabinet refurbish is a perfect example of how we can reclaim the good things of the past for new use. 

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• Tutorial begins: 0:47
• End result: 13:05

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Upcycling unconventional items

If you’ve ever made a furniture impulse purchase only to realize you’ll never use it, turn it into something you will use. When Serena Appiah of Thrift Diving had to admit she’s no pool player, she turned an unused space waster into a helpful piece for something she is—an avid crafter.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:50
• End result: 9:10

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Display your hobbies, even if they aren’t conventional decor. Water skis, for instance, make unique tables or benches. Just ask Dan Vickery, who shows you how to repurpose wooden skis into the perfect blend of your passions and your design aesthetic.

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• Tutorial begins: 1:08
• End result: 3:02

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Furniture upcycling projects for beginners

In life, it’s the little things. For instance, a simple change of perspective can take a table in a whole new direction, as Mr. Kate demonstrates. See how she effortlessly turns an ordinary end table into a shadowbox display that’s all personality.

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• Tutorial begins: 1:11
• End result: 2:57

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Details have the power to make or break a project. And nothing does detail better than decoupage. This idea by Denise Cooper gives fun flair and a flash of style to an oft-overlooked space: your dresser drawers.

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• Tutorial begins: 0:57
• End result: 1:52

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People love a good IKEA hack, and we’re no different. There’s something thrilling about turning inexpensive things into more useful, more stylish, more expensive looking, and more lasting pieces. Lone Fox on YouTube has some of the best we found.

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Don’t let stay-at-home fatigue ruin your relationship to your belongings. Reinvigorate your home spaces with the things you already own. What’s old can truly be made new with some elbow grease and a good DIY guide. Happy upcycling!