How to Spruce Up Old Furniture

I like collecting antique furniture, however, there are times when I come across pieces of furniture that appear to be in some dire need of a little TLC.

Now when it comes to antique pieces there is not much you can really do to the piece if you plan on keeping it to re-sell for a profit. However, if you like the piece, and plan on just keeping it in your own home, there are quite a few things you could do to it to bring it back to life, or at least make it suitable to place in your home.

For those of you looking to restore antique furniture for a profit, I recommend you have it professionally done, to ensure that you don't deplete it of its value.

One of my most recent projects included sprucing up an old rocking chair I picked up at an antique shop. The chair was stripped of all of it's original finish, and what was left was a dead wood frame, and a beat up fabric seat.

Finishing the chair was pretty simple. All I really needed to do was a few things to bring the chair back to life.

I could either keep the dull color as it was by adding a clear varnish, or I could stain it with a stain.
I recommend a stain if the wood looks run down. This chair in particular had a near gray/white appearance to it, so I figured a deeper stain would bring it back to life.

After cleaning off the chair of dust and particles, I simply went ahead and stained the wood a nice dark color. Immediately while applying you can see how the stain brings the wood to life, giving it new color, and new life.

The following day wipe down the chair of any fallen dust or particles, and simply add a coat of clear varnish to it. This will give the chair a protective layer, and will add a nice sheer shine to it.

If you are crafty with a sewing machine, you can literately make your own fabric seat for the chair. You can stuff the fabric with as much, or as little cotton as you would like. Using crushed velvet on older antique pieces really look elegant and rich.

If you are not a do-it-yourselfer, than you could always buy a cushion to pair up with the newly finished chair.

Sprucing up couches can also easily be done by adding new slip covers. You can literately change the entire look of your living room with slip covers, and it will cost a heck of a lot less than buying a brand new living room set.

Slip covers, as seen here are a very lovely option. They come in a nice choice of covers, and they will fit many different shaped couches and chairs.

Here you can purchase custom fit slip covers for a sure fit, in more varieties of color as well. If your couch is looking a little rusty, than spruce it up with slip covers instead of piling out a whole heap of money on a new set.

Sprucing up the look of rooms overall can be done by adding wall panels, or trim for naked walls.
Sprucing up a shabby looking bathroom can be done by removing those old nasty vinyl shower doors, and replacing them with glass doors. Glass doors are beautiful, they are more private, and frankly I find them to be safer.

Beautiful glass and mirror shower doors are a pain i the butt to install, but they are not as expensive as one would imagine. A little man hours, and around $400 or less, and you have yourself an entirely brand new looking bathroom. Home depot is where we purchased ours.

Sometimes we don't need to spend a whole lot of money on fixing up run down things, sometimes a little TLC can turn an old shabby thing into something that looks brand new. If you can't fix it, turn it into something else.