Getting secondhand furniture is a great way to fill your home with essential items even if you’re on a tight budget. A lot of secondhand beds, couches, chairs, and tables are sold in good quality, so you can still make good use of them for years to come. However, depending on the condition they’re in, it can be challenging to make secondhand furniture fit the interior design theme you’re going for.
Fortunately, there are a lot of things you can do to give your secondhand furniture a new look and make them appear more expensive. Here are four easy and inexpensive design tips you can follow.
Upcycle the secondhand furniture.
Secondhand furniture that’s showing minor signs of wear and tear can look cheap, so one thing you can do to make it appear expensive is by upcycling it. Upcycling allows you to tap into your creative side and make several design changes that can give your secondhand furniture a one-of-a-kind flair. For example, if the surface of your secondhand wooden dining table has impossible-to-remove stains, you can install tiles instead of painting the surface. Tiling the table’s surface is a great way to hide any imperfections. It also allows you to give the table an expensive, one-of-a-kind look since you can choose from a variety of tiles such as ceramic, porcelain, and marble tiles, each one of which can have its own distinct pattern or texture.
Clean the furniture to make it look as good as new.
Sometimes, all a secondhand furniture needs to look expensive is a good cleaning. Many old furniture pieces may not have been used for a long time, so they may have collected a lot of dust and stains while they were kept in storage. Depending on what the furniture is made of, cleaning it will require a particular approach to avoid damage.
Cleaning plastic furniture, for example, is quite easy. All you need to do is to use soap, water, and a soft brush to get rid of dirt. If there is surface mold growth and stubborn stains, you can apply a vinegar and water solution, and leave it for ten minutes before wiping the furniture with a dry cloth. Afterward, you can rinse the furniture with water and allow it to completely dry before you use it.
If you have secondhand furniture made of wood, it’s better to wipe it with a soft, damp cloth that’s been dipped in a weak solution made of water and dishwashing soap. Afterward, immediately use another piece of cloth to dry the furniture completely. You don’t want to saturate the furniture with water as it could damage the wood. Finish off by applying wood cleaner and polish to give the wooden furniture a nice shine.
Finally, when cleaning upholstered furniture, you have to take the material of the upholstery into consideration. You have to use the right upholstery cleaning product or homemade cleaning solution to ensure that the upholstered material won’t get damaged during the cleaning process. For example, when dealing with rayon, it’s in your best interest to clean it using low-moisture cleaning methods. The color of rayon fabric tends to bleed when exposed to certain types of liquids. To keep the fabric in good condition, you can clean rayon furniture using a dry foam cleaning solution or spraying it with a mist of detergent and water solution followed by gentle towel drying. If you aren’t quite sure how to clean the fabric, it’s in your best interest to have your furniture professionally deep cleaned instead.
Freshen up its appearance with a new coat of paint.
Applying a fresh coat of paint is a simple way to give wooden furniture a new look. However, if you want to make sure the paint will make your secondhand furniture look more expensive, it’s recommended to use high-quality paint.
Using high-quality paint can improve the overall appearance and durability of preloved furniture. High-quality paint tends to have better pigmentation, which means that it can provide better coverage and color saturation, resulting in a more uniform and higher-quality finish. Moreover, using high-quality paint typically results in a smoother texture while also being more durable, owing to being made with better-quality resins and binders. This makes it less prone to chipping and flaking than cheaper paint. Overall, using high-quality paint is a simple and cost-effective way to transform secondhand furniture so that it’ll have a more polished and more expensive appearance. To achieve the full effect of high-quality paint, however, it’s a good idea to sand down your wooden furniture and prime it before applying the paint. This will ensure that the paint properly sticks to the surface.
Give it a new look with nice fabric or upholstery.
Some secondhand upholstered furniture come with unappealing upholstery that might not suit your taste or the interior design of your living space. Fortunately, you can update the furniture’s appearance by reupholstering it with nicer fabric. Replacing your secondhand furniture’s upholstery saves you from the hassle of hiding fabric damage like discoloration, stains, and holes. It also lets you give your furniture a brand new and more expensive look, thanks to the various upholstery colors, styles, and patterns you can choose from.
Use contact paper to accentuate the furniture or add dimensions.
For furniture that isn’t upholstered, you use contact paper to give it a new surface. Contact paper is an adhesive vinyl that’s used to decorate and cover flat surfaces. It comes in different colors, patterns, and textures, so you can definitely find a contact paper design that will make your furniture look more valuable than it really is. If you want to give your secondhand plain plastic desk a more appealing quality, for example, you can cover its surface with marble-patterned contact paper for added elegance. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to give your wooden side table drawer a more colorful design, on the other hand, you can instantly make it pop by covering its surface with Moroccan tile-patterned contact paper.
Although secondhand furniture has a unique charm of its own, its style might not perfectly match the interior design of your home. Thankfully, with these four tips, you can give your secondhand furniture a brand-new look and make it appear like it costs more than its actual value—all without having to break the bank.