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6 Trash To Treasure Furniture Transformations You Have To See To Believe

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Got Trashed Furniture? You can work with it! I’ve transformed a lot of damaged falling apart pieces into things of beauty. Look at the before and after photos of these 6 pieces and tell me what you think of the makeovers.

before and after furniture makeovers
Trashed furniture!

You must be wondering what I was thinking when I bought this chest of drawers! Once I got it home I was wondering too. I paid $20 for the piece.

trash to treasure coastal white furnitue makeover idea
Trashed furniture transformation

And I turned it into a shabby chic beauty after a bit of work. I was totally in love with the finished look.

shabby chic white furniture with red and blue distressed paint

And I think the wood knobs I painted for he chest are my favorite part. You can see this complete makeover here……Trashed Furniture Gets A Coastal Style Paint Makeover.

 

trash to treasure furniture transformations

Can you believe I paid $95 for the chest of drawers in pieces?? Me neither. All I can say is the beautiful details were speaking too me and they weren’t saying “Run”.

vintage trash to treasure furniture makeover
trash to treasure furniture makeover after photo

I gave it a two tone or three tone finish because after using two gray colors to paint the chest I then whitewashed or……frosted the pretty details. I painted the chest of drawers back in 2013 and the photos are not the best. See this piece here…… Total Trash To Treasure Furniture Transformation

flea market furniture before painting
unbelievable furniture makeovers before photo

I found this sad-looking chest of drawers at the Nashville Flea Market and the price was $30. It had three or more layers of paint so guess what? I didn’t paint it at all.

 

It’s amazing what a good cleaning and sanding job can accomplish. The shiny bright white paint appeared after I cleaned and cleaned and then sanded all the filth away.

red white & blue chest of drawers

I added new wood knobs I painted red and then distressed. There was no need for me to paint this piece when I could showcase the beautiful red and blue colors beneath the white. This makeover is also from 2013. See this project here……Flipping Furniture: Red White and Blue Painted Furniture

Old radio cabinet for makeover
Old radio cabinet for makeover

If you’ve been around here for a while you know how much I love old radio cabinets. The details are so pretty and the shape with the base and the legs just grabs me. This one as you can see was more than a total mess. It was a disaster. When I first spotted it I passed it up but went back the next week and bought it.

vintage radio cabinet makeover with shelves

We had to remove the radio from the cabinet, add shelves and do all kinds of repairs but it was worth it. See this makeover here…..Transform A Vintage Radio Cabinet: Remove Radio, Add Shelves, Paint Cabinet

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damaged mdf or fake furniture needs special careYou know, I can’t even say this chest of drawers was pretty when it was new. And it certainly was not much to look at when I spotted it at My Favorite Junk Shop. 

 

chest of drawers with damaged top

The chest was made of MDF or fake wood. At some point, it had gotten wet and that fake wood puffed up.

stencil a design over damaged furniture (3)

I found a way to sand those areas down and make the chest pretty. See it here…..How to Paint Damaged MDF Furniture

one side of a vintage dresser

This last piece is part of an old vanity dresser. I didn’t cut the dresser apart. this is the way I found it at My Favorite Junk Shop for $10. I really liked the pretty details and the shape of the little table or nightstand.

How to layer paint using Vaseline Petroleum Jelly (2)

I did a Vaseline distress paint technique on it and there is also a video. See it here….How To Layer Paint Using Vaseline | Furniture Makeover

The video for the Vaseline paint finish for the little half-dresser piece is below…

Vaseline Paint Finish

Please leave a note and tell me what you think about these trashed furniture transformations. Which one did you like the best? Any other observations? Thanks for being here, Kathy

Kathy Owen founder of Petticoat Junktion

Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines.

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7 Comments

  1. Marlene Stephenson says:

    I would have never thought of a radio cabinet being such a beautiful transformation. Love the idea of removing radio and replacing it with shelves.

  2. These are great! My favorite is the old radio cabinet. The blue/gray color is pretty. I also like the pink end table. Pink is such a fresh & happy color.

  3. Hi Kathy,
    Do you have any tricks for getting smells out of old dresser drawers? I have a couple of old dressers and the drawers smell funny — not musty, just old and sort of ew. Any tips to make the smell go away?

    Thanks!
    ~Noelle

  4. love how you “:save” these pieces!!

  5. Cheryl Fritz says:

    I loved everyone of the dresser transformations!! I think my favorite was the white one with the red and blue showing through, but I honestly loved them all. You are so talented and you always have the kind of stuff I am drawn too. God bless.

  6. Bobby Gittins says:

    Wow! You are not one to run from a challenge, Kathy!
    I have a piece with a big unsightly patch of missing veneer on the front of it. Due to a painted section on the good part I can’t just rip it all off and re-veneer. I have literally been decades wondering what to do about it. Seeing your always creative and sometimes courageous approach to renovations is putting me to shame. Time for a rethink along the lines of ‘what might Kathy do …’!