People who renew their flat/house or those who furnish a new-built one, cannot always afford uniquely style-made furniture. They have to settle for products bought in big stores, frequently flat-packed. These can be however transformed to unique-like pieces with a little fantasy, which may be ornaments of our home.
One of the simplest solutions is changing the handles of drawers or doors of wardrobes. Two-holed handles are always made according to standards of whole-spacing (64 mm is the shortest). If we don’t like that one on the furniture, let’s buy another which suits more for our taste and just screw it in the place of the old one. We can put a two-whole version instead of a knob, we just have to drill some more holes.
Any kind of furniture-surface can be painted with suitable primers and paints. It needs some preparation: put a cardboard or an old sheet under the furniture which we can throw out later. Mask the parts with masking-tape, which we don’t want to paint. Always paint in a well-ventilated place. Often two coats of paint are required after the primer, then the final protective layer which can be lacquer or wax also.
Help of a professional might be needed in the case of upholstered furniture. The seating of a chair is mostly removable easily from the frame. Even we can reupholster it by our favorite fabric and a suitable stapler. In the case of a sofa or armchair, it’s upon a calculation whether reupholstering is cheaper or buying a unique one is more practical. If the furniture is buttoned, changing the buttons to other color is enough alteration and relatively cheap. It’s easy and wallet friendly to change the standard cushions of the sofa, even to self-made pieces. More ideas here: http://blog.classicinteriors.hu/?p=4541.
Wardrobes can be also altered easily by using leftover wallpapers. We can stick it either inside or on the doors/drawers, the upshot will be spectacular. We can renew the top of a table with the same way – put a glass on it for protection. Decorative fabrics can be placed behind or even instead of the glass panels of doors, which will completely change the mood of the furniture.
If we need more of flat-packed wardrobes, let’s buy them in different colors and put them together reversing their doors or drawers. This results a playful view, especially in children’s room.
Very simple, plain doors can be perked up by moldings, this way the total effect will be more classic. Paint/stain the mitered thin moldings (can be bought in DIY stores in strands) to the desired color and fix them on place by a nailer or a strong glue. It will be more special by gilding or silvering.
Ask for help of an interior designer for cost effective makeover ideas!