Here are some ideas you can use to spruce up hand me down furniture before you give it to your kids.
For many teens and young adults, their bedroom furniture very often consists of hand-me-downs from their parents. Before you hand that furniture down, you should stop and spruce it up to make your child feel special. Here are some ideas you can use:
Reinforce weak furniture: To reinforce furniture that is falling apart, remove drawers from dressers and check for loose joints and drawer fronts. Use wood glue where appropriate to reinforce joints, and with a hammer, lightly tap the wood back into place. If the furniture still needs extra reinforcement, use small finishing nails and construction staples.
Give it a facelift: Once the structure of your hand-me-down furniture is more stable, it is time to deal with the furniture's appearance. If it is solid wood, refinishing it is an excellent way to give it a new lease on life. You can strip off the old finishes, with inexpensive and effective kits purchased at the hardware store. Next clean and sand it well, then and apply new finishes. The options for finishes these days are abundant. From a clean natural finish, to a rich dark mahogany, there is no limit to the options you can choose.
Cover it: If the furniture has cosmetic damage that refinishing cannot recover, you will want to consider painting the furniture. Once you give the furniture a thorough light sanding, you can paint it regardless of the surface. You can paint it a solid color like white or black or you can create a faux finish effect. Marble and malachite are two easy faux finishes you can try. In addition, you can create a white washed or a distressed, shabby chic affect to your furniture. If the appearance is really bad, try using a stone finish spray paint or a crackle paint kit to cover dents and gauges.
Even if the furniture is not real wood, it can still be painted. Wood laminates will take household paint with the right preparation and even lacquer furniture can be spray-painted. Other approaches to covering old or ugly furniture would include slip covering the headboard and footboard or upholstering the headboard and possibly the drawer fronts. Wallpaper and braided trim can also be used to give your old furniture a new look.
Make it theirs: Have the furniture fit the new recipients personality by adding touches just for them. For a young woman, you can stencil a floral vine design to the furniture or add porcelain knobs. For a young man or boy, you may want to add a wooden cutouts from the craft store before you paint it. They are available in the shape of stars, cars, and other shapes. You can also purchase a cutout of the child's name.
Give it up: Once you have done the work to make your old furniture good as new and prepared it for a second life with your children, you may be tempted to keep it for yourself. Of course you could always use it in a bathroom, hallway, or even the living room, do not forget why you started the project in the first place. Your kid needs the furniture. Let them have it and purchase brand new items or perhaps second-hand items you can fix up for you.
