It takes talent to spot an old rusted lamp in a dumpster and see it for what it really is: an opportunity for a DIY project that could light up a room! Paula only took a few steps to make over this lamp she found in the trash, but definitely turned it into a simple and sophisticated treasure for her family room. From Paula: Last summer while I was at the beach, I found a lamp in a dumpster. I liked its shape and size and knew that with a little effort I could give it a new life.

Why only tackle one DIY project at a time, when you can tackle two that combine to create one sweet sitting vignette to spice up a corner of a room in your house? Pascale challenged himself to fix up this chair and stool, and the results are a complementary pair of stylish seats he can enjoy using and looking at. From Pascale: I finally had some free time, so I challenged myself to give these two a new look.

Sabrina is usually in the Mid-Century modern furniture purist camp. But what she dislikes even more than painted furniture is a bad patch job. And boy did this desk need a lot of patching: scratches, tons of stickers, stains, gum embedded in the grain and even “gaudy plates” covering original hardware holes. Sabrina was able to see past all the surface damage though, loving its lines, legs and sturdy frame.

Alexa may one day completely renovate this bathroom and add a great tile floor, but she wasn’t quite ready to make that leap. But this old gray sad vinyl floor covering sure wasn’t doing this room any favors. So she grabbed a cheery color of paint, a stencil and completely redid the look of this small bathroom without spending a lot of time or money! From Alexa: For this project I wanted to update the old gray rolled vinyl flooring in my bathroom.

This heavy dresser found on Craigslist was sturdy, and Allison loved the clean lines and large, square drawer pulls. But she was not a fan of the yellow-ish finish (which she claims looked even worse in person). She hatched a plan to give this dresser a more modern, stylish look. From Allison: I was looking for a new (to me) dresser with clean lines when I came across this promising one on Craigslist. I love the simple design of the body and am especially drawn to the square wooden drawer pulls.

We bet plenty of folks would have passed up this heavy laminate dresser, even if found in the “free” section of Craigslist. But not Breanna. She saw some creative potential for this forgotten furniture piece, instead transforming it into attractive and useful storage for a friend’s kitchen! From Breanna: This laminate dresser came from the FREE category on Craigslist and got a well deserved makeover for my friend, Abby.

When Gretchen finally got down to finishing her bedroom space, she added wall color, fresh art and affordable flea market finds to fill out what has now become a very calm and sophisticated space. From Gretchen: The before picture shows the room how it looked when we moved in, with all our furniture from our old house just sort of plopped down in the room.

Our favorite before and after projects are the ones that are downright unrecognizable after being transformed, and this project certainly fits the bill! Diane and her husband came across this dresser for cheap at a thrift store and decided to make it look like a type of furniture Diane had always wanted — only more practical! From Diane: First, we removed the top two drawers and built a base for the bookcase. Then we used lattice to create the fronts of each card drawer.

Want to see what just a few coats of paint can do to a room? Rafaela’s dining room wasn’t bad-looking before — great furniture and fun art made for a stylish space. But as a renter, she hated the beige walls that seemed to cast a dull look on the entire room. It was time for a wall paint change as well as a new coat of color on a pair of shelves she had had for years. From Rafaela: I rent this place and all walls were beige-yellowish (urgh!

Nicole found this in a pile of furniture left for free, and immediately noticed its great shape. But, a banged up and scratched finish meant it would need refreshing. When she brought it home, she discovered that mismatching materials — light wood legs and a walnut veneer top — meant her original plan of staining wouldn’t work. So she came up with a better idea that still preserved some of the great wood and lightened the whole piece up.

Christina loves stumbling on old furniture gems and breathing new life into them. She found this chair with lots of potential on Craigslist, and knew its great shape was worthy of a makeover. She chose a punchy and patterned fabric to give it some personality! From Christina: Once I took it apart, I realized it had to be from the ‘30s or ‘40s based on the straw and horse hair stuffing.

Yellow tile on the floors and counters. Brown grout that always looked dirty. Too dark, patchy maroon walls. Amanda’s master bathroom was dated, but it had potential. A remodel has turned it to a peaceful modern retreat. From Amanda: Our 1970s house had an outdated, leaky but large and potential-filled master bathroom. Knowing the tiled shower pan was leaking, we knew it was time for a full tear out and remodel. blog Thank you Amanda!

When Meghann bought her first house last year, she didn’t have enough money to do a complete remodel of her kitchen, but the home’s original “orange-y” wood cabinets just weren’t working for her. With dark appliances and only one window, her main goal was to brighten her space up, as affordably as she could. She didn’t do a lot, but the $90 she did spend over a weekend made a surprising impact!

This bamboo rocker was in pretty good shape, but wasn’t particular inspiring with its original brown hues. Rachel decided that for it to really work in a nook in her boy’s room, it needed a color boost! From Rachel: I bought this vintage bamboo rocker on the last day of an estate sale for $10, hoping it wold work in our son’s room. This was a super simple project; requiring only primer, paint and a faux shearling throw.

Have a heavy piece of furniture you just don’t use much anymore (and is possibly just taking up some space)? You’ll find inspiration in this surprising DIY that takes a forgotten-then-found old worn-out dresser and turns it into a cool and functional furniture piece for the kitchen! From Kristie: Living in an apartment complex, you see lots of people moving out and leaving things behind.

This is the weekend! Finally take that vintage/free/found/Craigslist chair, sofa or stool and pull out its potential! If you’ve been sitting on a DIY seating project because you just weren’t sure what to do with it, we’ve got 10 real-life examples of taking an old piece of furniture and adding a zing of personality. Perhaps one of these ideas will inspire your own makeover this weekend? Pictured above: 1.

Dena loved this vintage dresser from the moment she saw it, specifically the sleek hardware that gave the whole piece a modern look. She took it home and made two simple but bold changes that transformed the entire look — and turned it into a show-stopping piece! From Dena: Wink. I loved it at first sight but knew I wanted to add some legs to it to raise it up. I’m getting to be an old woman and anything I can do to keep from bending over is awesome. Okay, so I’m not that old.

You can see that this bright blue piece of furniture has a nice mid-century shape, but with the thick, gloppy coat of paint, the damage to the top and the overall unpleasant look of the exterior, plenty of folks would probably pass this furniture piece up, even if it was free. Not Zachary. He spotted it, took it home and did one impressive make-under! From Zachary: My boyfriend and I were taking a walk and we found this little blue nightmare on the curb for the garbage man.

Featuring a color palette of pale yellow, navy blue and salmon, this desk was a mess of colors. Many people not on the hunt for such a mix of hues would probably have taken one glance and moved on. But Brittney saw past the palette to this desk’s beautiful bones, and set out to restore it back to its mid-century modern glory. From Brittney: My fiancé and I recently moved in together and I was on a tight budget to try and make his former bachelor pad a home.

Have you ever seen those glass and brass, ’80s style light fixtures that often hang in foyers and dining rooms? Not terrible, but slightly outdated. The good news is that you might already have one or you could find a used one for cheap. The even better news is you could turn it into a stylish, geometric lamp that matches pricier contemporary lamps.

What do you do when you’ve got a heavy, boring dresser that needs some style to stand out? You tackle the problem with a fresh coat of a paint and an affordable DIY design detail that takes it from plain to personalized. From Molly: My boyfriend desperately needed a new dresser that actually 1) fit all of his clothing, and 2) fit in with the rest of the bedroom (the one he was using was from his childhood bedroom set, hello student life).

Moves are stressful. Joey had made the long move from the South Coast to the East and loved the new little Victorian terrace to call home. But, not all the furniture fit, both in size and style. Especially sad was not being able to find a place for this sideboard that, though it was getting shabby, had been loved a long time. Instead of getting rid of it, Joey found a way to make it work in another part of the home, with a fresh new function and look.

Amit had been using these two IKEA floor lamps for TEN YEARS — ever since senior year of college. From dorm room, to first apartment, to the first home, which Amit moved into about a year ago. But while they functioned great, they were drab — boring office gray with a plain white plastic shade that disappeared against the new house’s gray walls.

This worn, old wardrobe had seen better days, but Beau wanted to cheer it up for her daughter’s bedroom. So she add some fun colors, painted on a perky pattern and completely transformed this old piece into a fun addition! From Beau: This little wardrobe was well beaten up and really sad looking, not solid wood in parts so it needed a paint job.

If you need inspiration for how to turn an old, unused piece of furniture into a new piece with a fresh look and function, you’ll love this dresser makeover. The result is far from where it started! From Karen: We love challenges. So when my husband and I found this broken dresser on garbage day we were on a mission to bring it back to life.

If you’re interested in knowing just how you can take a pair of chairs from IKEA and make them unmistakably your own, you’ll find lots of inspiration from Brynne’s project with these club chairs. From Brynne: After searching for the perfect, affordable club chairs for my living room for weeks, I stumbled across a secondhand pair of IKEA Klappsta chairs (no longer carried in store) on Craigslist.

Dania was on the hunt for a rocker to go with the fresh blue and cream nursery she was planning for her new son. This old green vinyl rocker from her in-laws worked just fine…but wasn’t quite the look she was going for. And though she had never upholstered anything before, she tackled this task, and the result is impressive! From Dawn: The original chair came from her in-laws, and while it was in great functioning shape, the green vinyl upholstery wasn’t in the best shape.

Miranda found this shapely chair on the side of the road — and it looked like it. But, this piece had a great form, and with Miranda’s lovely DIY changes, is now on the road to being an awesome addition to a home! From Miranda: I am always so jealous when I hear about people finding gems on the side of the road. Finally the selvage gods smiled upon me and one of my neighbors put this baby on their curb!

Recliners don’t usually grab attention for their design, but after Claudia made some quick and easy changes to this one, a corner of her home is much cheerier! From Claudia: This recliner was so ugly, even my cat got depressed by it, so I couldn’t wait to give this chair a fresh update. It is my husband’s grandfather’s chair, so I kinda had to tread carefully.

Always a little befuddled about how to style your coffee table so that it looks good but not too cluttered? So that it makes the rest of your living room feel great but also functions? There are six styling “formulas” you can stick to that are guaranteed to always look good. Mentally divide your rectangular coffee table into three parts. In each part, center a design element within. Make each element different, but keep them similar in height.

For anyone who loves camping, the outdoors, or very cute design details, this Before & After of a young boy’s room is for you. The color palette and designs are young and fun, but will grow with the boy as he gets older. And the room features plenty of steal-able ideas and inspiration for folks of all ages! From designer Lia Griffith, of Lia Griffith Media: Creating a children’s bedroom design that won’t grow old in less than a year can be tricky.

You should always call someone for help with a repair that feels too dangerous for your set of tools and knowledge. However, there are a lot of repairs that can be done around the home that don’t need a professional. This year, resolve to try one of these easier-than-you-realize repairs around the house. You might surprise yourself!

When Alex moved into his cozy and bright uptown New Orleans rental apartment, he was faced with great architectural bones—beautiful wood floors, big windows, two fireplaces and more. What wasn’t so hot? The builder beige colored walls mixed with other colors that did really work together and made the place seem darker than it needed to be.