Get a Lift: DIY Ways to Change the Height of Vintage Furniture

Have you ever found a beautiful vintage or antique piece of furniture, fallen in love, then experienced soul crushing disappointment because it was the wrong height to work with your other furniture? Sometimes, in order to make imperfect pieces fit perfectly in your home, they just need a little boost.

Above, Meg Made makes custom metal bases for vintage furniture, or you can have her refinish one for you. She regularly retrofits credenzas and dressers with taller legs, then paints everything the same color so the new parts blend with the old.

These brass trunks from Happily Curated Chaos got matching risers to lift them up and make it easier to reach down inside.

From Style Me Pretty comes this smart makeover of an IKEA chair. In addition to painting it a bright cobalt blue, they added casters to make it a better office chair.

Sarah Sherman Samuel modified an old credenza into a bathroom vanity by wall-mounting it so it floated above the floor. It not only looks more modern, but also makes the counter 34-36″ from the floor — a new height standard that was changed due to the general population getting ever taller over the years.

When Shelley of Crazy Wonderful found anold Jenny Lind bed for her son’s room, it didn’t come with bed rails and she made her own —a great solution if you want to raise or lower the mattress on your antique.

Sarah Dorsey fashioned a brand new wooden base for her mid-century dresser. It lifts it off the floor, changing not only the scale but also making it feel less bulky.