Trash to Treasure Furniture Makeover
Furniture makeover showing how to transform a piece of furniture found in curbside trash into a beautiful piece of functional furniture for your home.
I am one of those people who is not afraid to stop my car on the side of the road to pick up other people’s cast-offs. I enjoy the process of a good trash to treasure furniture makeover. I find the hunt very adventurous and love transforming my finds into functional pieces. Best of all – it doesn’t cost me a thing.
I found this hollowed out dresser in a field on the way to the supermarket. Lovely, isn’t she? She has nice lines. I saw potential.
Furniture Makeover Using Dollar Store Baskets
The transformation begins with a trip to the dollar store for 17 white plastic baskets. I would have loved wicker baskets, but 17 of them would be a bit pricey for my budget.
Also needed: my computer, printer, and card-stock to make some labels. I chose a font size that would fit in the label holders I found years ago. I cut out a piece of acetate from a transparency sheet to use as my see-thru cutting template.
I made vintage looking label holders and labels. If you don’t have any label holders you can see my post on how-to make wipe-off labels.
I used a pair of pliers to attach a label holder to the front of each basket.
Variation: To see a way to attach a label without one of these label holders, click here: How To Attach Labels to Baskets and Boxes for Organizing
I cut plywood to fit into the hollow dresser to create shelves. There were 8 sections and a small lip where the drawers used to be that I screwed each piece of plywood into. I then gave it a coat of white paint. This is a rough piece. Even after sanding and buffing the front edges still looked raw with the plywood and screws showing.
I cleaned it up as best I could and figured it is going to go in my mudroom so it doesn’t have to look perfect, just functional. Lots of sanding needed.
Trash to Treasure Furniture Makeover: After
I also bought white thumb tacks at the Dollar Store and used two different colors of ribbon from my stash to hide the ugly front edge of the dresser. I measured the ribbon and placed the purple on top of a wider white grosgrain. I attached the ribbon to the dresser with the thumb tacks. I think I am going to add more tacks, so it looks like nail-head trim, but I ran out. I will need to take another trip to the Dollar Store to get more.
This dresser sees a lot of action as it is right in the door from our garage where we enter the house. It is where we place keys, mail, library books, handbags, backpacks, etc.
I have the baskets labeled – Sunglasses, Goggles, Sunscreen, Mittens, Hats…the things we use on a daily basis that I want easily accessible, but I don’t want to see laying around.
I love how it came out. Not too bad for something I found on the side of the road. I love a good trash to treasure furniture makeover don’t you?
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