Scavenger Chic

Three Quick and Easy Furniture Fixes

• By Joan
• January 24, 2024
• 4 Comments

Three Quick and Easy Furniture Fixes

Little Red Desk

One of my assignments last year while shopping for the farmhouse in Luray , Virginia,  was to find a smallish desk that could be placed in the center of a room. Yes, it had to have a finished back side.

After a little bit of a hunt, I finally found this cute little red desk at my local Restore.  It was a little expensive at $40 but it was the perfect size and the required finished back side.

Compare my Restore find to this little red desk from Wayfair. Maybe a got a good deal after all.

Like a lot of used furniture, this little desk came with a couple of issues.  Most notably, the raised wood where something wet would have sat.

He also was a little wobbly, but that little detail was easily fixed with the tightening of a few screws.

The raised wood was also easily remedied with a random orbit sander.  Use fine to very fine sandpaper until the surface is once again level.

Since I’m changing the color completely, going from a dark red to a light gray, I gave the entire desk a coat of spray on primer.

Remove all hardware before painting or spraying.

I finished with 2 additional light coats of this beautiful, satin stone gray spray paint and reattached the drawer pulls.

All set up in the den of the farmhouse.

Do you recognize the cabinet behind the desk.  It’s the cabinet I created back in 2017 from 2 reclaimed windows and tin roofing shingles. While it has been moved around a bunch, I think he has finally found his forever home.  The shelf above the cabinet is made from an old interior shutter.  All the little knick knacks and pictures are thrift store finds.

Reglued Side Table

My second furniture fix is this pile of wood I purchased for $1 at a flea market a couple of years ago.  I was enquiring about how much the spindles would cost when the seller informed me that the pile of wood I was looking at was actually a full side table.  For $1 a full side table was so much better than 4 spindles.

It’s very similar in design to this walnut side table I found online just without the $260 price tag.

The  reason this poor little table broke down was broken dowels and loose glue joints.

Remove any remnants of the broken dowels with a drill.

Replace your dowels, glue and let dry.  I glued the shelf first and let that glue dry.

Move on to the legs and set the shelf with wood glue.  Do this step all at once so the shelf and legs can dry in place.

A quick coat of Restor a Finish brings back the natural beauty and shine of the original finish.

A beautiful table with beautiful turned legs saved from the scrap pile.

Here he is in his new home tucked away in the corner. 

The desk we just finished commands center stage along with an old vintage oak office chair that was also rescued from a flea market for just $5.  I must say the chair is not quite as comfortable as todays cushy padded chairs.

Here is my daughter in law, Steph, at her moment of discovery of her $5 office chair.  They even threw in the yoga mat for free.

TV Stand Scratches and Scuff Marks

I have an old IKEA  tv stand that has seen better days.  The “wood” on the edges of my existing tv stand have been slowly peeling away.  Wood is in parenthesis because this so called wood is not even a veneer, it’s actually just paper printed to look like wood.  I could add new edging but IKEA furniture  is not the most high quality furniture and I was ready for an upgrade.

So when I spotted this tv stand at a local Goodwill I had to inspect it a little further.  It was marked $13 but as it just so happened, it was a blue tag and blue tags were half off on this day.  Of course he had a few blemishes, but if he was in perfect shape he wouldn’t have been $6.50.

While the right drawer was crooked, it just needed to be set back on it’s track.

The top portion of this photo shows one of the many paint scuffs on this tv stand.  The bottom photo is the exact same spot. 

Use a magic eraser (slightly dampened) and rub the offending scuff.  The scuff should magically disappear without disturbing the finish, thus the name magic eraser 😉 .  Wipe with a clean cloth.

The paint scuffs have all been magically removed but there were still a decent amount of wear where the finish of the tv stand had been worn off.

Any edges where the finish had worn off received a coat of wood stain.  I applied the stain with a Q tip and wiped away any excess.

Once again it’s Restor a Finish to the rescue to cover up all the minor scratches and blemishes.  It just takes a few drops to complete an entire piece of furniture.  Just wipe on with a rag or paper towel and wipe off any excess.

All cleaned up and ready to go.

Keep an eye out for those pieces that just need a little loving and a quick furniture fix.  It might be easier than you think.

As always, stay inspired.

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