If you are a budget decorator, you probably know your local flea market, thrift store, or yard sale circuit pretty well. If you don’t, get familiar. Why? Because flea market flips and other such fairy tales are about to come true for you! Check out these tutorials for creating a piece of decorating art from someone’s cast away furniture. A little creative elbow grease and some inspiration from these amazing designers and bloggers, and you will be well on your way to flipping furniture and your other fabulous flea market finds into decorating gold! Besides, wouldn’t you rather have a creative piece with bragging rights, any old day?
Flea Market Flips
Painted Furniture How To’s
One of the easiest methods to flipping furniture is to use plain old paint! But there is nothing plain about these amazing painted furniture how to’s!
These modern DIY nightstands are so pretty, it’s hard to believe the “before” photo! ‘Thirty Eighth Street‘ shows us how to paint furniture from a thrift store or flea market and make it look modern, updated and amazing. Love this navy paint! Go check out how they made those dated ridged doors disappear!
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We are obsessed with this mint desk from ‘Love Grows Wild‘! This flea market flip is the perfect example of what you can do to makeover an ugly, and yes, we mean ugly, piece of old furniture. What she did to make that original hardware glow makes this piece just about perfect.
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Here is another painted furniture how to from ‘Confessions of a Serial DIY’er‘. This flea market flip is 100% transformed from its original look! She uses this dresser as office storage, but frankly, she could use it for nothing at all but looking pretty and it would still be worth the work! Just paint and elbow grease people!
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And since we love her so much, here is another flea market flip idea from ‘Confessions of a Serial DIY’er‘! This flea market rocking chair was totally transformed! Every single kid on the planet would love to have this chair in their room!
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‘Bless’er House‘ painted this old bed and made it into flipping furniture gold! This piece is now a vintage heirloom! Go see how she got that awesome weathered finish.
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This dated washstand was really lacking.. well, almost everything except good bones. So ‘Life on Kaydeross Creek‘ turned it into an amazing flea market flip! Paint, new knobs and a chicken wire inset into the doors made this a farmhouse style piece anyone would really love to have.
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We love Jen at ‘City Farmhouse‘! Check out what she did with $10. This vintage stereo cabinet re-make is a perfect living room piece! Love her step by step photos at her site as well…
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From the ‘Liz Marie Blog‘, this DIY pinstriped end table before and after is proof that flea market flips don’t have to be huge projects to have huge impact. Simple, but I love the colors, and the thin stripes made it interesting without being too much. Cool!
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Other Before and After Furniture Makeovers
Ok, hold the flipping phone here… This is AWESOME. ‘Bless’er House‘ took an amazing armoire (well, its bones were amazing, anyway) and turned it into a kids’ fantasy Narnia wardrobe reading nook! This is the most creative furniture makeover we have ever seen! And, yep, she tells you exactly how to do it, right down to installing a reading light. Love. Love. Super Love. Did we mention this was featured in a national magazine? You have to go check out their sweet little girl enjoying this secret spot!
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‘Melodrama‘ created this perfect pink sofa… And she tells you how! This is not technically a flea market flip, but the idea works for any furniture makeover. Cover and disguise! She dyed a slipcover for a plain sofa in the bathtub. Yup. Then she added details like those cute little MCM legs. And you can renew any piece of furniture this same way.
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Go see Nancy at ‘Artsy Chicks Rule‘, she created an ultimate budget flea market flip. She found this old wing chair in good shape, but outdated… She updated this upholstered chair with… PAINT! Not just any paint, but the extremely versatile chalk paint. I love the cottage style this chair has, you have to jump on over and check out how she did it, and read all the questions and answers in her comment section. Very creative redo!
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Beckie from ‘Infarrantly Creative‘, brings us this DIY herringbone paint stick table made by KariAnne from ‘Thistlewood Farms’ (We love them both, check out KariAnne’s Farmhouse Kitchen in our “Drool Worthy Decor” post!) Ok, is this the most amazing budget makeover of any piece of furniture!
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Before you go, check out Lara Spencer’s (host of Flea Market Flip’s on HGTV!) 12 do’s and don’ts of shopping at a flea market, from ‘Domaine Home’.
We hope you enjoyed our post of flea market flips & ideas! We think you will also want to jump right on over to our posts on DIY Thrift Store Dresser Makeovers and Painted Furniture Ideas and since we already know you are a thrifter, check out our post Refashion It! DIY Ideas for Your Thrift Store Clothes Finds over at OhMeOhMy!
Note : This post has been freshened with updated projects.
Image Credits: Melodrama, Thirty Eighth Street, Love Grows Wild, Confessions of a Serial DIY'er, Confessions of a Serial DIY'er, Bless'er House, Life on Kaydeross Creek, City Farmhouse, Bless'er House, Artsy Chicks Rule, Domaine Home
You did a great job on that first chair!
xo Ashley
i liked the last one the most wow
I am so glad i have the time now to do do all this inspiring work.thz to everyone who share this
I can’t believe someone would ruin that antique table like that.
I agree.
When you were referencing Lara Spencer, you said she was host of Flea Market Flip’s.. There shouldn’t be any apostrophe in Flips. It’s not indicating any possession. As a professional writer, you should know that.
You are correct. Sometimes auto correct on a computer thinks it’s smarter, than we don’t catch it. And sometimes, I just goof. I apologize for the editing snafu! (Is that a word?) ;) Thx for straightening me out!
You’re correct but I suppose a little bit officious…..the author of this blog was more than gracious in her response. ?
Always a grammar POLICE trolling!! 😳🙄😳🙄
The grammar police… HaHa
It’s “then we don’t catch it” Not “than we don’t catch it”.
As a professional writer….
nevermind, I give up.
I was in 7th heaven reading this blog post as I have taken older furniture and revamped it to match my decor mood. I love black and white and have repurposed a Queen Anne lounge suite to white with black covers. I figure its around 50 to 60 years of age and still going strong. Giving older furniture a makeover then mixing with touches of modern decor can create a striking look. Thank you. I’ve got some great ideas and particularly like the rocking chair re-do.
Wow the transformation you did for some of these ideas were amazing. Thanks for the inspiration!
Love Blessr House repurpose of that armoire! Have it saved on my computer as I want to do that for my granddaughter! Right now she’s 4 months old, so I have time!