How to Make Hand-Me-Down Furniture Flow with Your Home

Happy Friday, ya’ll! Thanks for dropping by Flawed yet Functional where I hope you find a bit of encouragement and inspiration to do the things you love. Even if your life is filled with diapers and spit-up or juggling multiple jobs, you can carve out a nitch of time to spend doing something creative you love. A while back I acquired a new bed for our master bedroom. While I have plans to paint the bed, old furniture does not always need to be painted. It can be loved AND lovely in your home without a “refresh.” Today I’d like to share 3 tips for how to make hand-me-down furniture flow with your home.

Renovation is Not Necessary

I love to paint. Have I told you this before? I’ll paint anything wall, furniture, canvases, or cabinets. It’s all fun for me. In fact, I’d call it therapeutic. I get lost in the mindlessness of the task and think and ponder so many things while I get my paint on.

When we decided last fall to just use the bed rather than letting it collect dust in our garage until spring, I determined to figure out how to use this old bed to make a beautiful space. What could I add/change while spending the fewest dollars possible and maximizing the beauty of the space?

I landed on 3 things that were inexpensive, quick and most of all, used what I had: paint, textiles, and accessories. But not painting the bed! I need springtime for that, but I knew a new coat of paint on the walls would be a quick change to help the bed flow with the rest of our room.

So, all that to say, you don’t have to paint old furniture. It isn’t necessary to demo/refresh/modge podge hand-me-down furniture to make it fit into your home or even to make it lovely. It can be embraced as is, I promise. With a few dollars spent and shopping your home, you can create a beautiful space with hand-me-down furniture. Let me share 3 tips to make hand-me-down furniture flow with your home.

Paint the Room

My first suggestion is to paint the walls of the room the new piece of furniture is going into. Here are a few reasons why:

1. The undertones of the furniture might clash with the current color scheme. If that is the case, then move towards a neutral wall color that has the same undertones as your new piece of furniture.
2. It is the same price or cheaper than refinishing the piece. A gallon or two of paint will run you $50-$120 (depending on brand and sales/coupons). Refinishing furniture, for me, is a long list of tiny purchases that really add up. As the project goes on, more tools and materials are always needed that make the original project so much more expensive than anticipated.
3. Painting a room is quick. A room can be painted in a single day. Refinishing furniture…who knows…six weeks?
4. Use and enjoy the things you have…NOW! Painting a room will incorporate that new piece of furniture into your design plan quickly allowing you to enjoy the furniture and the space right away. What good is furniture or a room if it isn’t functional and enjoyable to you? Choose a path that let’s you use the hand-me-down furniture right away to it’s fullest potential (you can always paint it down the road!).

Swap out the Textiles

Second, shop your home for textiles that complement, not clash, the wood tone. The pillows, rugs, blankets, or curtains currently used in the room might not go with the new furniture. Be creative with what you already have in your home and put it to use!

For example, I have 3 different options for comforters for our bed: a mustard-y yellow/brown, white with blue flowers, and navy/white quilted comforter. The mustard one, while beautiful and one I love, is in the same color-family as the wood tone and was too much yellow-brown for one space.

The simple solution: I swapped out the mustard duvet cover for a navy and white quilted comforter. Blue is opposite yellow/brown on the color wheel meaning they are complementary colors. Blue + brown = good!

So if that piece of furniture just doesn’t seem to be settling into your house like you thought it should, can you move swap out some textiles that will complement better?

• Borrow throw pillows from the living room or guest room for a rocking chair.
• Trade out rugs that are the right warm/cool tone.
• Put a different comforter or sheet set on a wood bed.

Bring in Different Accessories

Lastly, how do the accessories and small furniture flow with the new piece: side tables, lamps, overhead lights, pictures, etc.? Do you have other pieces in your home that would complement the new furniture better? Swap them out! Once a lamp is set down in a room, it does not have to stay in the room forever, even if it was purchased for that room. I give you permission to move your tables, lamps, pictures at will throughout the house.

Give it time and practice, but those heirloom (or estate sale finds!) can fit beautifully into your home. Don’t buy the lie that you must renovate, paint, or purchase new accessories to make the furniture flow with your home. Shop your home and try these 3 steps to learn how to make the most of hand-me-down furniture!