Tips on re-inventing old furniture finds

WEST POINT, Pa. - Oct. 3, 2013 (WPVI) -- Karen Hendricks, owner of The Shabby Attic, has made a business out of turning furniture from thrift shops, and even dumpsters, into unique pieces you'd be proud to have in your home.

And she says, it's not as hard as you might think.

"Sometimes, you'll take a look at something and you think, pretty much, there's no hope for it," Hendricks says. "But it's not a lost cause. If it's got good construction, it's amazing what you can do with paint and hardware."

Her first advice for do-it-yourselfers is to look for pieces that are well-constructed.

She explains, "You want to look for solid wood. Pressboard or composite, it's going to be a lot more difficult to work with, a lot more difficult to fix. Even pull the drawers out and look behind them and make sure they're dovetailed That's really ideally what you want to look for."

She showed us how she turned two old Mediterranean nightstands and mis-matched headboard into an adorable girl's bedroom suite.

"We took the apron off of the bottom, it just unscrewed, and raised it up on feet to make it a little higher for more modern beds," she explained, adding, "And we sanded it, and primed it and painted it and put a new piece of hardware on it and we love it."

The angels she added to the headboard are Christmas ornaments she found at a dollar store and glued on. The total cost was less than $30.

Sometimes, Hendricks just uses part of furniture. She made shelves from drawers, screwed into fence post railings. Total cost here, about $12.

And she's turned old cabinet doors into memo boards using chalkboard spray paint.

Hendricks says, "It's amazing what you can do if you have a little bit of creativity and a small budget."

She shares her tips on The Shabby Attic's Facebook page, which you can view by clicking here.

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