Painted Furniture Ideas for the Home / Before and After

Today I gathered up LOTS of painted furniture before and after pictures of projects I’ve completed in hopes of giving you some great inspiration to reinvent some outdated furniture pieces in your home.  Creating a new life with old furniture can save you lots of money if you are planning on redecorating your home.  But most importantly for me, it’s so special to not be wasteful.  I’m certain you’ll find something in this post you can apply with furniture you might have considered getting rid of and create your own before and after.

I started this before and after series last week for the month of July, providing pictures of our front yard landscaping project. If you didn’t get a chance to read it, check it out at Ideas for Front yard Landscaping | A Before and After.

I hope you enjoy this series!  Let me know your feedback in the comments section at the bottom of this post.  I had so many furniture makeovers to share that I had to break this into two posts.  Let’s get started!

PAINTED FURNITURE | A BEFORE AND AFTER:

#1 Master bedroom nightstands makeover:

I’ll kick off today’s before and after with my master bedroom furniture.  My husband owned the set when we got married 15 years ago.  Since then, styles and trends have changed a lot.  The quality was great, but it definitely needed updated to match everything else in our room.  So, of course I grabbed a paint brush and the rest is history.

This project was completed before I started my blog, so the picture quality of the before shots is not fabulous, but you get the idea.  I did not capture a full before bed shot, but you can imagine it based on the night stand and armoire.

Master Bedroom Nightstands BEFORE:  

Master Bedroom Nightstands AFTER:  

French Linen by Annie Sloan was used on the night stands.  The base of the armoire (below) is white chalk paint and I alternated using very diluted Annie Sloan French Linen and Coco to create a wash effect.

#2 Master Bedroom Armoire Makeover

BEFORE:  

Master Bedroom Armoire AFTER:  

I painted the inside blue by mixing just a tiny bit of blue with white paint.  I could not give you exact measurements as I did it on a whim and didn’t take notes.

By the way, I cook the same way!  My husband has come to expect that a recipe I prepare is never the same twice.  I love to experiment.  He always tells me my food and projects turn out great…even if he’s not being fully honest, I appreciate it and it gives me the encouragement I need to keep trying new things.

What do you think about the blue shelves?  If you haven’t tried something like this before, consider it.  I love the little pop of color when the doors open!

Close up of the paint wash:

Amy Howard One Step paint in black was used for the bed.  No more orange knotty pine!  I used to love the look and I know some won’t love that I painted over them.  But, after looking at them for 15 years, I was ready for a change.  As I mentioned, the quality was still great, so painting them was a perfect option for me.

#3 Master Bed AFTER:  

You can read about how I transformed the picture frames above my bed at my post:  Paint Old Frames to Update Your Decor.  I painted the frames as well as the prints inside.  The pictures that were in the frames had various shades of orange, yellows and reds.

Obviously that didn’t match my new furniture, so I painted them too!  I painted our initials in the small frames and used the Bible scripture “Love Never Fails” in the large frame. My husband had that engraved in my wedding ring, so it was perfect!

#4 End tables PAINTED FURNITURE | A BEFORE AND AFTER

Next, I’ll show before and after shots of one of my very first furniture painting projects.  My parents had some old end tables in their basement stacked in a corner.  They were pretty beat up, but I really thought I could find a way to transform them.

With the help of my daughter, we cleaned them well and used some black chalk paint with a bit of distressing.  What a difference!

End tables BEFORE:

Check out those table tops.  They definitely needed some TLC!

End tables AFTER:  

The table tops were in pretty bad shape before.  We did lightly sand them before applying the black chalk paint.  Some of the flaws were still visible, but they looked so much better!

#4 Charging Cabinet Painted furniture before and after makeover:

The next project might be one of my favorite furniture transformations, mainly because we use it all of the time!

I painted an outdated cabinet and made it into a charging station for my kids to keep their electronics stored at night.  You can get all of the details of my process at How to Create a Charging Station for Your Electronic Devices in a Cabinet.

Charging station BEFORE:

Charging station AFTER:  

My mirror is super dirty!  I didn’t see it until I was going through this post.  Don’t forget, my blog is Love Our Real Life and dirty mirrors is certainly part of my real life;-)

If you are curious how we use this cabinet for a charging station, have a peek inside:

My husband cut a hole in the back of the cabinet to allow the power strip cord to fit through.  I love closing the doors and having all of those cords and devices out of sight!

#5 Coffee table makeover:

Next, I’ll show you our living room coffee table.  The finish had taken a beating through the years, so I didn’t think I had anything to lose by painting it as it looked pretty rough to begin with. It doesn’t look too bad in this photo, but trust me on this one.

Coffee table BEFORE:

I painted it Coco by Annie Sloan and used a French Linen wash.  I also did a little dry brush application of Country Grey (Annie Sloan) as well as dry brushing of more Coco.  It was sealed with clear and dark wax.

As you can tell, I just keep adding a little bit at a time to get a look that works for me.  Experiment!  It really is fun!

Coffee table AFTER:

Take a look at the fun coasters!  They were an easy DIY using simple tiles, a photo, and mod podge.  Read my tutorial at my post:  DIY Coasters.  The rug you see in the above photo is from IKEA.  It ties together this space beautifully.

A great friend of mine and I take occasional trips to IKEA.  I was eyeing this rug, but was on the fence about making the purchase.  She gave me a nudge and I’m so glad she did.  She even went back later to get one for her home!  If you love it, click on this link.  It’s very affordable and makes a big impact.  I do not make any money as an affiliate for IKEA, I just love this rug!

#6 Dining Table Painted furniture BEFORE AND AFTER

At one time I strongly considered getting rid of my dining room furniture.  It was very inexpensive when we got it 11 years ago…by inexpensive I mean cheap.  We purchased it when we moved into our current home and at the time it’s all we could afford.

The quality was fairly poor and the orange-based color no longer matched the rest of the home, so it was a prime target for one of my projects.  The dining table/chairs and a buffet table were a matching set.  I say “were” because they are no longer used together.  I’m slowly transforming both, but I’ve repurposed the buffet table into a media cabinet.

Dining room table BEFORE:

At this point, the before shot of the dining table is much better than the during.  I’ve been in the process of repainting it for over a month now, lol!  I will be finishing it soon (I hope!) and I’ll definitely share it in a later post.  I’m confident the after will be good.  Here it is currently:

Dining room table NOT YET FINISHED;-):

#7 Buffet Makeover

Repurposing the buffet table into a media cabinet for our living area saved us from buying another piece of furniture in our living room.  It worked great for the space.  I do not have a before of the buffet.  But, looking at the above table and chairs will show you the color.

The buffet was painted in Country Grey (which is really more of a cream color) chalk paint by Annie Sloan with some distressing.

Buffet table turned media cabinet AFTER:  

My goldendoodle, Bentley was posing for the camera.  You can also get a peek at my gallery wall; read the full post  at How to Create a Gallery Wall That’s Personal to You.  If you want tips for creating a gallery wall, save my Pinterest pin for later.

#8 Piano Makeover

To replace the buffet table that was in the dining room, we put a piano in its place.  This was a special gift from some friends of ours that gave it to us when they upgraded their piano.  I posted all about it at Piano Makeover with Chalk Paint.  I used Amy Howard One Step paint (chalk paint) in black.

Piano BEFORE:  

Piano AFTER:

Although it might not look like it, the piano is actually sitting in the exact same location in both photos.  The dining room walls were painted in a gray color I concocted.  I’m not certain of the exact color as I combined some left over paints from previous projects.  I believe Tony Taupe by Sherwin Williams with a little bit of Nomadic Desert by Sherwin Williams is what I used.

That’s it for today!

I hope you’ve been inspired to create some before and afters of your own.  Check out the Painted Furniture | A Before and After Part 2 post.  It has some great ideas you can incorporate into re-doing your own outdated furniture…I can’t be the only one that has outdated furniture;-)

This Before and After series will continue throughout the month of July.  It feels great to find practical ways to make your surroundings prettier and it’s always fun to look at the progress you make.  Decorating doesn’t have to cost a lot of money!

Don’t forget to check out last week’s post in this series Ideas for Front yard Landscaping | A Before and After.