Some of you are thinking, what? I can't build anything... I'm not a carpenter! Well, neither are we! But, there are simple ways to rejuvenate an old piece of furniture.

This cabinet was abandoned by the previous home owners. Covered in ridiculously ugly contact paper, I almost felt like throwing it out to the garage. I don't know about you, but I don't even use contact paper in my kitchen cabinets, let alone to COVER a piece of furniture! I decided to see what it was about and if it was even salvageable. I ripped all the contact paper off, and underneath was a nice real wooden piece of furniture. It looks homemade, but it has a beadboard door, so that adds a funky charm. I used paint that I already had from walls and put a coat of paint on it. (or two) The key was to make sure to sand off the stinky gunk that was left from the contact paper. 

Words of wisdom: if you have a piece of furniture, for the love of God, please don't use contact paper! Call me, I'll rescue your piece.

Now, this little jewel was one TJ spotted at a yard sale at my Mom and Dad's neighbors! We weren't even really going to go shopping again to find a DVD case, but it showed up for us...

This was quite a hideous piece at first, but we knew it was solid wood, and it was a steal for $15 PLUS a new rug and stool were thrown in to boot!

We tore off the ugly 1980s veneer covering off the top, sanded it and the doors and put a stain that we both liked on it. (Remember, sanding doesn't take that long AND you are toning your arms, girls, who has to go to the gym? Blah!) 

We found knobs on clearance at Lowe's (for about a buck each) that we both like along with one strip of trim ($3) to finish out where the front looked a bit unfinished from ripping off the veneer. Again, it didn't take that long and it didn't need much work. Total cost on this including the rug, stool, sandpaper, finishing trim, knobs and stain was about $27! 

I don't know where you can buy anything made from real wood for that price.