How to Update Furniture Without Paint

This month I’m sharing furniture projects with a few friends and bringing you along for the ride. My project was inspired by a secretary that my parents bought for me when I was a teenager. It’s a nice piece of furniture, but it doesn’t fit with my style any more. Things change after xx years.

I was tempted to sand off the finish and let it be raw wood, BUT after looking more closely at it I’m scared to do that. It looks like it is wood veneer and the veneer looks really thin. I don’t want to paint it either. I feel like my mom would have a heart attack.

Instead I decided to update the look of it in other ways. How’s that you ask? Check out the before and scroll down for the changes.

Update Outdated Furniture with Hardware

The hardware on this desk is really old looking. AND it’s really annoying because as you walk past the desk (even small things like the dog), the handles of the drawers clink against the brass hardware. I wasn’t sure what new hardware would do for this desk but I really like it (see the end result below).

If you haven’t shopped on ETSY for hardware, you should try it. It can take a few weeks for delivery, but I’ve purchased brackets for my book shelves and now this hardware.

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Add wallpaper to furniture

I tried putting fabric in the back of the desk but I couldn’t get it to stay up with tacks and I didn’t want to staple it. Instead, I decided to try the self-adhesive wallpaper, formerly known as contact paper.

There is a huge variety of wallpaper right now. I really love many of the styles available on ETSY but I went with this black and white paper from Amazon for a faster delivery.

This was a great learning experience for me with wallpaper. I learned that IT’S HARD! I tried to match the pattern but didn’t succeed and decided it was good enough. I will be putting books and decorative items in front of the wallpaper.

Here’s the finished desk. It has a more updated look. Maybe I’ll paint it later.

Here’s another example of wallpaper applied to wood furniture. You can do the shelves themselves in a fun pattern.

I also added wallpaper to this hutch.

Add Fabric to Furniture

I added fabric to the doors and back of this armoire inside and out.

You can also slipcover chairs that you don’t want to paint.

If you liked this post, you might also like how to slipcover dining chairs.