< DIY Craft Projects - Trash to Treasure - Architectural Salvage

Trash to Treasure Furniture

You can furnish your home on a budget and still show style, creativity and class. Garage Sale finds and hand-me-downs don't have to look trashy. Below you will find some exambles of thrifty (trash to treasure) furniture pieces you can make with a little hunting, and some sweat equity, you'll have one-of-a-kind pieces that will make your friends green with envy.

Old Windows can easily be made into table tops

click here for more window ideas

This side table was made from a stack of old suitcases

click here for more luggage ideas

Old Shutters can be turned into shelves,cabinets, headboards, Hutches, Wall Shelves and even table tops

click here for lots of shutter ideas

The cabinet on the left was made mostly from old cabinet doors. The shelf unit in the middle was made from disgards and old Locker baskets, and the cabinet on the right was completely made of leftover and scrap wood.

This occasional table was made from sewing cabinet drawers, old stair spindles, and scrap wood. I've attached instructions for this project at the bottom of the page.
Here's a version of it that I saw at an antique store

Another old sewing cabinet made this cute coffee table.

Old Headboards can become extra seating

See the little table beside the bench, that was also made from 2 parts found at Garage Sales. The bottom was part of a table that had a bad top, and the top is an old tin tray.

click here for many more headboard bench ideas

This cabinet obviously needed some help. I added the applique, painted it and then changed out the hardware. I think both of these are great transformations, and show what can be done with a little paint.

This table was made from wood trim pieces used as legs, and an old cabinet door

I used a ceiling tin as an insert in this Garage Sale Table. I had to trim the edges with tin snips, but it wasn't hard. After the table was painted I just glued and nailed the tin in place.

This project is from Clydene

The is an old Card Catalog cabinet, it came out of a library, it held the old Dewy Decimal cards you can still see the four dots on the drawers that held the little metal bracket for the index numbers still have them maybe I should put them back on.

Roneee turned an Old door into a great and beautiful hall tree

What a great project Roneee

These pictures were taken at a local Flea Market. I don't have any instructions, but I love how these hall trees are made out of old doors and other architectural elements.

Mary in Wisconsin made this old door into a table. She used old sewing machine bases as the base for her table.

This project was submitted by Jennifer

She writes:
Hey margo! just wanted to send a pic of my newest creation took me all week since im so busy but was worth it,this was an old little end table that i was going to throw away before i starting looking at your site,the top was in horrible shape and i found this out in my dads junk i guess its a piece of old cabnet it still had the glass nob so i just took it and made it the top of the table and painted it all!

Tina 56 re-purposed this old dresser into a bathroom vanity

Nancy Jo, made this side table from an old type drawer and sewing machine stand

Here's how she did it

"I bought the sewing machine stand at a yard sale for $8. I bought the typesetting tray for $9. And then I had the local glass place cut me a piece of glass for the top. The type drawer has a lip on it, so the glass fits down in it a little bit. I took the drawer to the glass place so it would be an exact fit."

This was an old library cabinet with 2 missing drawers. I covered the drawers with framed art(homemade), added legs and it's a chair side table.

This is an old school desk, purchased at a garage sale. It was painted Green before I stripped it and stained it. Makes a great lamp table or end table.

This is a garage sale patio table, I added the broken Tile mosiac.

Sewing Machine Drawer, Occasional table

here are the steps of construction

First I had my DH router 2 pieces of wood for the above and below the drawers. Then I fitted a blank piece of scrap wood between the drawers and nailed everything into place. Then I added some old spindles for legs.