The art of finding cheap furniture, bartering the price down and transforming it into high-end homeware has been perfecte by a money-conscious shopper.
Amanda Wojack, 41, reckons that she's saved about £300 on buying a new set of drawers by choosing to refurbish old ones she purchased from Facebook Marketplace.
The site is a well known hot spot for great deals on used furniture.
In an interview, she revealed her top tips so others can recreate the look in their homes for the same price of £42.99.
Amanda told Lovethesales.com : "I needed a new set of bedside tables, but the cost of buying a brand new pair of drawers would’ve set me back at least £300. I thought, ‘I'm not paying that much’ and started searching online for an old piece of furniture that I could revive.”
“I found the perfect pair of drawers on Facebook Marketplace, selling for £50. The pieces were very old fashioned, but still in great condition.
“I went in with a cheeky offer of £25 for both, and the seller accepted.”
The next step in the DIY process was to clean the draws off excess dirt and grease- a very important sept for anyone who wants their budget paint job to last.
You will also need to remove any varnish so opt for something like 40/80 grit sandpaper and Amanda says this will reveal the top layer of the wood.
Amanda also said she used a thin layer of household bleach left on the surface overnight to lighten the colour even further.
She added: “Now the drawers were ready for painting, I bought a blackjack paint online from Frenchic Alfresco.
"The paint was a 2-in-1 primer which was fantastic as it meant cutting out spend on a separate can of primer.
"My sample paint pot was £6 (150ml) and with that I painted both drawers and still had a third of the paint left.
"For this particular project, I think I used around 100ml of paint, saving myself £20 on buying a whole 750ml pot.”
She then had the idea to add a stencil to the side of the doors and really jazz up the design.
She said: "I picked up these animal print stencils from Amazon for only £5.99.
"I secured the stencil with some masking tape and applied the blackjack paint, using a beauty blender sponge in a dabbing motion.”
The last cost were the handles that came to £6 from Home Sense.
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