What can make a $3 flea market chair look like a $300 boutique piece? Just a little paint and the most basic techniques. In these beautiful pages, crafters will discover the key to transforming old and cast-off furniture into fantastic and fanciful works of art. A range of designs are on display, from rustic to refined, simple to sophisticated. Select from decorative painting, decoupage, crackling, distressing, sponging, staining, stamping, and stenciling, and follow the detailed instructions, photos, and patterns to success. Decorate a cabinet in charming country chic with a rooster and a trompe l’oeil napkin peeking over the drawer. Go retro with ’50s-style kitchen chairs. Or make a Rose Armoire, Baby Memories Photo Screen, and many other one-of-a-kind showpieces.

Transform tired furniture into stunning showpieces: “A fabulous how-to volume for everything from sanding to decoupage and beyond.” —The City Sage blog You’ll never look at a hand-me-down dresser the same way again! This book offers twenty-six easy-to-follow techniques that can be applied to all different types of pieces, from bookshelves to desks: painting, applying gold leaf, wallpapering, distressing, dip dyeing, and more. In addition to the core techniques, author and Knack Studios founder Barb Blair shares thirty beautiful before-and-after makeovers from her studio and outlines how to achieve each look. With helpful step-by-step photographs, a visual glossary explaining all the tools and materials needed, and a lovely contemporary aesthetic, Furniture Makeovers is a treasure trove of ideas and instruction for the home decorator. “Her amply illustrated book shows why her repurposed furniture is in demand.” —Publishers Weekly

What can make a $3 flea market chair look like a $300 boutique piece? Just a little paint and the most basic techniques. In these beautiful pages, crafters will discover the key to transforming old and cast-off furniture into fantastic and fanciful works of art. A range of designs are on display, from rustic to refined, simple to sophisticated. Select from decorative painting, decoupage, crackling, distressing, sponging, staining, stamping, and stenciling, and follow the detailed instructions, photos, and patterns to success. Decorate a cabinet in charming country chic with a rooster and a trompe l’oeil napkin peeking over the drawer. Go retro with ’50s-style kitchen chairs. Or make a Rose Armoire, Baby Memories Photo Screen, and many other one-of-a-kind showpieces.

From the New York Times–bestselling author of I Brake for Yard Sales: An inspiring step-by-step guide to reinventing your space with secondhand finds. Focusing on nine different rooms (including her own recently purchased Manhattan apartment), Lara Spencer, host of HGTV’s Flea Market Flip, shows that all it takes is planning, shopping know-how, and a little imagination to create a beautiful and comfortable home that reflects your personal style. She walks through the step-by-step process of overcoming the challenges of the room, offering helpful tips and lessons along the way. She identifies the design dilemma; comes up with a decorating plan; makes a mood board for inspiration; compiles a shopping list; scours flea markets for furniture and accessories that fit the bill; restores, repurposes, and reinvents the pieces she finds, giving them new life; and brings all the elements together in the gorgeous, finished space. With illuminating before, during, and after photographs of her DIY projects and the room installations, Lara demystifies the decorating process and allows you to envision endless possibilities for what you can do in your own home. “Lara Spencer has a secret superpower: making homes look like a million bucks using only bargain finds and easy D.I.Y. projects.” —Redbook

The eclectic look is home decor's hottest trend, but flea market shopping has become a national obsession, making it difficult to find real bargains. BJ Berti reveals how easy it is to get the look for less by giving new life to inexpensive castoffs and finding unusual ways to make the most out of ordinary pieces. A flea market veteran, BJ is a pro at reimagining the wobbly end table as a vehicle for vibrant color and seeing beyond a coating of ugly paint or covering of faded fabric. In Flea Market Makeovers, she reveals secrets for spotting diamonds in the rough at local flea markets, neighborhood garage sales, and vintage furniture stores and shows how to gauge the potential of the curbside castoff. Through twenty-five projects and a special section of basic techniques, BJ explains how a little loving care and a touch of elbow grease can transform the most forlorn-looking pieces into charming additions for all rooms of the home. Step-by-step instructions make it easy to follow her philosophy of restore, revive, and reuse. Why overlook a piece just because it has loose joints or a shaky leg? Minor fixes are easy to accomplish with a little craft know-how, and sometimes just a rigorous cleaning is all that's needed to unveil a prize find. BJ carefully describes how to strip away layers of paint, smooth nicks and dents, and replace old stuffing and fabric. She also illustrates how simple it is to revive a piece by adding a painted pattern, some beveled mirror pieces, or a carved wooden molding. For example, a simple folding card table looks entirely different after BJ replaces its dull floral tabletop with new painted canvas. Finally, BJ demonstrates how to successfully reuse pieces with unexpected placement. For example, a bookcase with fresh detailing stands out as smart storage for a dining room, and a panel from an old upright piano makes waves as a headboard over a bed. With projects that range from a new lamp to brighten a corner of a living room to a mirrored panel for sectioning off a study,Flea Market Makeoversbalances the best of crafting with extremely chic results for every room of the home. Flea Market Makeovers makes it easy to spot the hidden gems with the acumen of a pro.

“[The] step-by-step instructions are clear and practically foolproof . . . an essential guide to DIY restoration and antiquing.” ?Publishers Weekly (starred review) Whether you dream of restoring an heirloom to its former beauty, or just want to modernize a flea market treasure, Amy Howard has the design and refinishing secrets you need. Here are all the furniture finishing recipes, techniques, and tips that have made Howard’s beloved classes sold-out success stories, and made Howard herself the go-to guru of refinishing and “use what you have” redecorating. Try your hand at unique painted and faux finishes, and experiment with gold leaf, distressing, and marvelous graining effects. Along the way, you will learn a treasure trove of techniques, as Howard shares before-and-after makeovers from her studio and offers impeccable step-by-step instruction in all that is needed to achieve each look.

The New York Times bestseller by the host of HGTV’s Flea Market Flip, packed with expert tips for bargain-hunting home decorators. Former Good Morning America and Antiques Roadshow host Lara Spencer is a self-confessed frugalista with a passion for shopping at yard sales, thrift shops, and estate sales, and for decorating her home—and friends’ homes—with her fabulous finds. In I Brake for Yard Sales, Lara shares her secrets for bargain hunting and tells you where to shop, what to look for, how to pay for it, how to restore it, and finally, where to put it in your house. Peppered with wisdom from world-renowned appraisers as well as contributions from well-known designers, this book also features the house of comedienne and good friend Kathy Griffin, which Spencer herself refurbished and decorated.

Shop and dream Paris style. If you love French interior design and bargain hunting, Paris is the place where your shopping daydreams come true. Claudia Strasser takes us on a winding tour through the Parisian flea markets finding decorative pieces all along the way. Strasser discusses ways to bring the look to your home by building collections and looking for furniture and accessories to reflect your individual style whether it's Napoleon III, Louis XV, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Moderne or Belle Epoque. Whatever it is, you're sure to find rare pieces that will be treasured in your home. Shop and dream your way around the Paris flea markets with this deliciously colorful stroll through the city's best markets and take home special pieces that are destined to become heirlooms. A stylized map gives readers the lay of the land and Claudia shares her tips on where to find what, trade secrets, her favorite dealers and advice on shipping items home. So, now take a seat and take a trip to Paris! Claudia Strasser began her career in 1993 when she opened a boutique in New York City’s East Village and filled it with French boudoir furniture and accessories. She painted and repaired flea market finds, reincarnating them into the sparkling treasures. Now she travels to Paris throughout the year, taking small groups shopping and sharing resources. She works on books and articles while designing a furniture line and doing some decorating projects. Claudia’s style and business have been featured in scores of magazines. She is the author of The Paris Apartment: Romantic Décor on a Flea Market Budget (1997). Claudia splits her time between New York, Paris, and Miami.

Offers simple techniques to transforming drab furniture into showpieces, including easy-to-follow instructions for spray painting, applying gold leaf, wall papering, stenciling, and dip dyeing.

Oh, what a splash of paint can do to customize a home! Ordinary tables, chairs, clocks, cabinets, floorcloths, and more go under the whimsical paintbrush—and emerge transformed into hip, fashionable, and unabashedly colorful furniture and accessories. Anyone can do it: no art training is needed to complete these projects, devised by the owners of the popular Purple Cow store. Their trademark creations will cheer up any space, thanks to the bright hues, primitive and rustic styles, and abundance of plaids, zig-zags, dots, and swirls. Highlights include a leopard-spotted dining table, gingham lampshade with woven ribbon, and pink shutters.