DIY Ideas for Custom Furniture with Home Hardware

Is the inside of your home looking a little "blah" to you these days? Maybe you have a specific idea in mind for how you want it to look, but you can seem to find it anywhere in stores. The furniture in your home isn't going along with the general vibe you're going for.

For example, the decor in your bedroom has a cool, relaxed ocean or beach theme. Your dresser or armoire is plain and just doesn't fit in with the rest of the room, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

You have a few options for what you can do to customize furniture to make them look exactly the way you want, and even make them more convenient and functional for your individual needs!

Option 1: You can paint or refinish your existing furniture, as well as add new knobs, pulls or even decorative hooks (depending on how it's built).

Option 2: You can look for a chest of drawers, vanity, armoire or dresser in thrift stores, garage sales or even online on sites like Craigslist or Facebook (your local buy/sell/trade pages) for a bargain on one that you like, so you can further customize it.

Dress an old armoire up with new pulls, knobs or even hooks.

First, jot down some ideas for what you want it to look like. To go with the aquatic or beach theme example, you might want the wood to look natural and distressed, almost like driftwood. You might even decide to make it look distressed, but painted a color like blue or a sandy color.

Next, you will need to hunt down your materials that go with the theme you have in mind. Check out some beach themed knobs and pulls for your drawers or the doors on an armoire. You will have TONS of options, so bookmark the ones you like so you can narrow down your search later. Some very popular beachy motifs are seahorses, shells, and sea stars.

After you're done painting, distressing or refinishing the surfaces of the furniture, you can install the home hardware you've chosen. One great idea for making it even more useful, is to install decorative hooks on the sides of the dresser or armoire.

Check out the tutorial for installing new home hardware.

You can hang your robe or jacket from it for quick access (you don't have to get into your closet), or you can use them to hang belts and purses. Extra hooks on a vanity can be a place to hang your favorite jewelry. If you don't want to put hooks on your furniture, you can install them in the wall next to it, to keep your stuff together in one spot.