Furniture Hacks: Over 20 Step-By-Step Projects for a Unique and Stylish Home

Discover how to update and repurpose homeware and furniture for an effortlessly chic home.

Nowadays, it is easy to find affordable furniture for your home from chain stores, but those pieces can lack character. This is where furniture hacking comes in—updating, repurposing, and personalizing to create stylish, unique masterpieces. Here, Hester van Overbeek shows you 35 ways to update your home accessories, soft furnishings, and even wooden furniture, all with step-by-step photos to guide you along the way. Projects range from simpler ideas, such as a table made from stacked old magazines or a patchwork rug, created by sewing small inexpensive mats together, to ways to create larger pieces for a fraction of the price it would cost to buy them new. Discover how to make your own four-poster bed by combining a budget bed base and pieces of reclaimed wood, or convert a bookcase into a sideboard. There are five chapters—Living Room, Kitchen and Dining Room, Bedroom, Home Office, and Outdoor Space—and each one includes an “instant update” idea for beginner upcyclers, too. Why not paint cutlery handles with nail polish to update them, or make your own bedside light simply using a shelf support? Hester’s philosophy is that you don’t need much money or many DIY skills to make your house into a cozy, stylish home. With the right inspiration, you can create something beautiful.

Hester van Overbeek is a passionate crafter, who has always had a keen interest in interior design—even when she was a child, she drew little interior plans for her bedroom. When she moved to England’s southeast coast and had the opportunity to redecorate a beach house, her passion for craft and DIY was rekindled and the website www.hestershandmadehome.com was born. The website features craft tutorial videos and interior tips, and Hester’s work is often found in magazines such as "Reloved." She has also been featured in "Ikea Magazine" and the Dutch magazine "Libelle." As well as maintaining her website, Hester also works as a hair and makeup artist. Born in the Netherlands, Hester has lived in the UK for the past ten years.