‘Renovation Goldmine’ Shares How To Save Cash Furnishing Your House

Why pay good cash for brand spanking new furnishings when you could find free castoffs on Craigslist or in Grandma’s attic that may be refurbished to appear to be one-of-a-kind treasures? That’s the logic behind a brand new present, “Renovation Goldmine,” the place married couple Joe and Meg Piercy assist householders lower your expenses by respiration new life into previous decor.

On the HGTV present, the designers assist householders across the Chicago space end their DIY tasks which have fallen quick. Curious to be taught extra, we had a chat with Joe and Meg to listen to how they received began in addition to their greatest recommendation.

The theme of your present is ‘previous is gold.’ How did that change into your mantra?

Meg: It began out of a necessity. After we had been first married and having youngsters, we didn’t have the cash to purchase items, and so we’d discover issues in alleys or at thrift shops for little or no cash and we’d refinish them. What we realized is, once we had cash to go purchase newer issues, the previous stuff is made higher. I feel we simply fell in love with previous then, and as we began refinishing and promoting it on-line, we shortly realized different folks liked it, too.

Joe: We stay in a really shopper society now, and a whole lot of the merchandise that we furnish our properties with are very consumable, like you may substitute them or they could disintegrate. Classic furnishings was constructed to final. A whole lot of the items that come by means of our door, they’re 80 to 100 years previous. All we do is strip away a few of the historical past, and we repaint it to have the ability to inform a brand new story.

Why is upcycling such a well-liked pattern proper now?

Joe: There’s a whole lot of provide chain points, and it’s actually laborious to get product proper now, so I feel persons are beginning to look inside [their] own residence. I actually assume that it’s right here to remain.

Meg: Not having to attend to get your piece, the monetary profit, [and] how proud you may be at one thing that you just created. It makes your home one among a sort. We went by means of this part of grays and whites and neutrals, and what we’re seeing is folks notice how a lot shade impacts their temper. I really feel like shade is certainly on its means again.

What are your high suggestions for locating items which can be definitely worth the renovation?

Meg: Steer clear of something that reeks of smoke [or has] main water injury. [Go for] something that has good bones. You don’t have to love the colour of it, the wooden, the {hardware}, something! You may very simply tweak issues right here and there to make them look brand-new and save your self some huge cash.

Joe: There are some iconic furnishings manufacturers which can be American manufacturers which have transcended time—the Bakers, the Henredons, the Thomasvilles, the Bernhardts—you could find some classic items which can be made by these manufacturers and so they paint up unimaginable.

What are your greatest strategies for giving previous furnishings a contemporary look?

Meg: Add 5% water to a chalk paint so that you don’t see the stroke marks, or put it in your family blender and mix it on low in order that the paint is absolutely well-blended and it offers you that flawless end. You too can use chalk paint after which use a transparent coat of gloss over it so that you don’t need to do sanding and priming however nonetheless get that high-gloss look with out as a lot effort.

Joe: The completed product is set [by] the prep that you just do, so make certain if there are dents or divots or issues damaged off, that you just restore these with wooden putty.

What are a few of the coolest previous furnishings you’ve come throughout?

Meg: We’ve carried out a lot of heirlooms which have gone down by means of generations, however we simply received a bassinet and it has a bit plaque on the within of each child from their household that has been introduced house into this bassinet. There’s, like, 70 plaques. It goes by means of the entire household, and it goes all the best way again to the Twenties and it’s so neat! It’s sort of falling aside, and it’s had a number of coats of paint by means of its life, so that they requested us to strip it down and construct it again up.

Joe: We discovered a library card catalog and we chopped it in half, after which we mounted them facet by facet. It was like an 88-inch buffet and it had, like, 100 drawers in it.

The place is the weirdest place you’ve discovered furnishings to revive?

Meg: He has met [many people] in alleys that he now has as buddies! These scrappers stack their automobiles as much as the purpose the place, in the event that they take a decent flip, this factor’s going over. We’ll be driving alongside them on the freeway and be like, “we would like that,” after which we’ll pull over and seize it.

Is there any merchandise you’ve seen—in actual life or from popular culture—that you just dream of redoing?

Meg: Undoubtedly the dresser in “Narnia.” We truly received a dresser like [that one], and I’m placing it in a home within the French Quarter of New Orleans. We restored the skin and we painted the within neon yellow in order that whenever you open it, it’s a very cool bar.

Any recommendation for updating sentimental household heirlooms that will not be your fashion?

Meg: Everybody’s change into extra nostalgic all through COVID, serious about individuals who they love and what they need of theirs to hold on. Say somebody’s extraordinarily into midcentury fashionable and their grandma was tremendous conventional, these don’t at all times go collectively. However there are such a lot of issues you are able to do, whether or not it’s change out {hardware} or add a metallic base or change out the legs or paint it a shade or a gloss that goes with the aesthetic of the house.

What would you like viewers to be taught from ‘Renovation Goldmine’?

Meg: There’s a lot energy in with the ability to make one thing together with your arms and a lot pleasure that comes together with it. We’re actually hoping to encourage folks to get on the market and take the bull by the horns and begin doing issues themselves.

Joe: Previous to doing furnishings, I actually wasn’t useful in any respect. While you begin to do it and be taught one thing, you’re feeling a whole lot of worth, like, “Wow, I made that. I did that. I hung that gentle.” It provides a whole lot of self-worth.