Who doesn't love a good yard sale?! The smell of old books, dust, finding great bargains and picking through, possibly, unwanted pieces of "gold." My mom and I have always been crazy about yard sales and this summer has been fabulous for weekend yard sales. When I was little I just looked for stuffed animals, jewelry, and trinkets to bring home. Now I look for furniture to re-do and refurbish.

Our world has been bombarded with pieces of furniture and decor (even homes) that all look the same and all look factory made. One of the best things about refurbishing old pieces of decor is that they have character and good "bones." When we go and find a piece of furniture that needs a little TLC, we are giving it a second life.

Refurbishing chairs, tables and dressers are great for conversation or livable pieces and you can paint, stain and/or decorate them any way you want to fit your home/dorm. For example, I bought a small mirror with a drawer below so that I could use it in my dorm this year at school. I brought it home, sanded it, put on a couple coats of primer and painted it yellow. I absolutely love it and it took very little time or money.

(Here you can see the original color and the new color.)

If you have handy dads/spouses/partners, you might find primer, paint, drills, wood glue, or some of the other materials needed to refurbish pieces. It is really easy to find DIY ideas from Pinterest or from your own imagination. Another reason why I love refurbishing is because it allows an opportunity for people to think outside the box and be creative with the way they use items. This isn't really thinking outside the box, but another project that I have going is a little stand that I bought at a yard sale for $2. I am going to prime it and paint it black maybe so that I can put some stencil work on the shelf or paint the shelf white and add something as an accent color. Who knows what I will paint it in the end? That is the beauty of a refurbishing project.

(Mason jars added for effect.)

Buying new furniture from the store is perfectly normal and fine in our world today; however, buying things that might not even work out in your house is no fun at all! Painting, getting dirty and messy, and feeling (for about five minutes) like you are an artist is priceless when it comes to refurbishing unique, one-of-a-kind pieces. Some wooden furniture items are not made the way they are used to and don't have the craftsmanship that antiques do.

Now, maybe this article has inspired you to get out there and start rolling up your sleeves and create! Where do you start?! Well, yard sales are a great place to start poking around or even in your own home! Some of your furniture that you haven't touched in years might need an upgrade. Maybe poking around antique shops or junk stores (these places are fabulous for getting the old "bones" to chairs and tables). Wherever you look, you will definitely find some piece of decor that could use some TLC and get a chance at another life. Reducing the amount of factory-made goods and reusing and refurbishing old pieces of furniture are a couple of great ways to keeping our planet healthy and clean.