One Hour Removable Furniture Makeover

I was given a beautiful old desk for my craft room from my father-in-law. I absolutely love the desk, however it did not match my current craft room makeover so I asked if I could refinish it. Unfortunately, the answer was a resounding “No”. I really wanted to add a bit more personality to the desk so I decided to find a way to give the desk a makeover that could be removed. The methods I used are cheap, easy and doesn’t harm the furniture in anyway so you could easily remove the design. This is perfect for an antique piece of furniture so the finish isn’t affected but you could still add some character to the piece to match your room decor.

Although it looks like I painted a fancy design on my desk, it is actually wall cling decals! If I want to change the design or remove it permanently all I have to do is peel it off. I have tried these decals on my walls before and found they leave no residue so this is perfect since my kindhearted father-in-law wants the desk in its original condition should I no longer need it. The best part of this project was the fact that I only spent a total of $13! I found the decals for 5 bucks each.

Wall Cling Decals

I purchased the wall cling decals online. When I picked them out I made sure to get a size and design that would fit the surface area of the front of the desk. If you have a larger piece of furniture you could of course get a larger design. I also made sure to order 2 packages so that I could design the left and right sides of the desk.

Apply Transfer Paper

The wall cling decals I purchased came with a piece of transfer film so you can transfer large pieces of the design at once instead of having to place each individual portion of the design. Just start to apply the transfer film (slightly sticky to grab the design) at one end of the design and pull the backing down so the transfer film covers the entire design. Instructions are typically included with the wall clings so make sure to read them on how you may need to apply the wall cling decals to your furniture.

Cut Out Design

I cut out the design so I could figure out exactly how I wanted the design to be on the face of the desk. Then I taped them in place.

Tape On Design

Taping on the design also allowed me to see how the design would have to be cut around the drawer handles.

Remove Backing

I pulled a portion of the backing off without removing the tape, cut part of the backing off and then pressed the transfer paper with the design back into position before removing the rest of the backing. The transfer paper made it nice and easy to make sure that the design was placed exactly where I wanted it. I did this process for each piece of the design.

Remove Transfer Film

The last step was to pull off the transfer film, cut around any areas that were over the top of the drawer handles and cut the border between the drawers.

The entire process took roughly an hour because I kept re-positioning the cut out design to get the placement just right. But, for only an hour’s worth of work I would say this is a pretty cool way to makeover a piece of furniture without actually refinishing or painting it!

There are so many benefits to making over a piece of furniture this way. You could easily do a child’s desk, dresser or whatever to match their bedroom decor until they want something new. If your children are anything like mine, they will want different styles as they grow. The wall clings are really inexpensive so it’s also cheaper than painting or completely refinishing.

Being removable also means that you won’t have to worry about the value decreasing if your furniture is antique. Simply remove the decals and you’re good to go!

Please remember to share this post so your friends and family can also give their furniture a nice makeover without cost or worry.

Do you have any cool techniques to make over your furniture? Do you have any questions or suggestions? If so, please comment below. I would love to hear about your furniture makeover projects. Definitely let me know if you tried this technique and how you liked it.