Restoring Thrift Store Furniture & Other Ways You Can Utilize Goodwill

restoring thrift store furniture

Shop Your Neighborhood Goodwill and Save

Looking for a bargain on household items, tools, furniture, and clothing for the whole family? Look no further than your neighborhood Goodwill store! Savvy shoppers know that their local Goodwill is a virtual treasure trove of bargains on everything you need to furnish your home or apartment, fill your clothes closet, or find one-of-a-kind accessories. At Goodwill, you’ll find gently used furnishings, shoes, electronics, books, tools, and more at rock-bottom prices. So just what are some items you can find at your Goodwill thrift store? Here is just a partial list:

  • Armoires and Armchairs
  • Barbells and Bedroom Suites
  • Crystal and Corsets
  • Dressers and Drinking Glasses
  • Etageres and Toy Elephants
  • Futons and Fur Coats
  • Grills and Gym Equipment
  • Hankies and Hair Accessories
  • Irons and Ironing boards
  • Jumpers and Jumper Cables
  • Knick Knacks and Kitchen Tools
  • Lamps and Lazy Susans
  • Makeup and Mirrors
  • Needlepoint and Pool Noodles
  • Oil Paintings and Opera Glasses
  • Picture Frames and Potpourri
  • Quirky Collectibles and Queen-sized Mattresses
  • Rotisseries and Roller Skates
  • Sandals and Sneakers
  • Tennis Rackets and Tarps
  • Uniforms and Utility Knives
  • Voice Recorders and Velveteen Jackets
  • Walkers and Walking Sticks
  • X-Boxes and Xylophones
  • Yarn and Yard Tools
  • Zany Halloween Costumes

Restoring Thrift Store Furniture is Easy

Need a living room sofa, a dining set, or an extra bed for the guest room? Your local Goodwill store carries a huge selection of furnishings and accessories for every room in the house. You can get a truckload of bargains and huge savings on big-ticket items like furnishings for the living room, bedroom, or den. Solid wood furnishings can easily be refurbished or reupholstered. Restoring thrift store furniture is a breeze. Restoring thrift store furniture might require a little sanding and refinishing to remove superficial scratches or stains. If you don’t like the color of your vintage cherry wood bedroom suite, sand it down to the natural wood, paint it in your favorite color, and voila! You’ve got a one-of-a-kind, high-quality piece that will get rave reviews from family and friends.

Drab and slightly worn upholstered dining chairs can come to life again with a coat of paint on the frames and new seat covers. Restoring thrift store furniture is simple if you can hold a paint brush or hammer and nail. Dining chair seats can easily be removed and the original padding and fabric covering discarded. Using the original seating material as a pattern, cut out new fabric in a printed chintz, satin, or poplin. When restoring thrift store furniture, you want to replace the foam padding with fresh material, then stretch the new fabric over the cushion. Secure the new material with upholstery tacks for a totally retro look for less than the cost of dinner and a movie for two.

Restoring thrift store furniture like heavily upholstered sofas, loveseats, and easy chairs from your local Goodwill store occasionally requires a minor cleaning to make them look new again. Because items can be purchased at such a great bargain, you can afford to have furnishings professionally steam cleaned. No one will ever guess that your designer sofa and chair were hand-me-downs. Toss a few pillows or a furry throw on the sofa and your furniture find will be the envy of all your friends.

Restoring thrift store furniture is a great way to make some extra cash. Purchase a few pieces of good, sturdy furniture, repair or refinish the items, and they will look as good as new for resale. Lots of Do-It-Yourselfers make big bucks selling refurbished items on web-based thrift stores. Customers order and pay for items online. If you’ve got the time and an entrepreneur’s mind, you can set up a cottage furniture business and sell vintage and updated dining sets, kids’ playroom furnishings, or specialty items with a designer’s touch for vacation, beach, or rental homes.

Refurbish Your Entire Wardrobe

Goodwill stores carry brand name merchandise fit for a king or queen. You might find designer jeans, blouses, dresses, coats, and jackets for a fraction of their cost. The selection is huge in almost every size. 

Got the Back-to-School blues? Visit your local Goodwill and stock up on designer jeans in popular styles like skinny or boot cut. Goodwill usually stocks a huge variety of sweaters, hoodies, leather and suede jackets, and graphic Tees. 

Need tennis shoes? Check out the wide range of name brand sneakers, boots and booties, sandals, and dressy pumps. 

Don’t let your teen’s prom put a crimp in your pocket! Shop your local Goodwill store not only to find bargains for restoring thrift store furniture, but formal gowns, suits, shirts, ties, and accessories for your teen’s big night. People usually donate formal attire after wearing a gown for one night. Buy two or three gowns for a fraction of their original cost, drop them off at the dry cleaner’s or pay to have alterations made, and you’ve got a prom or pageant gown that no one will ever guess it’s making a second debut!

Go GQ at Goodwill

While you’re shopping and restoring thrift store furniture, don’t forget to check out the aisles for career attire. When you’re out of work and seeking employment, you don’t have money to buy a professional wardrobe. Go to Goodwill and come out looking like you’ve just stepped out of Gentleman’s Quarterly or Vogue! You will be amazed at the huge selection of suits for men and women, sports coats, and outerwear that will not only boost your wardrobe but increase your confidence to ace those job interviews. 

Men will love shopping for wool and wool blend suits and coordinating them with short- and long-sleeved dress shirts, a myriad of ties, belts, and dress shoes. Once you land the job, visit your local Goodwill for casual slacks, khakis, cords, shirts, and sweaters for men and a large variety of career dresses and snazzy separates for women. Accessorize any outfit with a costume jewelry like earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and bangles. There’s really no need not to look your best for less when you shop at Goodwill.

Save Big Bucks with Goodwill Costumes

Halloween can be loads of fun for the kids, but you don’t have to break the bank on new costumes. Shop your local store for Goodwill costumes in nearly every size—for children, teens, and adults. Second-hand costumes for ghouls and goblins, princesses, and pumpkins abound. 

You can choose ready-made Halloween garb or make one-of-a-kind outfits from some of the clothing in stock. Take an over-sized pair of coveralls and dress them up with a splash or two of fake blood, add a scary mask and a few scars for a horror movie mascot. If you’re going to a dressy Halloween party, you can find glittery tops, hats, or jeans covered in sequins, or crafted from satin and lame. 

And speaking of hats, selections of Goodwill costumes can be accented with felt, straw, or cotton toppers for a special touch. Your local store might even carry white lab coats, medical supplies, glasses, and accessories to make unique Goodwill costumes for the scariest night of the year. 

Don’t forget to accent your Goodwill costumes with stage makeup, like foundation, lipstick, eyeliner, fake lashes, and facial powder. Add an orange wig to a clown outfit, a long black wig for a touch of drama, or blond curls for Goodwill costumes that reflect your favorite television or cartoon characters.

Christmas Shop at Your Neighborhood Goodwill

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas shopping all year round at Goodwill. The beauty of thrift store shopping is that you can take advantage of low prices on brand name goods throughout the year. Goodwill gets big lot donations from area department stores and passes along these savings to you. Seasonal items like winter jackets, boots, and headgear can be purchased and put aside as Christmas gifts. 

Goodwill also stocks a good selection of new, like-new, and used bicycles, toys, and clothing. You can buy sequined holiday tops, velvet pants and skirts, or complete ensembles for those holiday parties or gatherings. Pick up some toys for the kids and hide them until Christmas. Choose from a wide selection of slippers, pajamas, dress shirts, and jackets for dad. In addition to being the best place to donate books st louis, your neighborhood Goodwill store carries a large selection of holiday decorations, like wreaths, tinsel, Christmas trees, wrapping paper, and garlands. Savvy shoppers might even cash in on holiday decorations for the yard—lights, reindeer, and a trio of angels.

Goodwill: A Great Source for Used Tools

Shopping at a hardware or home improvement store for tools can be expensive, but Goodwill can save tons of dough. Before you spend your hard-earned cash buying brand new tools, check out your neighborhood Goodwill. They stock a wide variety of hand tools like drills, belt sanders, hammers, tool belts, and levels. You might find ladders, shovels, lawnmowers, and rakes for keeping your home in tip top shape. Other items include snow blowers, fireplace tools, and shrub and tree pruning shears.

Stock Your Private Library

Avid readers and collectors will love the huge selection of books at your local Goodwill store, the best place to donate books st louis. You can find sets of encyclopedias; periodicals like National Geographic, Home and Garden, or Time Magazine; and loads of hardcover books, novels, and textbooks. Since Goodwill is the best place to donate books st louis, you are sure to find a myriad of cookbooks, children’s story books, textbooks, digests, and manuals.

Goodwill: The Best Place to Donate Books St Louis

Cleaning out the attic or basement? Remember: your local Goodwill is the best place to donate books st louis. Simply box up your gently worn but unwanted periodicals, paperbacks, and hardcover volumes and contact your local Goodwill thrift store. The staff will advise you on dropping off your donations and the kinds of books they accept. 

You can get a tax-deductible receipt for donations of books, clothing, furniture, or household items. Not only is your local Goodwill the best place to donate books st louis to share with other avid readers and collectors, but the thrift store also offers employment opportunities to the less unfortunate. 

According to Wikipedia, in 2014, Goodwill Industries hired 312,000 people, many of them veterans and the under served. In 2015, Goodwill served more than 37 million nationwide and provides job training and education to level the playing field for individuals who lack vocational skills. That’s another reason one of the most popular American nonprofits is the best place to donate books st louis.

Goodwill Has Household Items Galore

In addition to being the best place to donate books st louis, Goodwill is also a great place to find household items. Setting up your first apartment or sending a student off to college? Shop your local Goodwill thrift store for all the essentials. Stock up on pots and pans, sets of dishes, glassware, and stemware for much less than you would spend at a retail store. 

Goodwill is not only great source for restoring thrift store furniture, but also a goldmine if you’re looking for small handheld appliances like coffeemakers, mixers, microwave ovens, irons, and fans. Some household items are brand new, donated by people that have duplicate items or bought small appliances like portable grills, rice cookers, blenders, juicers, and electric skillets on a whim. They have unwanted goods and you can reap the benefits at Goodwill. 

Your neighborhood Goodwill also carries a large selection of used bedding, curtains, throw pillows, room-sized rugs, lamps, and mirrors. The staff makes sure used items are clean and carefully displayed, but you should launder bedding, curtains, and pillows before using them. Rugs and floor coverings, mattresses, and upholstered furniture should always be inspected before transporting them to your home.

The Goodwill Advantage

In addition to being the best place to donate books st louis, find furniture for restoring, and shopping for Halloween costumes, Goodwill simply saves you money. In an uncertain economy, every dollar counts. Instead of breaking the bank at retailers, why not visit Goodwill? Not only is it the best place to donate books st louis, but you can stretch your budget and get a bargain at your local Goodwill store. Your purchase helps provide jobs, vocational training, a helping hand, and hope to the community’s less fortunate, including veterans.