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Home » Reuse Ideas » What To Do with Old Furniture – Repurpose Guide

What To Do with Old Furniture – Repurpose Guide

There are lots of reasons why people often want to get rid of old furniture.

For one thing, you might be moving to a new place and don’t need to take it with you.

Or you’ve lost a loved one and happened to inherit their old furniture.

Sometimes it could be that you’ve decided to redecorate and want to replace the old stuff with something new.

Whatever the reason, it’s vital to know what to do with the old furniture.

More and more household items are making their way into the landfills, which is not cool.

It’s not doing the environment any good and soon the landfills will be overflowing with all kinds of trash.

If you are trying to be more environmentally friendly, this is not a good way to go about it.

We’ve gathered some fantastic tips on what to do with your old furniture in order to reduce its impact on the environment.

What to do with old furniture 10 Ideas

If we want to protect our planet and the environment at large, we need to take the necessary steps to significantly reduce waste.

Below are some ideas to help you figure out what to do with old furniture and save the environment in the process.

Donate unwanted furniture

A lot of people out there need all the help they can get to get by with their lives.

Your pieces of furniture might just do that for someone else.

There are many organizations that accept stuff from individuals, such as the Salvation Army, Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity.

The thing about these places is that they won’t take all kinds of stuff, so you have to make sure it’s something they can work with.

When donating furniture, make sure it’s in good shape and fixable if need be.

Do not donate anything if it’s completely broken or unusable.

Most of these organizations will have to sell the donated furniture at a reduced price and the proceeds go to their charities.

This is how they help those in need without running out of funds.

If one organization doesn’t take your furniture, try another organization in the area.

They might be able to find a home for your unwanted furniture.

You can also try homeless shelters, and abused women’s shelters.

If you have a garage, attic or basement full of furniture, solve your new home’s space problems by donating the furniture.

Sell your used furniture

Another great way to get rid of old furniture is by selling it.

You might be surprised to find out that other people are also looking for used furniture.

In fact, there are even websites and stores that allow you to sell your unwanted furniture online.

These sites will help you list your furniture on their site and get all kinds of people to bid on it.

You might be able to sell the items at a flea market, garage sale or online auction site such as eBay.

Another good place to try is Craig’s List, since people from around the globe visit this site and buy stuff from each other.

When selling your furniture on a site, be sure to put up decent pictures of the furniture so that potential buyers can get a clear view of what they are bidding for.

Distribute sentimental pieces to family members and friends

There will always be something that someone has an emotional attachment to.

You’ll find that a lot of the furniture in your home carries sentimental value, such as gifts from your family and friends or items that help you remember the past.

If this is the case, you might want to save some of them for other people and share the lifelong memories with them.

However, make sure that you aren’t making the sentimental value override the functionality of the furniture in terms of its purpose.

If your old furniture has sentimental value to you but isn’t as functional as it once was, perhaps it’s time to part with it.

On the other hand, you might want to find someone who will want a piece of furniture with sentimental value but is still functional.

This person could be your family member or a friend.

It’s wise to try and give items that carry sentimental value to people who may actually appreciate them, rather than just put them up for sale online to strangers.

Assist other family members to furnish their homes

Some families are fortunate enough to have a home that’s already furnished.

If you have younger family members or relatives who live on their own and are just starting out, you can help them out by giving them some of your furniture.

There are many people who cannot afford furniture so they live without it.

This is sad because they can’t settle in their homes fully and may never feel at home.

Just imagine how happy they will be when they get some used pieces of furniture from you.

You could give them a bed, table, couch or anything else they could use to furnish their apartments.

You will find that most of these people will be grateful for what you’ve given them, and remember that less waste means a cleaner environment.

You will also feel happy knowing that you’ve contributed your share to helping the environment and making other people’s lives better.

Host a garage sale

Some people out there have so many items of furniture that they don’t know what to do with them.

You could host a garage sale and put these items up for auction so that people can bid and buy the pieces of furniture.

The money you get will help you clear your home of unwanted stuff and it will be good for both you and your neighbors.

Besides, if you’re replacing the old furniture with new and better versions, you’ll surely need some money for that.

Wait for a proper time to host the garage sale and collaborate with the other neighbors so that it doesn’t cause any disturbances in the neighborhood.

You’ll be surprised that you might end up making a lot of money with this idea.

One man’s trash is often another man’s treasure and you wouldn’t miss several people interested in purchasing some things.

Refinish or reupholster old furniture

If you have some damaged furniture, you can still refurbish it and bring it back to its former glory.

You can do this by yourself or with the help of a professional.

This is usually the case if you have sofas, dining tables or chairs that have seen better days.

You could use paint or varnishes to protect the furniture and make it look good as new.

Another way to spruce up your old furniture is by reupholstering them.

This would require that you get new fabric and a sewing machine to make the new covers.

Sometimes, reupholstering isn’t enough so you may have to get replacement pieces and reassemble your old furniture.

If you’re not sure where to find replacement parts, check out furniture stores or ask a friend who can help you with this.

Give it away for free

One way to clear space in your home is by getting rid of things that aren’t necessary or useless.

A lot of people have so much unnecessary stuff in their homes that they don’t really need or use.

If this is the case, you can give them away for free to anyone who needs them.

One good place to do this would be your workplace or your offices.

You could give these items to people who will use them and who may not be able to afford them at the moment.

If you’re giving away furniture and other objects, make sure that they are in good condition.

Additionally, sites such as Freecycle and Freegle allow people to give away items for free.

You’ll be able to post items that you’re about to get rid of on these sites and it will attract a lot of people who would be interested in taking these things off your hands.

Another good option is Craigslist, which is more of a marketplace where people can sell their stuff online.

Just list the items as free and some people might take you up on your offer.

Put the items out on the curb for a large trash pick-up day

In some communities and municipalities, they have selected one or two days in a year when people put all their large items out on the curb for pick up.

A trash truck would then come by and take away the things that you’ve put out.

If you’re in an area that does this, it would be a good idea to do this on the designated day.

This is an ideal means to clear your home of unwanted items and bring some sense of relief knowing that you’re helping to reduce the amount of trash that is being created in the environment.

You can’t just throw everything out, and some of these items can be of use to others.

Give it away to a local theatre

If you’d like to make even more use of the items in your home, you can give them to a local theater.

This way, they will be able to use them during their productions.

There are several theaters that would be interested in getting used furniture and other items as props for their plays.

This is a win-win situation because both you and the theater get something useful from what you’re giving them.

Check with one of the local theatres if they need any aged pieces that they can use.

You could also check out craigslist and see if there are any local theatre companies looking for used or antique furniture.

This is a better solution compared to shoving these items in your garage or basement.

Call a professional junk removal company

If you have old or damaged furniture, then a professional junk removal company can help you take care of that problem.

You should refer to them if you have a lot of furniture and other items.

Since they’re professionals, they can get rid of the items for you in no time.

They wouldn’t take such a large number of items, but they would be able to get rid of the furniture and other large items that you have.

They’d then load these items on a truck and take them away.

You’ll be glad that you don’t have to deal with this huge collection of stuff anymore and so will your neighbors since they won’t have to see it any longer.

Final Thoughts

You can also think of other options aside from giving these items away or asking someone to haul them away for you.

If you want to keep the furniture but dispose of the paint on them, you could always repaint them.

You may not be able to reupholster things and make them look like new again, but painting can help soften the color and hide some of the damage that has been done on these pieces.

FAQs

What can I do with furniture I don’t need anymore?

Instead of keeping them in the house and waiting for a garbage collection service to pick them up, you should make an effort to clear your house of these things.

There are several options available that you can consider.

For example, you can list them online on sites such as Craigslist or Freecycle and make the furniture available to anyone interested in getting it.

You could also have a garage sale so that they could be sold to people who will really use them.

Who will pick up old furniture for free near me?

Some of the options include Furniture Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, Pick Up Please, and The Salvation Army.

Author

  • Jen Wheeler

    Jen Wheeler, co-founder of Recycling-Revolution.com, holds degrees from UC Berkeley, Yale, and Stanford. A renowned environmentalist, she's championed sustainable practices at global events and leads EcoBright Solutions, focusing on recycling education and eco-friendly products.

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