IT IS ALL ABOUT LEGS...EVEN IN THE FURNITURE UPCYCLING

Changing or adding legs while upcycling furniture is super easy and can have a big impact of the final look of the piece. It will make your piece lighter or it will make it more modern. It will help you adjust the height of your piece making it more practical....

You can find a great selection of legs available: wooden, metal, finished, unfinished, with different height...

Here are various examples of the pieces I upcycled which benefited from getting the legs either added or changed.

On couple occasions I came across pieces which were custom made, solid wood so with great bones but they were legless. I found them just visually heavy. Plus, in case of the house / apartment getting flooded, there was risk of the piece being very damaged. As you can see I opted for square wide low legs: just to lift the piece of the ground.

Before

After

Traditional Indian cabinet was another piece which was upcycled with extra pair of legs. This time I used square wooden legs which are a little bit higher but the objective was the same: to limit the bulkiness of the piece.

Before

After

There are situations when changing the type of legs will totally change the style of your piece. Here is the example of the same chest of drawers (actually, I was lucky to buy 3 identical pieces) - in both cases I decided to replace the bun legs with much leaner / and longer legs: straight and slant. The result: modern look matching the colour code and finish I selected.

Before

After - with straight legs

After - with slant legs

Replacing the existing legs should be super easy: you should be able to just unscrew current legs and screw in new legs. When your piece does not have legs, the job might be more complicated. All the sets of legs (at least, those that I have used) come with a set of mounting "bits and pieces": bolts and screws. If your piece has a solid wooden base, you should be able to drill a hole, hammer in the bolts and secure them with the screws. If your piece has voids in the areas you would like to add the legs - you may need to add extra wood pieces/ base underneath.

You have to remember that adding legs means extra time and money but the final look might be worth it!

Happy upcycling!