Make your own unique shabby chic pieces from thrifted & vintage furniture.

(Detail from one of the Secondhand Shabby example pieces.)

Quick quiz — do any of these describe you?

• You have an instant attraction to distressed white paint on an old kitchen table “with character.”
• You have a fondness for furniture with romantic detailing and old-fashioned charm… in fact, your basement is full of your finds.
• You can’t stand to see lonely chairs in an alley or dumpster and start making after-dark rescue plans.
• You covet certain items from Jayson Home & Garden or Restoration Hardware, but you can’t bring yourself to buy any of them.  After all, even if you can afford their prices, “It can’t be that hard to make.”

If you’ve answered yes to those, here is a book you’ll want to know about.  Secondhand Shabby is a practical and inspiring hands-on ebook that shows you how to create your own shabby chic looks using vintage and thrifted furniture.

(Found in an alley behind a Victorian house, stripped and ready for a new life.)

Go shopping at Goodwill and Home Depot, make your own “exquisitely distressed” table for about $25.

What is so cool about this particular ebook is how it shows the rising participation in the “secondhand economy.”  It’s written by Diana, a prominent upcycler who has a column about creative reuse in Time Out Chicago Magazine.  She is also the writer behind “Garage Sale Warrior,” a Chicago Now blog about thrift and vintage markets.

More and more people are looking at the makeover value of well-made old stuff, compared to IKEA’s disposable modern ticky tacky.  (We call it the IKEA furniture rental program at our house because the clock starts ticking after you put it together…)

Shabby chic that’s eco-friendly and economical.

If you’ve been into shabby chic, you already know that its critics usually raise their eyebrows at the high price of furniture that’s mass-produced to look used, worn, and one of a kind.

But Secondhand Shabby gives this popular style an eco-friendly (and economical) slant.  The low-cost projects all start with thrifted, vintage, or family furniture — the kind anyone can find at Goodwill, a junk shop, or an estate sale.  Each old piece gets new life (and sometimes, a completely new purpose) using some versatile but beginner-friendly techniques.

Materials cost?  Unless you’re going all out, the stuff you need usually costs less than $20 per project.

Create the classic distressed paint finish, and much more.

Shabby is much more than old-looking furniture with worn white paint — only one of the chapters is about getting that classic distressed shabby finish (which is just about as easy as you think it is.)  You can take a look at the table of contents to get an idea of what you’ll learn:

Click to see the table of contents full sized in your browser.

Emphasis on one-of-a-kind creations.

Some do-it-yourself books are like paint by numbers: they teach you how to make a specific thing, and your end result is supposed to look just like theirs.  Secondhand Shabby’s approach is different.

The author’s mission is to help people create eclectic, pretty, and casual decor using their own ideas and eye for potential.  The example projects are inspiration and practical demonstration of the techniques.  When you use the techniques on your own thrift and vintage finds, you will get elegant, one-of-a-kind things with real histories, unique origins, and distinct personalities… that probably look nothing like the example projects!

The stories behind the finds...

Shabby makeovers use everyday stuff from the hardware store.

Shabby chic is clearly rooted in history, but using actual secondhand furniture used to be designers’ and boutique owners’ uneasy secret.  Now, anyone can make a trip to the thrift and make their own unique pieces with a few key skills.

Diana Durkes has always encouraged people to be their own designers.  With Secondhand Shabby, she has created a hands-on guide that gives budding DIY decorators the confidence and practical skills they need to channel their inner Rachel Ashwell.