This upcycled present took Facebook Marketplace finds and turned them into a wonderful art desk and chair for a present for a little girl.
Thank you Facebook Marketplace for sponsoring this post. There’s something for everyone!
My 5-year-old loves creating art and has gotten to the point where she really needs her own space to craft and create. For Christmas this year, I wanted to gift her an upcycled desk and chair for her art space.
I love gifting upcycled presents for many reasons. Recycling helps eliminate waste, upcycling can breathe new life into a previously loved item which can be emotionally easier than throwing the item away, and it provides the opportunity for personalization so that the gift feels even more from the heart.
For this upcycled present, I turned to Facebook Marketplace to find a great deal and some pieces that I felt were perfect for this project.
Create an Upcycled Present with Facebook Marketplace
If you haven’t yet checked out Facebook Marketplace, it is a great place to find used or new kids clothes and shoes, toys, household items, and more. Plus, it’s so convenient and easy to use. Simply search from your phone and message the seller in Facebook Messenger to ask questions or arrange pickup times.
A couple of quick safety tips that I like to use: you can check out the seller’s public profile by clicking on it and can see their rating and reviews, if any. Some towns have established pickup areas in public spaces. Our town has a couple of reserved spaces in the police station parking lot for meeting up to exchange goods purchased online. I think this is a brilliant idea, so check to see if your community provides something similar.
I often turn to Facebook Marketplace when my kids enjoy a toy that is no longer available in stores, hoping that I can purchase a used version from someone local. Additionally, I’ve purchased strollers, baby carriers, and more, saving me tons of money on items that can be pricey, especially with multiple children.
For this upcycling project, I purchased a desk and a chair to update and spent a total of $19 on the two items. Bonus, the desk was purchased from an adult who had the desk as a little girl. Her eyes brightened as I told her that it would be well-loved and used as an art space for a creative little girl.
In addition to the desk and chair, I purchased some chalk paint and fake fur material, making the entire project less than $75 to make. Facebook Marketplace win for sure.
Creating an Upcycled Desk for Kids
This desk was in good shape, but needed a bit of a clean, and a fresh coat of paint. I added some detail with paint that helped this upcycling project become a bit more personalized for my artsy daughter.
Clean the desk and remove hardware. (I also poured a couple glasses of champagne and invited my mom over…but you can skip that part if you want.)
The beauty of using chalk paint is that is covers previously painted furniture without any sanding necessary. Saving time and added steps with a project is always a plus for me.
I removed all of the drawers and painted the structure of the desk white and the front of all the drawers a purply pink.
Reattach the hardware and reassemble the desk. From this point, I added some wrapping paper decoupage to the sides of the drawers to give it a nice finished look when the drawers were extended.
You can easily decoupage wrapping paper or wallpaper here by gluing on, covering with mod podge, and sanding the edges. I followed this tutorial here and the instructions were simple and straightforward to follow.
Ta-da! My $10 Facebook Marketplace find looks great and fits my daughter’s personality wonderfully.
Upcycling a Desk Chair from the Facebook Marketplace
This chair was in good shape, but wasn’t the style that I was looking for to match the desk for this art space. I had been eyeing some other fur desk chairs, but was looking for a much more cost-effective option for this project.
I found a chair with similar structure on wheels and thought to give it a try with some fake fur material and a glue gun. Fancy.
I wanted the chair to have a comfy, cushiony look and feel. I removed the inside of an old couch pillow and glued that to the seat before adding the fake fur.
A hot glue gun was perfect for this upcycling project. The fake fur is incredibly forgiving, hiding all imperfect seams and the copious amounts of hot glue that I continued to add.
Place hot glue around the edge of the seat, cover with material, and press down. Continue this method until the entire chair is covered and patch up any areas that still show the chair underneath.
I LOVE the way this turned out, and the seat is comfortable to sit on.
Check out Facebook Marketplace for your next upcycled gift project.
Head over to Facebook Marketplace and browse around looking for inspiration for your next upcycled gift project. Or, if you’ve had some re-decorating in mind, check out Facebook Marketplace first and see what you can use!
Pin this Upcycled Gift!
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