A woman upcycled two second-hand bedside drawers using a simple hack that cost just £34 – and Instagram users love it.

Lyndsey Mowat, 23, a sales support assistant from Berkshire, UK, had been looking for a new bedside table but couldn’t find anything that she liked within her price range.

After searching Facebook Marketplace, she came across a couple of old IKEA Malm bedside tables, that were just £20 for a pair and were available locally.

She jumped on the deal but wanted to update the look of the furniture while still remaining within her tiny budget.

Having a lightbulb moment, Lynsey popped into B&Q and picked up some paint, moulding for a drawer design and skirting board adhesive, as well as bought four snazzy gold handles from Amazon, costing her just £28.94 in total.

With the help of her boyfriend, James, 24, who works in recruitment, Lynsey got to work transforming her second-hand bedside tables, which are now unrecognisable.

Explaining how they started the project, she said: “We measured the length and width of the drawer fronts and used a saw to cut the moulding to fit.

“We glued the moulding onto the front of each drawer using the skirting board adhesive and allowed it to dry.

“Then, we painted each bedside table and all four drawers, with three coats enough to do the trick.

“After the drawers were dry, it was time to add the t-bar handles and we measured the dimensions of the drawers and carefully marked where to drill holes with a pencil.

“Two holes were drilled in each drawer and the handles then screwed on – finished in one weekend.”

In total Lynsey spent £54 (including the furniture) but the savvy young woman sold her old bedside tables for £30, reducing the total cost for the new ones even further – to just £24.

Lyndsey is very pleased with the end result, especially as she wouldn’t have been able to purchase anything similar with her budget.

Proud of her project, she took to Instagram to show how easy her bedside table upcycle was to complete, with the post quickly racking up over 600 likes.

“Amazing! Love the transformation,” wrote one person.

Another user added: “So so in love with these! You have done amazing."

“Omg this is amazing!! Would never have known it was the malm units to begin with!” wrote someone else.

Lyndsey found inspiration from her social channels, where she noticed other users were upcycling their furniture to save on costs.

She said: "I am so pleased with the end result and I know that we wouldn’t have been able to purchase similar drawers with the money we had.

"They look perfect in the bedroom, were an absolute bargain and have a lovely sentimental value to us now as we put our own hard work into it."

A woman has upcycled two second-hand bedside drawers using a simple hack that cost just £34 – and Instagram users love it.

Lyndsey Mowat, 23, a sales support assistant from Berkshire, UK, had been looking for a new bedside table but couldn’t find anything that she liked within her price range.

After searching Facebook Marketplace, she came across a couple of old IKEA Malm bedside tables, that were just £20 for a pair and were available locally.

She jumped on the deal but wanted to update the look of the furniture while still remaining within her tiny budget.

Having a lightbulb moment, Lynsey popped into B&Q and picked up some paint, moulding for a drawer design and skirting board adhesive, as well as bought four snazzy gold handles from Amazon, costing her just £28.94 in total.

With the help of her boyfriend, James, 24, who works in recruitment, Lynsey got to work transforming her second-hand bedside tables, which are now unrecognisable.

Explaining how they started the project, she told Jam Press: “We measured the length and width of the drawer fronts and used a saw to cut the moulding to fit.

“We glued the moulding onto the front of each drawer using the skirting board adhesive and allowed it to dry.

“Then, we painted each bedside table and all four drawers, with three coats enough to do the trick.

“After the drawers were dry, it was time to add the t-bar handles and we measured the dimensions of the drawers and carefully marked where to drill holes with a pencil.

“Two holes were drilled in each drawers and the handles then screwed on – finished in one weekend.”

In total Lynsey spent £54 (including the furniture) but the savvy young woman sold her old bedside tables for £30, reducing the total cost for the new ones even further – to just £24.

Lyndsey is very pleased with the end result, especially as she wouldn’t have been able to purchase anything similar with her budget.

Proud of her project, she took to Instagram to show how easy her bedside table upcycle was to complete, with the post quickly racking up over 600 likes.

“Amazing! Love the transformation,” wrote one person, with the comment followed by a heart-eye emoji.

Another user added: “So so in love with these! You have done amazing,” followed by a heart-eye emoji and red heart.

“Omg this is amazing!! Would never have known it was the malm units to begin with!” wrote someone else. [sic]

Another person added, “Fab job they look great,” while a fifth user said: “Oh wow this is fab!!," followed by two clapping hand emojis.

Lyndsey found inspiration from her social channels, where she noticed other users were upcycling their furniture to save on costs.

She said: "I am so pleased with the end result and I know that we wouldn’t have been able to purchase similar drawers with the money we had.

"They look perfect in the bedroom, were an absolute bargain and have a lovely sentimental value to us now as we put our own hard work into it."

ENDS

BUDGET BREAKDOWN
IKEA Malm bedside tables x 2, Facebook Marketplace, £20
Good Home self-prime paint in Cancun shade, BQ, £10
Paint brushes,BQ, £3
Drawer design moulding, BQ, £4.78
Skirting board adhesive, BQ, £6
Gold handles x 4, Amazon, £1.29 each
Remaining cost was on miscellaneous items