If the rise in popularity of thrifting and DIY has taught us anything, it’s that one’s trash can always become another’s treasure. Flipping isn’t just a way to work on your DIY skills, it’s also an affordable and eco-conscious alternative to buying new. From furniture to fabric, it only takes a little time and creativity to start flipping.
We’ve been on the hunt for creative flea market flips in and around Milwaukee that might just inspire your next project. Here are some of the most striking ones we found:
A Dresser’s Rebirth
Sometimes you’ve got to dig deep (or sand down) to find the hidden beauty inside. With a little DIY magic, a new life was given to this tired dresser.
“I found it on Facebook Marketplace. I was drawn to the simple shape of the dresser and the bare wood style suited the gorgeous wood that was underneath all that dark stain. I was going to sell it, but I loved it too much to part with it. It’s now winter hat and glove storage for my family. Everyone gets a drawer!”
Katie Shafer
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A Bar Cart Glow-Up
Introducing the dry bar, the bar cart’s cool older sister:
“I was looking to create a dry bar after we moved from a 700 square-foot home in Bay View to a home triple that size in Oconomowoc. We love to host, so having a bar area upgrade from our Bay View bar cart was an absolute must. This baby was bright teal when I got her with baby pink pull handles. I sanded her down, primed her and did a coat of milk paint, added all new hardware and voilà!”
Kristy McFaul
Patchwork With Potential
Furniture isn’t the only thing that can be flipped. All you need is some vintage clothing and a beginner’s guide to sewing on YouTube to revive old clothes. For the more advanced flippers, like this one, you can even try turning a quilt into shorts.
“At One Trick Pony Flea, I purchased a small cut remnant of a very old quilt (I’m not sure the date but judging by the fabric wear/pattern construction I would say 1930s) and turned them into shorts. Some areas are pretty threadbare, so I’m doing some sashiko mending and embroidery to strengthen it. I used almost all of the quilt, but didn’t want any of this beautiful quilt to go to waste so I added what was left onto the back of a sweater.”
Liz Joy
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Flowering Furniture
Rustic Rehabs is reinventing the wheel. Er … the chair. Jen Dunne of Rusic Rehabs in Menomonee Falls has been selling DIY furniture flips since 2018. Rustic Rehabs reinvents all of their furniture finds into something completely new, like turning this chair into a flower pot.
“Every year, I find old broken chairs, usually singles that I call “old single ladies,” and I paint them up and add flowers for Mother’s Day. This one had a broken seat and was a perfect candidate. Monet’s Garden green just makes the flowers pop!”
Jen Dunne
Precious Plant Stand
Even the smallest pieces of our furniture can be flipped, like these kitchen table legs that were turned into a plant stand.
“I found two old kitchen table legs. I added “risers” to each of them because I was going to put tops on them and make them night stands, but the legs were too tippy. One day I just stacked them on top of each other and they looked great, so I glued them together and put a home made piece of fused glass on top to make them a plant stand.”
Kate Gallegos
