Woman transforms old wardrobe with Bunnings, Kmart renovation

A mum with her heart set on an expensive living room piece decided she couldn’t justify its price - so she bought a cheap one and transformed it.

A Melbourne mum has managed to save $4000 by transforming a cheap buffet she found on Facebook Marketplace.

Tayler Graham, 27, had her heart set on buying the furniture piece for her newly built home in the south Eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

But when she came across one for $4500 at a local furniture store, she couldn’t justify the hefty price and instead decided to buy a used buffet online for $100.

The mother-of-three then transformed it using $350 worth of products from Bunnings and Kmart.

Tayler Graham, 27, from Melbourne, bought a $100 old buffet online and transformed it using $350 worth of Bunnings and Kmart items. Picture: Supplied

Tayler combined the store’s French Provincial look with her love of Coastal Hamptons to create the modernised buffet.

“I had a look at similar buffets and some were going for about $4000-$5000 and I just couldn’t justify that kind of money,” Tayler told news.com.au.

“I then jumped onto Facebook MarketPlace and after I came across the used buffet I thought, ‘I can turn that into something similar to what I saw in the shop’, but better in terms of suiting the style of my house more.”

She had her heart set on something like this, but couldn’t justify the hefty price tag. Picture: Supplied

Tayler said she was also wanting to do something fun and creative after Melbourne recently went into its sixth lockdown.

“So I decided to up cycle this beautiful buffet and hutch,” she said.

“I just looked at it and thought ‘if I paint that white and use rattan where the glass is, it could look really good and match my place.”

Instead, she bought this off Facebook Marketplace for $100 and upcycled it. Picture: Supplied

And this is what she did to it. Picture: Supplied

The 27-year-old decided to pull it all apart, removing the old hinges and door handles and replacing it with black hinges and handles from Bunnings.

“I then sanded where I filled the holes on the doors and used a undercoat/primer before I painted it in white.”

Tayler used the Taubmans white gloss enamel – lexicon ¼ – from the hardware store for $88.

“I mainly used a roller to apply the paint and did about two to three coats to ensure that I got full coverage.”

She pulled it apart – including the door handles, hinges and glass. Picture: Supplied

She also replaced the glass with rattan from Kmart for $30.

“I used a staple gun to staple the rattan to the back of the door.”

All up, it took Tayler about four days to complete as she only had time to attend to the project at night, when her three kids – aged 6, 4 and 1 – were in bed.

Unsure that it looked good, she sent a photo of it to her mum who ensured her it looked “amazing”.

She then replaced it with black hinges and door handles from Bunnings and painted it white. Picture: Supplied

The glass was replaced with Rattan webbing from Kmart for $30. Picture: Supplied

Tayler then decided to upload before and after snaps in various Kmart Facebook groups where, to her surprise, she also received rave reviews.

“Wow!!! Great work!” one person commented.

“Amazing transformation, well done!,” said another, while others branded it “stunning”, “beautiful” and “fabulous”.

Tayler said she was overwhelmed by all the positive comments and has since started documenting more DIY projects on Instagram and TikTok.