I am at it again! I’ve spent the summer scouring Facebook Marketplace for unique furniture and finds for our latest furnished rentals. I love hunting down solid, high-end pieces that come with a bargain price tag—though my hubby insists I shop purely by weight just to test his lifting skills.
When I stumbled across a gorgeous, heavy-duty iron coffee table from Crate & Barrel (a piece that originally retailed for over $1,000!), I knew it was coming home with me. The catch? It was missing its original mirrored bottom shelf. But I never pass up an imperfect piece—they almost always hide the absolute best potential.
Instead of spending a fortune having a custom piece of mirror cut, I decided to test out a creative fix using peel-and-stick wallpaper. Come see how this $35 Facebook Marketplace coffee table makeover turned out!
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Why You Shouldn’t Pass Up Imperfect Marketplace Finds
When you’re looking for budget-friendly furniture, passing up a piece just because a glass insert is broken or something is missing means missing out on the best deals. If it speaks to you in some way and is a quality piece, that is what matters the most.
This Crate & Barrel table has a stunning oval shape and a dark, silverish-bronze metallic frame that fits perfectly in front of the new sofa. At $35, the bones were simply too good to leave behind. All it needed was a quick cosmetic fix to turn a “damaged” listing into a custom statement piece.
Materials Used for This Coffee Table Makeover
- Coffee Table: $35 Crate & Barrel iron coffee table (Facebook Marketplace score)
- Peel and Stick Wallpaper: Tempaper x Jeremiah Brent Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper (Ticking Stripe design) leftover from a project.
- Surface Prep: DAP DryDex Spackling & putty knife
- Tools: Painter’s tape, utility/craft knife, and a sanding block
The How-To Details:
- 1. Fill and Prep the Surface Because the bottom board had original mounting holes where the old mirror sat, the surface needed to be leveled first. I applied DAP DryDex Spackling into each hole with a putty knife. The thing I love about DryDex is that it goes on pink and turns white when dry, taking all the guesswork out. Once dry, I lightly sanded it flush with the board so the wallpaper would lay completely flat.
- 2. Dry Fit and Align the Pattern Working with stripes on an oval surface requires a little extra patience. I unrolled the Tempaper wallpaper across the insert and used painter’s tape to secure the top edge. This allowed me to align the vertical stripes perfectly straight before peeling back the backing paper.
- 3. Smooth, Stick, and Trim Starting from one side, I slowly peeled the backing and smoothed the paper with a credit card across the surface to eliminate air bubbles. Once fully adhered, I ran a sharp craft blade along the inner lip of the board to trim away the excess wallpaper for a finished look.
The Finished Look:
Re-inserting the top glass pane completed the transformation. I love the muted ticking stripe from Tempaper’s Jeremiah Brent collection. It added a texture without feeling busy and plays nicely with the patterned rug from Amazon. I added a few favorite coffee-table books and a decorative wooden box from Walmart, and my $35 coffee table looks like a high-end designer piece—for a fraction of the cost!
I love the way it brought a bit more color into the room. Not bad for a $35 Facebook Marketplace Coffee Table Makeover!
Coffee Table Books are my love language.
More Simple FBMP & Vintage Furniture Makeovers You’ll Love:
If you love the thrill of reimagining budget-friendly finds with simple DIY additions, check out a few of my other favorite projects around the blog:
- Vintage Crate to Modern Plant Stand — See how adding a quick set of modern hairpin legs transformed a $35 vintage wooden crate into a sleek, functional planter. This is one of my all-time favs!
- DIY Coffee Table from a Vintage Chicken Crate — Another fun crate flip where simple hardware additions turned a unique rustic find into a functional coffee table.
- How I Modified a Vintage Dresser into a Functional Kitchen Cabinet — Proof that with a few custom tweaks, vintage secondhand furniture can become useful storage for your kitchen.
Do you have a favorite Facebook Marketplace find? Have you ever taken a chance on an imperfect piece? I’d love to hear how you reimagined it in the comments below!
Until next time,
Libbie
