Bunnings shopper transforms living room in minutes with $12 item: 'One-of-a-kind'

Gone are the days of needing to spend thousands of dollars to ‘update’ your living room. According to interior designers, 2025 is all about hyper-personalisation and a return to vintage, thrifted and second-hand items.

At a time when most things are mass-produced and any unique design is duped within an inch of its life, this trend encapsulates a craving for the individuality, depth and character that you just can’t find in fast furniture.

“Vintage is resurging in 2025 as people look for unique, meaningful ways to personalise their homes,” Australian interior designer Jono Fleming, tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

“With rising living costs, op shops and vintage stores offer affordable, one-of-a-kind pieces that add character and history to interiors. This trend reflects a shift away from mass-produced, disposable decor towards sustainability and individuality.”

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How to blend new and second-hand pieces

TikTok-famous interior designer Briellyn Turton often fits out rooms for her clients with pieces exclusively sourced from Facebook Marketplace, mixing furniture from different time periods to create an interesting and layered look.

She says the key to making it cohesive is to collect pieces from a range of different decades so an interior “doesn’t feel like it’s stuck in one era”. She also recommends mixing materials in your furniture “to get a room that’s feeling full of life and not stuffy and dated.”

Jono agrees, telling Yahoo Lifestyle, “the goal is to blend old and new seamlessly, creating a timeless, personalised look.” And you don’t have to overhaul your space to do so. He suggests starting small with accessories like cushions, lamps or vases that complement your existing furniture.

“Layering on trend textures or materials can modernise a room without overwhelming it,” he says.

Sustainability is at the heart of this trend - it’s about saving items from landfill, not adding more to it - so working with what you already have is a big part of it.

“One of the rewarding parts of residential projects is using clients’ existing pieces and recontextualising them into a new space,” Melbourne interior designer Brahman Perera, tells Vogue Living Australia, “it’s what lends a unique authenticity to each project.”

A $12 facelift from Bunnings

Good quality vintage furniture needs nothing more than a clean or a polish, with its signs of age adding character and a unique patina, but some cheaper second hand furniture may need a little love before it can make it into your living room.

Items made from solid timber that are badly marked, scuffed or scratched can be great value if you’re prepared to give them a quick sand and revarnish.

I was able to breathe new life into this coffee table from the ‘60s by using a borrowed sander to strip back the very stained tabletop, before applying a coat of varnish to restore it to its original colour.

The whole project was done in an afternoon and cost $106: $80 for the coffee table on Marketplace, $12 for a sample pot of coloured varnish from Bunnings and $14 for a clear coat to seal and protect it. This modern equivalent coffee table retails for $999 at Lounge Lovers and doesn’t have the same character and history behind it.

Tips for attempting your own DIY

While this is an easy hack to get solid, well-made furniture at scrapyard prices, there are a few things to keep an eye out for to make your project go smoothly.

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If you’re new to sanding, start small. Only go for flat surfaces - no spindle or cylindrical legs that require extensive hand sanding - and don’t bite off more than you can chew. While the ‘60s coffee table was done in a matter of hours, a distressed dresser I picked up from my mum’s place took me weeks to strip back and revarnish because of its sheer size and the difficulty of moving it to an outdoor space to work on.

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