London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

DIY Projects and Affordable Finds Bring Farmhouse Style to a Dated '80s Home

DIY Projects and Affordable Finds Bring Farmhouse Style to a Dated '80s Home

This North Carolina blogger gave her 1980s house a cozy remake using flea-market finds and achievable woodworking projects.

Jessica Russell of the Itty Bitty Farmhouse blog says any home has the potential to take on a farmhouse vibe. The secrets: good bones, a fearless attitude when it comes to making updates, and readily available materials and tools.

With rich wood tones, including the kitchen's butcher-block countertops, and a generous front porch, the 1,600-square-foot home near Hickory, North Carolina, provided the perfect canvas for Jessica's DIY upgrades. To strip away some of the '80s aesthetic, she removed wallpaper, refaced the dark wood cabinetry, covered dated flooring with luxury vinyl tile, and sprayed a rock wall white. Shiplap, open shelves, architectural salvage, and white furnishings contribute cozy texture and a bright feel to her home, which she's lived in for three years.



Jessica fell in love with the front porch on this house, built in 1987. To add patina-and introduce the style developed inside-she decorated with flea market finds and antiques, including the authentic two-sided sign and an ice cream bucket, which reminds her of summer evenings with her grandparents. "The porch really brings that 'welcome to the farm' greeting," she says.



To create her farmhouse aesthetic throughout the house, and even outside her bedroom, Jessica layers wood tones and whites, adding in the chippy and vintage pieces for a cozy feel.

"I love white and wood tones because I feel that is always a clean feeling, but you can make it cozy or light," she says. To add depth, Jessica brings in texture through neutral fabrics and rugs, with pops of color coming through seasonal decor and plants.

Jessica has been shopping flea markets and yard sales since she was a child, and she started working on home projects as a teenager. An avid woodworker, she built the sliding barn-style doors, shelves, and laundry room countertops.

She finishes rooms using paint, statement lighting, family hand-me-downs, and more to create a home that's personal, cozy, and truly one of a kind. "I have found amazing chunky pieces of furniture along with truly vintage pieces to bring that down-home feeling," she says.



A white palette allows for easy seasonal updates through textiles, plants, and other finds. Jessica decorates with washed-out rugs for their patina. She found this version at Boutique Rugs. On her mantel, she layered old windows with green glass bottles to contrast with the gritty rock wall. The number 3 throw pillow has sentimental value for Jessica-it was the number on several of her sports uniforms.

The living room's stone wall was an eyesore from day one. Jessica used her Wagner paint sprayer ($159, The Home Depot) to coat the rock wall with exterior-grade white paint. It took her three years to muster the courage to tackle this project, and she loves the result. "Never be afraid of what might happen. Go with your gut feeling-at least try," she says.



The lighting in the dining area was Jessica's first project in this house. She swapped out the original fixture for a ladder bracketing a brass chandelier. "I knew I could come up with something creative with this," she says. She searched for months to find the perfect farm table. Collected chairs and other vintage finds add interest.



Just three pieces of wood and dowels create a plate display rack for a speedy art idea. Wall decals form the background (they represent her mom's pound cake recipe).



Removing upper cabinets visually opened up the small kitchen. Jessica painted the lower cabinets with chalk-finish paint (using her sprayer for the doors and drawers and a brush on the boxes), then sealed the paint with wax. She installed luxury vinyl tile directly over the original ceramic floor tiles. She suggests searching how-tos before trying this intermediate-level project. Open shelves provide easy access to daily essentials and display space.



More shiplap adds texture to the master bedroom. The bed is another affordable find-just $10 at a flea market. Jessica's dad sandblasted the finish and powder-coated the surface with white paint.



A vintage North Carolina antiques sign serves as a handy television disguise in the master bedroom. Jessica uses dowels to prop up the hinged sign.

To build wall texture, she mimicked shiplap throughout the home. For budget purposes, she had utility panels cut to 5 1⁄4-inch-wide strips at Lowe's. The 4×8-foot panels cost $15 vs. up to $10 for a shiplap board. To space the strips, she used a quarter-inch metal rod, which is much easier and faster than using a penny or tile spacers.



To give the bath character, she applied shiplap vertically and topped it with trim.



A stained barn-style door (another DIY project) repeats the wood tones used elsewhere in the home and creates privacy for the guest bedroom when pulled closed. Jessica used a barn-door hardware kit to hang the unit and recommends this over a hack solution. A Shaker peg rail gives bonus storage. To build the bed frame, Jessica found two old doors with multiple layers of paint at an old house. She sanded and painted them and completed the unit using 2×10 and 4×4 boards.



Jessica found the glass door at a local shop and added the "laundry" decal and a glass knob-it's now one of her followers' favorite projects. To add texture to the shelf wall, Jessica applied faux-brick paneling ($38, The Home Depot), treated it with lightweight surfacing compound, then sanded. Countertops and shelves are made from 2×10 boards.



Jessica is never short on work space with this desk that stretches the width of the wall. The butcher-block countertop is from Lowe's, and she found the file cabinets at Goodwill. Black spray paint updates filing cabinets for a quick desk base. The sconces above the shelves are another Russell original: A remote device controls wireless puck lights.



To remove the rust from the vintage lockers in Jessica's office, her dad sandblasted the finish, then she sprayed the unit with Rust-Oleum Chalked Paint in Linen White ($38, The Home Depot).

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×