Don’t Recycle Your Old Furniture – Upcycle It
Upcycling furniture is the process of taking old, discarded, or outdated pieces and transforming them into something new, often more functional or visually appealing. Unlike recycling, which typically breaks materials down to create new raw materials, upcycling focuses on creatively reusing existing furniture without significantly altering its core structure. This approach is increasingly popular for its environmental benefits, cost-effectiveness, and the opportunity it offers for personalised design.
For example, Victorian or Edwardian Brown furniture as it’s commonly known, looks great when it’s lovingly restored especially with new quirky handles. It is solidly made and easily given a new lease of life. With upcycling the only thing that stops you is your imagination.
But think about where the piece of furniture is going to be live. How will it be used? What colours are needed to help it fit in that specific room. Does the room have a theme you’d like to follow?
First things first…
Regardless of the style of the piece and your ultimate design, upcycling involves various steps:
1. Remove any fittings (handles, etc) – even if you intend to re-use them. This makes sanding and painting easier.
2. Sand the entire item in order to give the paint or varnish a key. This will also help remove any wax. It’s important to do this properly as you want your paint to adhere to the surface and not peel or flake in a few months. It’s also important to get into every corner so the paint adheres evenly to every surface and every part of the furniture. Sanding is essential to ensure a good finish as it is the base for the undercoat.
3. When the piece that you’re working on has been totally sanded, wipe it over with methylated spirits on a soft cloth.
4. Use a good quality furniture paint and paint the item inside and out. Don’t forget to paint the back and the legs as well. Read the instructions carefully – your paint may require a base coat or primer. You will almost certainly need to give the item a second coat of paint to ensure even coverage and good depth of colour.
Now you are ready to add additional decoration and any new handles etc.
Consider Decoupage
One of the fun and effective techniques I recommend is decoupage, a centuries old paper process where you use various different pictures to add another layer of decoration to your item. These images can be taken from magazines etc., or you can buy specialist decoupage tissue. This is available in a myriad of designs from pretty flowers to ethereal angels, from steam punk inspired to 70s glam.
Once you have chosen your images you attach the paper pictures to items and then you varnish over them a number of times. This provides a protective surface and gives the illusion that the pictures are all part of the item.
If you have a theme, such as a child’s bedroom, decoupage works really well and can be a great way to add some fun to the furniture. I recently completed a piece of furniture that was for a little girl’s new bedroom. I painted the chest of drawers in a graduation of pink and light blue, and then decoupaged it with fairies and unicorns. She absolutely loved it.
Decoupage is also a great way to involve children as they can help pick the images and cut them out with you.
The decoupage process is fairly simple:
1. Paint your item first before your decoupage it. (See above)
2. Choose your images and cut them to the shape and size needed.
3. Next, roughly arrange all your pictures on the furniture where you want to them to be.
4. Then, using a PVA glue, stick the pictures onto the furniture.
5. Once all the images are stuck down and you are happy with the overall look start varnishing it. Work quickly but do not put too much varnish on the brush. Opt for a quick drying varnish. Give the item at least four or five coats. Generally matt varnish looks better than gloss and gives a cleaner finish.
Unleash your imagination
Upcycling is a huge amount of fun and the perfect way to create something truly personal. I have upcycled dozens of items of furniture and each one is utterly unique – a real one-off. Sometimes the item ‘speaks’ to me and almost ‘tells’ me what it needs, other times I follow the theme of the room it will live it.
Remember, there are no rights and wrongs with upcycling – it’s all about what you want for your home, whatever colour or style that may be.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Odette Gibson is founder of Daisy’s Emporium Interior Design in the vibrant Harringay area of London. Odette’s unique home décor and design services ensure every project is a one of a kind. Gibson and her team of dedicated artisans and designers are committed to turning clients’ dreams into reality, through personalised services and tailored solutions, including lovingly restored, hand painted furniture; grand chandeliers and fabulous lamps; curated paintings and fine art prints; upholstery, carpets and curtains; and beautiful antiques and object d’arts.
