How to upcycle and paint vintage furniture
This is a feature we wrote for a local magazine, encouraging readers to have a go at painting their own furniture
Laura Harvey, from Rutland-based Reloved
Vintage, shares a few tricks of the trade to help you give old furniture a new
lease of life
Upcycling – or simply putting old stuff to
a new use – has gone big. TV shows, such as Kirstie’s Fill Your House for Free
have brought the idea into the mainstream – and the Government recently
encouraged us all to ‘make do and mend’ instead of contributing to the throwaway
society.
Here’s how you can begin your own upcycling
adventure.
What you’ll need
Paint. There are specialist furniture
paints, but any paint will do. We prefer to use eggshell, for a smooth, matt
finish.
A paint brush
A screwdriver (for removing any handles
etc)
Furniture wax or varnish (if using matt
paint, choose a clear matt varnish, too)
Masking tape (a professional decorators’
tape, such as Frogtape
will prevent bleeding
A piece of wooden furniture – choose a
clean, solid piece for your first attempt
Preparing the wood
If your piece of wood is varnished, you’ll
need to sand it. If you try putting the paint onto a varnished surface, it’ll
just chip right off when dry. (Note, some specialist paints will adhere to
varnished surfaces). For tidy edges, use your masking tape to ‘mask-off’ areas
just inside any drawers, doors, glass panels etc.
Unscrew any handles and put them to one
side – it’s easier than painting around them.
Get painting!
Don’t just slap it on! For the best finish
you’ll want several thin coats of paint – big drips and splodges are ugly! Try
to brush with the grain of the wood. Once you’ve covered the whole piece, wait
for it to dry and do it again. With each coat you’ll see less and less bare
wood showing through.
After three coats you should be done – now
you just need to let it dry (it won’t take long)
Distressing
If you want to, you can distress your furniture
to give it a bit more character. For light distressing, use sandpaper, for heavy
stuff, you can use a knife or wallpaper scraper. For a more natural look, focus
on edges and areas that would get the most natural use, such as handles and
keyholes.
Protection
If you don’t protect your furniture, your
paint will scratch, chip and stain. Wax can offer a nice finish and feel, but
if it’s an item that is likely to get a lot of use – or come into contact with
water, varnish is a better option. Apply the varnish as you did the paint –
thin coats.
The next step
If you get the bug, you’ll want to play
around with new ideas. Try using a different paint colour for the first couple
of coats, which can be revealed at the distressing stage, of paint the inside
of a drawer or cupboard in a bright colour for a little bit of happiness every
time you open it.
Like the sound of it but don’t have the
time or confidence to do it yourself? Reloved Vintage can give your furniture a
whole new look.
Laura Harvey is the founder of Reloved
Vintage, specialists in painted furniture and vintage accessories. Based just
outside Stamford, Reloved Vintage offers free delivery in the Peterborough
area.
– the coarser the better
