Tips and tricks for upcycling your furniture

It’s nice to change our furniture now and again, to give our homes a breath of fresh air, especially if we’ve had the same belongings in our spaces for years – but how can you make a change if you’re a little low on funds? The answer is upcycling.

We’ll take you through what upcycling is, how to upcycle different items of furniture and even some fun ideas for different upcycling projects you can try with various items of home décor that you’re sure to have sitting around your home. Happy crafting!

What is upcycling?

Before we jump into all the different projects you can try, you might be wondering: what is upcycling? Upcycling is taking old items of furniture, home décor, and even scrap, and turning them into a new decorative item or furniture piece that looks more high quality and stylish.

Upcycling is not a new trend – artists have been taking unloved items and turning them into art for years, and even our grandmas have taken our old clothing and turned them into cute patchwork blankets. It goes under a new name now, and this is mostly down to charity shop hunters finding old antique items or items people don’t want anymore and giving them a lick of paint or fixing them up to their former glory to sell on for an upmarket price.

You don’t have to be in the upcycling game for profit though – it’s as easy as taking that old dresser that you don’t care for anymore and adding a new coat of paint, some new hardware and maybe even some stylish elements to give it a completely new look. Let’s take you through some of the ways you can upcycle furniture.

How to upcycle furniture

There are so many ways you can take an older or unloved item of furniture and make it into something you’ll cherish forever – here are our top tips and tricks for different ways you can upcycle:

Paint

Sometimes, simply adding in a bold splash of colour or trying a new stain on wood can give your furniture a whole new look. For example, taking an old dresser and painting each of the drawers a different pastel colour can make this a great furniture piece for a nursery or child’s bedroom – and save you a trip to the shops and spending lots of money on a new one.

Try a different style

You can change the style of an item easily with some easy handiwork – for example, taking an old sideboard and removing the chunky square legs and replacing them with taller, mid-century modern round legs can make your sideboard look like it’s from a different era.

If you want to bring new life to a room, why not opt for a fun rug – you can use our carpet whipping service to turn one of our carpets into a rug that will add a different look to a room.

Add decorative elements

There are so many ways you can decorate an item to give it a new lease of life – from using a pretty stencil to add a new pattern, to using offcuts of wood to add texture to an old cupboard to give it a new style. You can even remove panels in a dresser or cupboard and replace them with caning to give them a modern makeover.

Build something new

Take that old piece of wooden furniture you’ve fallen out of love with, salvage some of the wood to create something brand new. A decorative piece of wood can be used for a beautiful new side table or could even be hung on the wall as a new art piece – the options are endless. This is an opportunity to get creative and think outside the box to make something brand new.

Upcycling projects for unused flooring

It wouldn’t make sense for us to chat about upcycling projects without mentioning some of the things you can do with offcuts of flooring you still have from recent flooring projects. Here are some fun projects you can use offcuts of flooring for in your home:

Use leftover wooden planks to create a bench or kid’s table.
Use offcuts of patterned vinyl to create a matching piece of framed artwork for your walls.
Use leftover laminate planks as shelving – their water-resistant top coat makes them a great choice for toothpaste spills in a bathroom.

With a little imagination, you can transform anything in your home into a brand-new item that you’ll love even more. Want to get some inspiration? Check out our Ideas Hub for different DIY projects and style ideas, including art deco design tips, coastal decor ideas, and so much more.

Post author

Claire Murphy Copywriter Former lifestyle journalist, keen amateur upcycler, full of value for money ideas

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Published: 09-09-2022