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DIY Home Improvement: Upcycling Furniture Ideas. Have you been throwing out old, outdated furniture pieces just to go spend money on a new one? If yes, you need to quit that immediately and give upcycling a try.
Rather than discard that furniture and let it end up in a landfill, there are numerous ways to repackage and repurpose it so you can use it all over again.
Not only does furniture upcycling save you money, it also helps to keep the environment clean. It helps to reduce pollution and also the wastage of resources.
Furniture upcycling has to do with giving old, unwanted furniture a new lease on life. It is a simple DIY that you can just do as a side project. You don’t necessarily have to use a hammer, a saw, or any power tool. Furniture upcycling can be as simple as repainting an old piece of furniture just to make it new and desirable again.
Keep reading to know more about DIY Home Improvement: Upcycling Furniture Ideas.
What is Furniture Upcycling
This is the process of transforming an old, discarded furniture item into a useful and more attractive product with a higher or equal value to the original. The process usually involves repainting, repurposing, and/or remaking. It has to do with giving old furniture a required makeover.
Upcycling in general, benefits the environment greatly, as it reduces the amount of materials that are cast off and dumped on landfills every year. It also conserves resources by reducing the need to manufacture new products.
it is also in the form of adapting and improving an existing product in some way to make it better, usable and to add value
Upcycling vs. Recycling
Although it is often compared to recycling, upcycling is a different form of reusing old materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
While recycling breaks down a discarded product and remakes it into something new entirely, upcycling repurposes the material and turns it into a product that is of higher or equal value to the original.
Furthermore, recycling involves the complete breakdown of a thrown-away product before it is turned into a different usable product while upcycling doesn’t go through the breakdown stage before it can be repurposed.
The Benefits of Furniture Upcycling
1. Conservation of resources: As opposed to getting new materials to make a new product, upcycling involves using existing and discarded materials to make a usable product, thereby saving resources.
2. Saves you money: Instead of buying new furniture that will probably cost you much, remaking and repackaging an old one will have you spend less.
3. Interesting materials: When getting materials to upcycle, you may come across some furniture pieces with a fascinating backstory. This will give you a nice story to tell whenever anyone admires the good job that you’ve done restoring them.
4. Customized furniture: Upcycling gives you a chance to design furniture that fits your style. It allows you to make furniture pieces that are unique to you.
DIY Home Improvement: Upcycling Furniture Ideas
A Step-by-Step Guide on Upcycling Furniture
To help you execute your upcycling project perfectly, here is a step-by-step guide on how to upcycle furniture.
Visualize the Finished Furniture
The first step to take when starting a furniture upcycling project is to think about what you want the finished product to look like. This will guide you toward the exact materials that you will need, thereby helping you get things started properly.
Prepare
Before going to get the items that you will work on, make certain preparations such as setting up a well-ventilated space, and getting materials such as wood filler, staple gun, brushes, sandpaper, drop cloth, and so on (depending on what kind of item you will be working on).
Look for places to get Great furniture
Once you know the furniture pieces that you would like to work on, and what you want your finished work to look like, the next step is to identify places to get these pieces. You can check out Garage sales, flea markets, online classifieds, and so on.
Do a Thorough Check of The Furniture
After securing the furniture pieces ensure to clean it up and do a thorough check for flaws, like scratches or dents. This way, you will know if the pieces are worth being upcycled or not because you don’t want to spend your time and resources on furniture pieces that won’t be usable at the end of the project.
Get the Furniture Ready for Painting or Staining
Whichever option you’re going for between painting and staining the furniture, it is vital that you prep the surface well by probably taking off any paint or finish that might have been applied previously.
Repaint/Re-stain
After preparing the surface, you can now apply your paint or stain in even strokes. Ensure to give it enough time to dry.
Add Other Elements (If Applicable)
If the furniture is the type that can include other elements such as shelves, knobs, and so on, this is the stage where you can add them.
Upcycled Furniture Ideas
Furniture upcycling is a fun way of reusing discarded products, so they don’t go to waste, or worse litter the environment. With some imagination and several simple tools, you should be able to give old, cast-off furniture a new life.
Below are a few ideas to get you started:
Play With Colour
A very fun and simple way of upcycling any old furniture is to repaint it with colours that make it pop. For certain wood furniture pieces, you could even play with colors by painting its outer part one color, and the inner part several other colours.
Redesign Old Chairs
If you have some old furniture with designs that you may find “too old”, you can repaint them and add some modern designs that will make them more desirable to you. The good thing about this is that you can play with the design and make it whatever you want.
Use Salvaged Wood for Wall Hooks
A small but not insignificant project. You can use a piece of salvaged wood to make a fashionable set of wall hooks, which will potentially serve you well.
Just get a piece of old but healthy wood, paint it with a desired color, attach some hooks, nail it to the wall, and start hanging your stuff on it.
Repurpose a Ladder
Clean up and repaint an old ladder to be used as a storage to hang clothing items such as towels, table runners, and so on. You can use it in the kitchen or bathroom.
Turn an Old Door Into a Coffee Table Top.
You can repurpose an old door by turning it into a low-to-the-ground coffee tabletop surface. Just cut out the size that you need, put some paint on it, and use offcuts to give it legs.
The Point is:
Furniture upcycling involves giving an old, discarded piece of furniture a much-needed makeover so it can be used all over again. Save yourself the money to buy new furniture and work on repackaging that old one that you are about to throw out.
We hope our guide on DIY Home Improvement: Upcycling Furniture Ideas helps.
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