Seeking upcycling tips!

[Beebop123]

  

 

Hello! Hoping someone may be able to share their personal tips and tricks for adding a fresh and modern touch onto this furniture we’ve accumulated the last few months. We don’t know exactly what style we are going for in our new flat so probably want to keep the furniture fairly neutral but are kind of liking the idea on an Art Deco style touch with paint and handles etc. Our flat is quite small (60sqm) so mindful that we want to keep it bright and fresh and maybe in that sense keep the furniture bright or white with paint. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I know how many top tips this community has!

[EricL]

Hi @Beebop123

Thanks for sharing your question about upcycling. Before picking up a brush or a tin of paint, I suggest picking a colour. Preparing your furniture for upcycling is not that complicated. Choosing a colour could possibly take a while. My recommendation is to keep the body of your furniture white and play with the colours of the cabinet tops.

Charcoal grey is very popular at the moment giving your furniture a very serious look. If you're looking for a stark contrast and at the same time keeping a neutral tone that's one colour you could go with. Neutral Greys in matt finish will always be a safe bet and goes with any decor. Colour reversing is always an option and that is having a dark body with a light top. 

Let me tag our experienced members @prettyliving, @craftyhopper, @DanaR and @lifestylebymari for their recommendations.

Here are some amazing upcycled projects our Workshop members have shared:

• Upcycled painted buffet by @craftyhopper
   
• Buffet from an upcycled chest of drawers by @Stuardo
   
• Hamptons-style upcycled buffet by @DanaR

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

[Jason]

Hi @Beebop123,

In addition to Eric's tips, I thought you might also find these step-by-step how to guides useful as they will have techniques you can apply to your furniture:

• How to restore a wooden armchair by @Nham 

• How to upcycle a bedside cabinet by @MitchellMc 

Hope that helps,

Jason

[prettyliving]

Hi @Beebop123 

That furniture has a lot of potential 😍

I would start by choosing a shade of white that works with the apartment, the best way is to grab some colour swatches from Bunnings in different shades and bring them back to the apartment and see how they look with other tones like the walls, bench tops etc. 

Another option if you would like to keep the wood look but brighten it is to apply a liming white to it to lighten the colour of the wood. 

[Beebop123]

Great advice as always, thanks so much to you and your team! Lots of food for thought!

[Beebop123]

Thanks for your help PrettyLiving, I’ve started following you on Instagram and love what you’ve been creating!