OLD DRAWERS, NEW TRICKS

Having spent a million hours trawling the internet for DIY tips and stuff for the house, you begin to get a feel for what other people may be doing with their spare time. Some peeps glue themselves to trains or motorways, others have devised novel uses for courgette spaghetti, a few like to rant on about social injustices but it appears a large majority have turned to upcycling old furniture when there’s nothing interesting on the telly.

You’ve only got to look on Ebay to see what happened to Aunt Ada’s old mahogany dresser – it’s now a flamboyant shade of pink and covered in decoupaged lemurs. Furniture upcycling is a competitive and lucrative business it seems judging by the prices being charged for souped up second-hand sideboards. It’s no wonder I can never seem to find a decent stick of solid wood furniture in the charity shops these days because they’re all being snapped up by Upcyclers.

Make do and mend is one of my own life philosophies. This not because I’m some kind of long haired, tree hugging hippy eco warrior far from it but because I pride myself on being a Super Scrimper. I don’t have a lot, and what little I do have needs to go as far as possible. I begrudge putting money unnecessarily into fat cat pockets. Why pay extortionate prices for substandard quality when for a bit of effort, you can produce something unique at a fraction of the price.

And so, I’m using my arty farty talents to pimp out a pine chest of drawers I blagged from my daughter which will be used in the spare bedroom. Upcycling here I come!

There are many ways to upcycle old furniture and you can make your life as easy or difficult as you want depending on how professional you want the end result to be and of course, your budget. Me? I’m all for an easy (and cheap) life so here’s how I’ve re-vamped my chest of drawers.

To sand or not to sand? I guess there’s no real definitive answer to this question especially since the arrival of Zinsser on the scene. If you can’t be bothered to sand your item to within an inch of its life then invest in a can of Zinsser primer as I’ve heard you can pretty much use it on any untreated, unsanded surface to create a bond for your furniture paint.

As I don’t wish to blow around £30 on a tin of Zinsser and have plenty of white wood primer left over from other projects then I’ve sanded the top, sides and bottom plinth back to the natural wood using a mouse sander then applied a layer of wood primer with a sponge roller.

White primed chest being painted

Next a couple of coats of nice blue paint. Most upcyclers are using special and often expensive chalky furniture paint. Well, I’m bucking that trend and just using B&Q’s Good Home durable flat matt self-priming furniture paint. I’ve chosen a lovely rich, dark blue shade called Antibes which will tone and contrast nicely with the Lunaria wallpaper I used to create the framed wallpaper panel.

B&Q Furniture Paint - Antibes

Apply two coats with a sponge roller, lightly sanding between coats if the paint raises the grain of the wood.

Mask up any areas you don't want to paint

Apply 2 or more coats of paint

Remember to do the back too

My old drawers are getting the Deco treatment. Primed and painted in that lovely bright teal shade called Marseille (B&Q Good Home range), dressed in a slice of Lunaria wallpaper and topped off with a shiny gold knob.

Remove handles before painting

Two or more coats of paint either brushed, sprayed or rollered

Cut wallpaper shapes to fit the front of your drawers and stick in position with standard wallpaper adhesive. Allow to dry for a couple of days before sealing. If you are using patterned paper then it's important to align your pattern before sticking into place.

Again, to save money, I haven’t used the expensive Modge Podge recommended online because you can seal the wallpaper in the cheaper old-fashioned way using a diluted solution of PVA glue or even by applying a light, thin coat of clear satin varnish.

I’ve allowed myself one little extravagance (and why not?) and that’s the lovely looking gold fan handles which go well with the fan design on the Lunaria wallpaper. I purchased these from Ebay but Etsy also have a super range of quirky, smart handles to glam up your drawers.

A nice match for the fan shaped paper

Purchased from Ebay

Drill hole in drawer before painting for handles

Finally, I finished my chest of drawers by rubbing in some beeswax polish as I had a tin left over from my door project. Alternatively, there are special furniture finishing waxes you can buy in B&Q or there’s always good old varnish if you want a slightly shinier finish.