Give Your Old Furniture a New Lease of Life

Give Your Old Furniture a New Lease of Life

Upcycling involves repurposing old or unwanted items and turning them into something more useful. This saves the energy and raw materials that went into making the original products.

Recycling is great for the environment, but the recycling process itself requires the use of energy to collect, sort and process waste. Upcycling is an even greener way of reusing items; all you need is a little creativity.

The need to find ways to minimise the waste we throw away is more pressing than ever, because even though we are certainly getting better at recycling, we still send a large amount of waste to landfill, which is not a sustainable option.

Why is upcycling so good for the environment?

Less waste gets sent to landfill where toxins are released into the soil and methane gas is released into the atmosphere.

It saves you money because you won’t need to buy new things. This also means that less new goods need to be manufactured.

Give your old furniture a new lease of life

You have no doubt seen people on TV or in magazines turning their worn-out furniture into shabby chic wonders in the blink of an eye, but how do they do it? Here’s some ideas on how you can transform your possessions into treasures.

Give them a lick of paint

Giving wooden furniture, a lick of paint is the simplest way to transform how it looks. Popular colours to create a ‘shabby chic’ or classic look are grey, mint green, and off cream. Always sand furniture first to create a smooth surface.

To make your paint job look a little different, dilute it with a little water to make it more of a wash, or use a hairdryer to create a crackled effect. Put the paint on in a thick layer, then blow the hot air on it for a few minutes. Apply clear wax and a dark wax so the dark wax goes into the cracks and creates a very interesting effect.

Do some reupholstering

If your beloved sofa is on its last legs, making some removable covers in a new fabric will bring it back to life. If you’re a maestro with a sewing machine, unpick the old worn covers and follow the pattern with your new chosen fabric.

If your sofa has removable pads that are still in reasonably good condition, you can simply staple new material over the covers. This can even be fabric from an old tablecloth or similar.

But if restoring the sofa you can’t bear to part with involves anything like fixing springs or sorting out the stuffing, call the experts in. It might be pricey but it’s worth it if you want to hang onto some of your treasured possessions.

A full reupholster of a sofa and armchairs can cost anything from £1,200 to £1,700; reupholstering a bedroom chair can cost around £200 and if you have an antique sofa, it will set you back £500 to £1,200.