Even if you change just one thing in your home this year, these pages are where youll find creative ideas. We bought all three of these furniture items second hand and then used different methods to make them over.
Preparation and paint
All three furniture items we wanted to make over - a chair, a chest of drawers and a cabinet - were varnished, so we had to follow the method below to do the preparation. If the furniture item youre making over is painted and you want to change the colour, you need to paint it with a universal undercoat before applying the colour of your choice. If the paint has started peeling, youll first need to use paint stripper to clean the surface, following the manufacturers instructions carefully. Scrape off as much paint as you can, leave to dry and then sand to a smooth finish. Now follow these steps.
You will need
wood primer or universal undercoat
paint in a colour of your choice
paintbrushes and sponge rollers
paint trays and dropsheet
wood filler
medium and fine - grit sandpaper
sugar soap
masking tape
To make
1 Place the furniture item on a dropsheet and unscrew all the handles, hinges, and so on, if necessary. Use medium - grit sandpaper to break up the varnish, then sand with fine - grit sandpaper to get rid of the last remnants of varnish and paint.
2 Fill in all the holes in the wood with wood filler, leave to dry then sand to a smooth finish. Wipe down with a clean cloth to remove dust.
3 Follow the manufacturers instructions and paint the entire piece of furniture with a wood primer. A universal undercoat will also work. Leave to dry.
4 Apply three coats of paint in a colour of your choice, leaving each coat to dry before painting the next.
General tips
Unscrew the doorknobs, handles, hinges and anything else that can be removed before you start. Pack them away in marked plastic bags to keep track of what goes where, and to make it easier to replace them once youre done.
Use small pieces of tightly rolled newspaper to fill all the screw holes and keyholes to keep out paint.
Work in a well - ventilated room.
Apply more paint stripper to the furniture and repeat the cleaning process if all the paint doesnt come off after the first application.
Use a heat gun or hair - dryer to speed up the paint - stripping process.
Use thinners to remove dust when wiping down. It evaporates quickly and the furniture item will dry faster than if you use water.
Chest of drawers
With its new faux - French look, this old chest of drawers is hardly recognisable. We couldnt choose between the make - over ideas, so we decided to go with all three!
Give it curves
Start by preparing your chest of drawers as explained on this page. Consider how youd like the curves on your chest of drawers to look and make a rough sketch. Once youre happy with the design, you can draw the curves freehand on the chest of drawers, or make a full - sized pattern from old newspaper. Start with the sides, use a sheet of old newspaper that is large enough and fold it in half. Draw the curve on the newspaper, cut out and secure to the chest of drawers with masking tape. Trace the curve onto the chest of drawers with a permanent marker. Turn the pattern over and repeat on the other side. Repeat at the bottom. Apply masking tape to all the parts you dont want to paint, such as the top and bottom edges, then paint the rest black. Leave to dry, then paint another coat, if necessary.
OPTION 2
Wallpaper
With this chest of drawers in your dining room or lounge, youll be the talk of the town. We love this Fornasetti wallpaper, but you can choose any paper you prefer, based on your colour scheme. Turn to page 48 for the instructions. Handles: Handles Inc. Light and & ornament: O.live. Vase and tea - light holder: Marigold. Hourglass: The Pause Room. The wallpaper is part of an old roll of Fornasetti paper that we had in our storeroom.
OPTION 3
Silver - leaf roses
A motif on a section of scrapbooking paper inspired us to do these beautiful roses in silver leaf. Turn to page 48 for the instructions. Handles: Handles Inc. Silver leaf: The Deckle Edge. Candle holder: The Pause Room. Vase: Weylandts. Flat white bowls: Biggie Best. Two front bowls: O.live.
Detail on the drawers
You will need
template for the drawer detail on page 119
black self - adhesive vinyl
black handles
A3 sheet of acetate
masking tape
metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat
pencil
To make
1 Use the template for the drawer detail on page 119 as your guide. Enlarge it to fit the drawers youll be decorating, then photocopy it. The lines should be about 10mm thick to ensure that they are clearly visible.
2 Use masking tape to hold the photocopy in place on your cutting mat, then secure the acetate over that. Cut out the straight sections of the template with your craft knife and metal ruler, then do the curves freehand as smoothly as possible. Dont cut out where there are dotted lines, otherwise the inner section of the stencil will be detached. Youll be able to join the straight lines quite easily later, on the vinyl.
3 Use your acetate stencil to transfer the design onto the back of the vinyl with a pencil. Keep going until you have enough for every drawer, then neatly join all the straight lines.
4 Use your metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat to cut out the stencils from the vinyl.
5 Carefully position each one on a drawer, then smooth over with the palms of your hands to secure.
6 Screw on the handles. Ours are made of brass, so we first treated them with a metal primer before painting each one black.
Wallpaper
You will need
wallpaper
black handles
cold glue
paintbrush and small bowl
wide masking tape
craft punch and hammer
metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat
scissors
penci1
To make
1 Measure the drawers and write down the measurements.
2 Consider how youd like to use the wallpaper, especially if you need to take a repeat into consideration like we did. If your drawers are wider than your roll of wallpaper, you need to join two or more strips together before you start. Align the patterns precisely, then secure at the back with masking tape. Cut off any excess to make the wallpaper easier to work with.
3 Mark the size of each drawer on the back of the wallpaper. Ensure each drawer is positioned over a section of paper that youd like to use. Remember to allow for the areas between the drawers if youd like the design to be spread out over all the drawers. Mark and write down which panel goes with which drawer to make it easier to match them up later.
4 Use your metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat to cut out the panels. Fit each panel onto the correct drawer and adjust if necessary. Carefully mark the positions of the holes for the handles and use a craft punch to make neat holes on these marks.
5 Pour a little cold glue into a small bowl and dilute it with a little bit of water. Use your paintbrush to paint the first drawer with the diluted cold glue. Place the first panel while the glue is still wet and smooth over with the palms
of your hands. Wipe away any excess glue that may seep out from under the sides with a clean, damp cloth. Repeat to stick all the panels in place. 6 Screw on the new handles. We chose round black faceted - glass handles to complement the contemporary style of our chest of drawers.
Silver - leaf roses
You will need
rose template on page 119
silver leaf
new handles
water - based size
varnish that is suitable for use over silver leaf
very soft, wide paintbrush with natural bristles
soft, flat paintbrush
spray glue
masking tape
craft knife and cutting mat
scissors
pencil
To make
1 Photocopy the rose template on page 119 to fit on a sheet of A4 paper. Trace the outlines of the chest of drawers to scale on the photocopy. Enlarge each drawer section to the actual size so it will fit neatly over a drawer. Photocopy each drawer section onto A3 paper or another suitably sized piece of paper.
2 Use your metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat to cut out the flower and leaf motifs. Apply spray glue to the back of each one and press onto the drawers.
TIP The easiest way is to remove the drawers and work on a dropsheet, also when youre working with the silver leaf.
3 Do one drawer at a time and work in a draught - free area. Use a soft, flat paintbrush and paint a thin coat of water - based size in the open areas of the paper stencil. Apply the size as evenly as possible and work only in one direction. The silver leaf is very delicate and thin, so every mark or line will show, even fingerprints. Leave the size for about 20 minutes until it becomes tacky but not dry. Test it by pressing your knuckles onto it very lightly. TIP Leave your paintbrush in a bowl of water between size applications to prevent it from hardening. Blot it on a sheet of kitchen towel before you continue working.
4 To make it easier to work with, cut the silver leaf into smaller blocks using sharp scissors. Ensure that your hands are clean and
dry before you handle the silver leaf. Carefully pull off the first sheet and separate it from its protective coating. Let it fall lightly onto the first area that youd like to decorate. Be careful not to crumple the silver leaf and dont try to lift it up, because once it has touched the size it will tear. Repeat to cover the whole drawer. NOTE It doesnt matter if some of the silver leaf lands up on the paper stencil, because youll pull it off afterwards when you remove the stencil.
5 Go over the silver leaf with a paintbrush with natural bristles to smooth it out and flatten any loose pieces. The bristles of the brush need to be very fine, otherwise the silver leaf will scratch and lose its lustre. Pull off the stencil as soon as youre happy with the design. Repeat to cover the second drawer.
6 Keep going until youve covered all the drawers, then seal with varnish that is suitable for use with silver leaf, such as Kraftex Mineral Base Varnish or Plascon Paint Effects Glazecoat. Leave the varnish to dry, then paint a second coat.
7 Screw on the new handles. We used clear round faceted - glass handles to complement the romantic look.
Chair
We used the same piece of fabric to make over this old dining - room chairs seat and backrest. Metamorphosis complete!
You will need
painted chair
fabric of your choice
medium - density foam
iron - on interfacing
ribbon or cord
staple gun and staples
gloss varnish
contact adhesive
modge podge
craft paintbrush
three pairs of scissors
dressmakers pencil
tape measure
dressmakers pins
pencil
old newspaper
To make
SEAT
1 Make a paper pattern of the seat. Use a large sheet of old newspaper and place it on your work surface, letting the edges of the paper protrude over the side of the work surface. Turn the chair upside down and place it on the newspaper, then trace the front and sides of the seat and mark the place where the backrest starts. Remove the chair and cut out along the pencil lines. Place the pattern on the seat, complete the back part and cut out so that you have a complete pattern.
2 Have a piece of foam cut to size based on your pattern. You can do this yourself if you have an electric knife.
3 Glue the foam cushion to the seat using contact adhesive, following the manufacturers instructions carefully.
4 Cut out the fabric with pinking shears. Find the midpoint of all four sides on your pattern by folding it in half widthwise and then folding it in half again lengthwise. Make sure the pattern is placed over the section of fabric you want to use for the seat. Pin the pattern to the fabric, placing your pins precisely at the midpoints youve marked, then add more pins in between. Add an allowance of about 12cm right round for the foam and seat, and to fold in underneath the seat, then cut out the fabric.
TIPTo ensure the allowance is exactly 12cm right round the pattern, place the end of your tape measure right up against the edge of the pattern and mark off 12cm on the fabric. Move the tape measure a little further along the edge of the pattern and make another mark. Keep going until youve gone right round your pattern, then join up the dots.
5 Drape the fabric over the seat, then fold it in underneath. Use
a staple gun to secure the fabric at the midpoints on all sides. Turn the chair upside down on your work surface and use more staples to secure the fabric right round. Carefully fold the fabric when you get to the backrest and staple in place.
6 To complete, use contact adhesive to glue a length of ribbon or cord right round to conceal the staples.
BACKREST
1 To decorate the backrest of your chair, choose a pretty motif from the remaining fabric and apply iron - on interfacing to the wrong side of it. Carefully cut out with a sharp pair of needlework scissors.
2 Apply a coat of modge podge to the back of the cutout and glue it onto the backrest. Paint another coat of modge podge over the entire cutout. Leave to dry, then repeat three or four more times. Seal with gloss varnish, if you prefer.
TIP Photocopy the fabric and cut out the motif from paper first, to determine how it will work best.
3 Cabinet
We gave this old cabinet a new jacket. There are different ways to get the same effect, but we used the following method.
You will need
cabinet, painted in a base colour of your choice
spray paint in a colour of your choice
spray - on gloss varnish
newsprint
A4and A3 sheets of paper
wide and narrow masking tape
repositionable spray glue
metal ruler, craft knife and cutting mat
scissors
tape measure
pencil
To make
1 Start by covering the entire cabinet using newsprint and masking tape - except the front section where youll be spray painting the blocks. Fill in all holes and grooves with rolled - up newsprint to ensure the paint cant get in anywhere.
2 Measure the size of the area youll be spray painting. Work out exactly how big each block should be and where it should be placed. Scale down the surface area that youll be decorating and trace it onto a sheet of A4 paper. Colour in the blocks that youll be spray painting.
3 Enlarge the sketch to the actual size of the cabinet and photocopy onto sheets of A3 paper. Join the individual A3 sheets together to get the full size. TIP For the most accurate measurements, you can use design software on a computer for steps 2 and 3. The result will be influenced by how precisely and thoroughly you do the preparation, especially if your cabinet has a lot of detail like ours.
4 Place the full - sized paper pattern on your cutting mat and cut out the white blocks - these are the parts youll be covering with masking tape. Use your craft knife and metal ruler to cut out neatly, but take care not to cut off the corners from each other, as the pattern will fall apart.
5 Cover your work surface with newsprint. Place your paper pattern on the work surface with the wrong side facing up. Apply spray glue to the back of the paper pattern and position it on the cabinet. Smooth out with the palms of your hands to secure.
6 Apply narrow strips of masking tape right round the block cutouts. Carefully cut off the corners to form a neat block. Rub over the masking tape to ensure its secure and prevent spray paint from seeping in underneath. NOTE Grooves and cavities must also be covered completely, but should still form a straight line visually, so use short strips of masking tape for this.
7 Carefully remove the paper pattern once youre done with the masking tape. Then cover the inner parts of the blocks with wider masking tape.
8 Once everything is masked off, you can start spray painting. Work in a well - ventilated area and apply a thin coat of spray paint. Leave to dry before applying another coat. Repeat until youre happy with the coverage and colour.
9 Spray a coat of gloss varnish, then leave to dry. Remove the newsprint and all the masking tape. TIP You can use clear varnish if you dont have spray - on varnish. Apply it with a sponge roller to ensure a smooth finish.
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