Ideas on how to make old furniture look better than any new one
Sometimes old furniture literally captivates with the quality of the wood from which it is made, as well as with its unusual appearance.
To take out such vintage interior items in the trash just does not raise a hand. But furnishing a modern home with them is also not the best idea. But there is a way out. It is necessary to update old furniture with your own hands, breathing new life into it. There is no doubt that after a small restoration the furniture will change!
1. Patchwork style
Renovation of old chairs.
Bright chairs will be a real highlight of the interior. To transform a soft seat, you need to drag it with a cover sewn from multi-colored shreds. And the solid legs and back are decorated using decoupage technique. On the primed surface, apply decoupage napkins or magazine clippings soaked in a mixture of PVA and water. After drying, cover them with a layer of acrylic varnish.
2. Travel Club
Decor of old furniture with geographical maps.
Surely in every house there are old geographical maps left over from school days. They can completely paste over furniture using the decoupage technique described above. If such a solution seems too radical, then it is better to combine decoupage with coloring of individual areas. In order for the paint to lie evenly, it is necessary to clean the furniture from the old finish.
3. Delicate relief
Updating old furniture with wallpaper.
Wallpaper with convex patterns for painting is an excellent material for updating furniture, the purchase of which will not burden even the most modest budget. Check the distant drawers: perhaps the remnants of the wallpaper after the repair are waiting for their finest hour. Stick the pieces of wallpaper on the prepared and cleaned furniture surface. If white seems too boring, then paint the wallpaper and varnish it for protection.
4. The most interesting is inside
Reworking old furniture with your own hands.
The effect of surprise when looking at furniture, the back wall of which is decorated with bright patterns, is guaranteed. If the level of your own artistic skills allows, then the back wall can be painted. To do this, you will have to first disassemble the furniture. There is a simpler solution: just cover it with bright wallpaper. In order for the update to be holistic, paint the furniture itself in a harmonizing color.
5. Trendy ombre effect
Decor of old furniture in ombre technique.
Smooth color transitions are a coloristic technique that has not lost its relevance for the past few years. So why not repeat it on furniture? Use 4-5 shades of the same color on furniture vertically. It is not necessary to buy the number of cans of paint that matches the ombre colors. Available in basic and white colors. The intensity of the base color is adjusted by adding different amounts of white to it.
6. Musical furniture
Furniture decor with old notes.
Long-read newspapers or old music books can be used to decorate vintage furniture. Paint part of the furniture in the chosen color, leaving empty areas where the paper will be pasted. Building tape will help to observe the boundaries of staining. Then stick paper soaked in tea or coffee and dried on the furniture. Soaking is necessary to give notes or newspapers a brown tint that creates an aged effect. After the glue dries, varnish the paper.
7. Spectacular color duo
Furniture decor using a screen pattern.
In order for the selected pattern to look neat, it is better to apply it with a stencil. It can be cut out of thick cardboard or thin plastic. Color the selected object in a light color. After the paint has dried, apply the stencil pattern. To make the updated furniture look spectacular, we recommend choosing contrasting paint colors.
8. Maximum color
Renovation of furniture by painting.
The easiest way to freshen up vintage furniture is to simply repaint it. But first you need to clean the surface of the remnants of varnish and paint applied many years ago. This can be done with a grinder or sandpaper. In some cases, simply prying off the layers of paint with a knife is sufficient, and they will easily come off. Then the tree must be covered with a primer, and after it dries, painted in a bright color.
9. Instead of a photo album
Renovation of old furniture retro photo.
Vintage photos often gather dust in drawers until they are faded and frayed. But there is a smarter way to use them, one that will allow them to see the light of day and allow you to enjoy a sophisticated retro aesthetic all the time. Use the photo to glue old furniture. If you don’t raise your hand to apply pictures in this quality, then make duplicates of them by scanning and printing on a color printer. The decoupage technique will help to fix the "twins" of the retro photo on the furniture. To preserve the images, do not forget to cover them with varnish.
10. Simple but cute pattern
Drawing on furniture in the spirit of primitivism.
Even in the absence of developed skills in the field of fine arts, it will be possible to decorate old furniture in a similar way. Choose a simple design in two or three colors and transfer it to the surface of the furniture, pre-painted in the selected base color.
11. In the spirit of impressionism
Contrasting decor of old furniture.
A lot of bright colors that don't even match with each other - that's all it takes to transform furniture into a piece of abstract art. Clean furniture from old varnish and paint, prime. Then start to cover it with small strokes of different colors. For convenience, first apply the first color, then the second, and so on. To evaluate the compatibility of colors, we recommend that you first create a sketch on a piece of thick cardboard.
12. Impressive contrasts
Painting furniture in contrasting colors.
Furniture painted in two contrasting colors looks unforgettable. In order not to accidentally cross the boundaries of good taste, we recommend choosing one neutral color (gray, black, white, beige, and the second - bright (pink, light green, orange, azure). With this combination of tones, the furniture will be spectacular, but not too defiant.
13. Abstract Landscape
Effective drawing on furniture.
It's hard to believe, but you don't have to be an artist to draw an interesting landscape. The main thing is to choose the right colors and apply them in the form of uneven stripes on the surface of the selected furniture. In such an abstract drawing, anyone can easily recognize the mountain landscape.
14. Luxurious ceramics
Furniture decor with mosaics and tiles.
The remains of mosaics and tiles are an excellent material for decorating furniture. For cutting, use a manual tile cutter or special tongs. You can just break the tile or mosaic with a hammer, but in this case the pattern will be more chaotic. To bond ceramics to wood, use an acrylic or silicone construction adhesive. After drying, fill the joints between the ceramic fragments with tile grout and remove the excess a little later.
15. Forces of fittings
The furniture is being refurbished with new fittings.
Sometimes even such a simple technique as changing accessories can radically change the look of old furniture. And if you pre-paint it in a discreet color, then the result will be really impressive.