Tips for Upcycling furniture

I have the wonderful and clever Catherine from Paisley and Polka Dot Threads guest posting today. She is sharing her tips for upcycling furniture. I love her work.  

Hi Redcliffe Style readers, 

On my blog I share my love of all things craft and DIY, with a bit of the chaos of home life thrown in. I have a passion for upcycling furniture, and love being able to find an old, worn out piece of furniture, and renovating it to become a gorgeous one-of-a-kind piece. All this needs to fit round being a stay at home mum of two, which is sometimes successful and sometimes not!

When I moved into my new home two years ago I realised there was no way my budget would stretch to the get me the look I wanted for my home. So I’ve been op shopping, doing the curbside crawl and DIY’ing to get it. (You don’t know the curbside crawl?? During bulk garbage collection I do a recognisance past any likely piles of junk, just in case they are throwing away something I can makeover! Yes you have to put any feelings of embarrassment aside!)  In case you don’t believe me that something on the roadside can be beautiful, take a look at this…

This is one of my most popular makeovers and it was just sitting there on the curb side waiting for the rubbish truck. If the curb side isn’t your thing, op shops are absolutely the way to go. Whatever your style you can find something amazing, and transform it with a bit of soap and water, paint and varnish.

My top tips - 

* Fake it till you make it. We're all working to a budget, but instead of waiting till you have that fabulous piece of art, amazing couch or gorgeous coffee table, work with what you've got. I have a scrabble board, a Frankie poster and some postcards as artwork in my entry, and I think they work.

* When op shopping, if at first you don't find anything, keep looking! There are some days when I visit an op shop and find absolutely nothing. Other days I hit the jackpot. The trick is to drop in when you can and scout around.

* If you're going to paint a piece of furniture make sure you give it a good two coats of undercoat (unless you're using DIY chalk paint, but that's another story). I always use Zinsser - and no I don't get paid to say that! It sticks to almost everything and covers all sorts of sins.

* Go on, give it a try!! Sure, painting a piece of furniture can be daunting to some. I'd suggest you don't start on the family heirlooms, pick up a piece an an op shop to try out. Or if you're like me, try it out on something you already hate, like something your husband had before you were married :) and see how you go. It could be a massive improvement...

So if you're keen on home decorating on a budget, I'd love you to come visit me at Paisley and Polka Dot Threads. Thanks Rachel for having me :)

And thank you Catherine.