DIY furniture design at home

Today, antique or artificially aged furniture is at the peak of popularity. Unfortunately, due to its high cost, not everyone can afford it. But if you decide to give such a decor to the room, at the same time without unnecessary financial costs, we will tell you how you can create a new furniture design with your own hands at home.

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How can I update furniture?

For renovation, Soviet furniture is best suited. This is due to the fact that basically it was made of good wood, so its strength and quality for centuries. If you have such an item, do not rush to immediately throw it away. You can attach a little imagination and give a second life to your grandmother’s dresser, closet or nightstand.

The sequence of actions of such a transformation is as follows:

• We replace furniture fittings. The main problem of Soviet furniture is how it closes. Therefore, it is very important to replace old locks and handles with new ones. You can do this with a screwdriver.

Important! Sometimes the replacement of furniture fittings dramatically changes the appearance of the product and this may be enough for a complete transformation.

• Cleaning. When restoring furniture, you can’t do without this stage. First you should remove dirt and soot. This should be done with a sponge, soap and warm water.

Important! As for problem areas, you can clean them using a toothbrush, and for very narrow crevices - a dowel.

• We are repairing. Abrasions and other surface defects should be eliminated. This can be done using ordinary sandpaper or special grinding tools, if any. Then, close up all the surface imperfections with putty, and after drying, polish well.

Important! Before puttying and painting, all flaws should be pre-primed. This improves adhesion, and putty will lie much more evenly.

• Decorate. Here you can safely fantasize and use any of the methods of decorating furniture.

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How can you decorate old furniture?

There are a huge number of methods and techniques for creating a new furniture design with your own hands at home. Thanks to them, you can easily turn a standard and boring item into an extraordinary and stylish thing that will decorate the interior of the room, will become its main highlight.

The most common options include:

• Use crawled;
• Decoupage
• Dekopatch;
• Coloring with chalk paints;
• The use of acrylic paints;
• Patination or artificial aging;
• Decorative stickers;
• Covering with a new cloth.

Important! The above decoration methods are suitable for absolutely all types of cabinet furniture, made from solid wood, as well as from chipboard materials.

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Use crawled

This technique has gained its popularity only in the last few years. Its essence lies in the application of a special substance using various technical methods. This allows you to achieve different textures on the surface of the product.

Important! The technique was crawling pretty easy to use, so even a beginner can handle it.

Materials for work

To decorate in this way you will need:

• Glezal of the right color;
• Priming;
• Roller;
• Spatula and sponge;
• Brush (bristles should be stiff);
• A piece of polyethylene or suede.

How to act:

• To improve adhesion, it is necessary to thoroughly clean and degrease the surface of the product.
• Next, apply a primer.

Important! When working with glass or a polished surface, you will have to apply not one but several layers of primer.

• After the primer has dried, it will be possible to proceed to the direct application of peeling.

Important! In order for the mixture to be ready for use, it must first be diluted with water in the proportion indicated on the packaging by the manufacturer.

• Using a roller, apply a thin layer of the finished substance. Using a brush or sponge, you can create different types of patterns and patterns, and a piece of suede will help to complete the job.

Important! Work should be done quickly, because after half an hour the surface will begin to dry out.

• The final drying time was a week. After that, the restored furniture is ready for use.

Important! It should be borne in mind that the glezal is a very short-lived coating. Therefore, in order to ensure a longer operational period, the surface should still be covered with a layer of transparent varnish.

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Decorate with acrylic paints

Unlike oil, acrylic is much more durable and richer in color, but in the application technique they have almost no difference.

Important! The most common way of decoration is to paint the side parts of cabinet furniture in one color, and on the facade - applying a picture or other various patterns.

Materials for work

In order to decorate furniture with acrylics, you will need:

• Acrylic paints in the right colors;
• Art brushes;
• Paint roller (if you will paint a large area with only one color).

How to implement a new furniture design?

For experienced artists, this task will be quite simple, but for beginners we offer several recommendations that may come in handy:

1. You should always start with the background. You can use a large roller or brush for this. As the first coat dries, apply a second one, only with a smaller brush. Thus, you get the visual effect of various strokes and heterogeneities.
2. When you went directly to applying the drawing, then, first of all, you should apply large elements, and only after that - small ones.
3. Allow the product to dry completely, after which the result should be fixed with a thin layer of transparent varnish.

Important! When choosing the color scheme of furniture, one should take into account the fact that transparent varnish gives a yellowish tint to the surface.

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Chalk paints

When creating a new furniture design with your own hands, chalk paints are actively used at home. Their advantage is that it is a universal paint that can be applied without prior priming and surface leveling. It is very easy to work with, and the coating is even.

Important! If your furniture is pretty “frayed”, in order to level the surface, you will need to apply at least 2 layers of paint.

Depending on the desired effect, such a painting can be carried out using a roller or brush. And in order for you to succeed, you should proceed in stages:

1. Clean and degrease the surface.
2. Apply the first coat of paint and leave for a while until completely dry. After - you can apply another one.
3. The finish is waxing on already dried surfaces.

Important! Do not rush while working with paint and during waxing. If you decide to decorate furniture in this way, you should expect that this process lasts about 3 days.

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Decoupage Technique

This technique is very simple and consists in decorating furniture with the help of ready-made drawings printed on paper. To do this, you will need the following materials:

• Decoupage paper or ordinary napkins;
• Glue;
• Scissors;
• Medium hard brush;
• Acrylic paints;
• Art brushes;
• Clear nail polish;
• Sandpaper.

Operating procedure:

• Prepare the surface. To do this, use sandpaper to remove all irregularities, and then - to prime.
• If you intend to change the color of the product, then at this stage, with the help of acrylic paints, you should arrange the background.
• Cut out the drawings you need from paper.

Important! Photographs are also suitable for decoupage technique, only in this case they should be moistened first.

• Apply the drawing on the surface of the product, and on top of it with a small brush or roller, apply glue. Your task is to ensure that the paper is completely saturated and properly fixed on the surface.

Important! Care should be taken to ensure that, during paper bonding, various bubbles and creases do not form on it. If this has already happened, then you can remove them with a brush, but in no case with your hands.

• After everything dries, a layer of transparent varnish should be applied.

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Decopatch

This is a technique that is gluing pieces with different patterns or materials, resulting in a single picture.

To update the design of furniture with your own hands at home using this technology:

1. Clean the product from old paint or varnish.
2. Primer it.
3. Paste pieces of material for the future picture.
4. Cover the surface of the product with a good layer of glue.
5. Using a brush, attach the pieces to the surface overlapping each other.
6. Excess glue should be wet.
7. After the glue has dried, it is necessary to apply two layers of colorless varnish.

Important! To create an artistic option, you can paint on top of the dried painting with the help of acrylic paints the missing parts, after which it is already varnished.

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Patination

This technology is quite original, and most often it is used for decorative dressing of chests of drawers, cabinets and kitchen sets. Its essence is to artificially age furniture.

Important! If you decide to create an “economy - variant” of a classic interior design, then such a technique will be just the thing for you.

To do this, you will need:

• Patina of the necessary color (you can get it in specialized shops for artists);
• Protective ground;
• Art brushes;
• Flexible spatulas;
• Sponge;
• Clear nail polish.

The sequence of actions is as follows:

1. The surface of the product should be prepared using a special primer.
2. Apply patina over the surface with a medium-sized brush.
3. Using flexible spatulas, it is necessary to create the desired surface texture.
4. After the patina has completely dried, the product should be covered with a layer of varnish.

Important! Be prepared for the patina to dry for a long time, about a week.

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Decorative films

This is a very simple, but quite effective way to design your own furniture at home. A huge assortment of such films is presented in construction and hardware stores. Thanks to their use, your furniture can acquire a rather original appearance.

pros

The advantages of this decoration method are:

• Ease of working with the material;
• Longevity;
• No significant differences between the film-coated product and factory-made furniture.

Important! In addition to a number of advantages, pasting furniture with decorative film has its drawbacks:

• This method is suitable for use exclusively on a flat surface.
• During the process, you should be very careful and careful in order to avoid creases of the film and its skew.
• There is a possibility of delamination of the film after some time.

Operating procedure

If you decide to create such a furniture design with your own hands at home, you should adhere to the following algorithm of actions:

1. Clean and degrease the surface well.
2. Attach the film with the front side to you, remove the protective coating from the back and gradually stick to the product.

Important! The work should be carried out very carefully so that bubbles, pockets and screeds do not form under the film. Such defects can only be fixed using the roller.

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Hauling old furniture with new cloth

It’s not everyone’s power to pull a sofa on their own, but even a beginner can pull a chair. To do this, you will need upholstery fabric and a furniture stapler.

Operating procedure:

• Remove the seat from the chair, cut a piece of fabric of the required size according to its size.

Important! When cutting fabric, add a few centimeters on all sides for laps.

• Secure the fabric to the seat with a stapler.

Important! The fabric should be tightened during fastening so that creases do not form.

• Screw the seat to the chair.

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We make furniture from pallets

Pallets or pallets are an inexpensive thing that most people have in abundance. They are domestic and European production.

Important! Domestic pallets are quite expensive, but their quality is not very good either. Therefore, if you decide to work with such material, you should take into account the fact that you have to completely grind them and replace the nails. As for the European ones, they are fully prepared for further work.

You can make absolutely any furniture from pallets. But the most popular option today is the sofa.

Important! In the manufacture of such furniture should take into account the fact that in most cases it turns out to be bulky.

To make it:

1. You need to lay out pallets in order: in the first row, lay out one row, in the second - two, and in ascending order.
2. Next - the finished workpiece should be covered with a cloth and lay decorative pillows around its perimeter.

Important! You can use the openings between the pallets to store magazines and newspapers.

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Stock footage

As you can see, in order to create a new interior design, you do not have to throw away old furniture and spend fabulous money on buying a new one. If you use the above tips and recommendations, you can create unique decor items from old furniture that will not yield in appearance even to the most expensive furniture sets.