There is such old furniture that is quite acceptable in terms of functionality, but appearance is already obsolete. One of practical solutions for such furniture is redecorating which will give it a more modern and original view... We will tell you in detail how to update an old chest of drawers with your own hands. How to prepare the surface, choose the paint and how to paint it correctly, so that both the service life is normal and the look is beautiful.
Restoration of an old chest of drawers. Photo "DO"
Although our alteration will concern the old chest of drawers, you can use the same technology to decorate the new chest of drawers. If there is an opportunity to give the usual dresser chic self made and an individual approach, it is a sin not to take advantage of this!
A properly prepared surface for painting is 50% of your success in furniture restoration.
How to prepare the surface of old furniture for painting:
- Before painting old furniture remove all accessories from it, decorative strips, take out the boxes.
- First we grind the surface with a coarse sandpaper, then we sand it with a fine sandpaper.
- With a brush or damp cloth, carefully remove dust from the surface of the chest of drawers.
- We are waiting for complete drying.
- We smooth out all chips and cracks with a putty. We are waiting for complete drying.
- Sand with the finest sanding paper. We clean it from dust.
How to choose paint for furniture?
Of all the variety of furniture paints, we recommend modern acrylic paints for water based... They do not contain harmful components such as lead and fit perfectly on almost any surface. Among the acrylic paints, you can even pick up paint that will lie on the polished surface. Although it will also have to be prepared for painting. 
These simple tips will help you extend the lifespan of your refurbished furniture up to 25 years.
How to properly paint old furniture?
- We prime the surface with 20% paint solution. If you have acrylic paint, then just dilute it with water. The primer not only reduces paint consumption, but also smoothes the surface of the chest of drawers so that your result after painting will be of better quality.
- Apply with a roller 2-3 even layers of paint. We apply each layer after the previous one has completely dried. On average, this is at least 16 hours. In each case, we look at the instructions for our specific paint.
- If we paint furniture outdoors, we do not do it in windy weather, because it takes at least 6 hours to dry the surface layer of paint from dust.
- If we paint furniture on the street, then we do not do it in the evening - the evening / morning dew will prevent the paint from drying properly.
- Do not use for the first two weeks after staining detergents for cleaning furniture surfaces. They just brushed off the dust with a damp soft cloth.
How beautiful it is to update the dresser with your own hands.
For a strong decor on our dresser, we will use stencil painting. You can make a stencil yourself from thick film PVC or linoleum, choosing a drawing that suits your taste on the Internet and cutting it out on the film with a clerical knife. Or you can order a ready-made stencil in a store - their choice is quite diverse and they are not very expensive.
We used this drawing to decorate our chest of drawers:
Limited surface for stencil painting masking tape... We attached the stencil to the chest of drawers with ordinary tape and applied white paint with a roller.
The good thing about this decoration technology is that you can make your drawing as large as you want. After painting the first fragment, a piece of stencil was applied to unpainted surfaces and the desired pattern was applied.
Thus, choosing the desired stencil fragments, we paint the entire front surface of our chest of drawers.
This is what a chest of drawers looks like in the process of rework.
We decorate the sides of the chest of drawers in the same way.
A chest of drawers is an integral and very important part of any bedroom. This is not only a place for storing things, but also a place near which a girl can put herself in order, since most dressers perform the function dressing tables... That is why the restoration of the dresser is so important.
Figure 1. Painting the dresser should start from the edges to the middle and preferably from top to bottom.
There are many options for restoring an old chest of drawers with your own hands.
One of the most original and natural is the painting on the chest of drawers. It looks very nice on both dark and light types of wood from which the chest of drawers is made. In addition, such restoration will not cost very much. That is why we will take a closer look at the whole process.
Materials and tools
Before you start painting, you must completely decide on the drawing and color solutions... You can make a drawing based on a picture, you can come up with it yourself. The amount of paints you need to buy will depend on the type of drawing. The example will consider the option of restoration with gold paint with the introduction of white abstraction elements. For the restoration of the chest of drawers to be successful, stock up on tools and materials:
- acrylic paint in two colors: gold and white;
- two tassels;
- jigsaw;
- sandpaper;
- PVA glue;
- colorless varnish;
- hammer;
- wood putty;
- marking pencil;
- screwdriver;
- metal corners;
- stencils for applying a pattern;
- finishing carnations.
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Surface preparation
Now let's look at how to restore a chest of drawers. So, first wipe the chest of drawers from dust and dirt, after removing all things and objects from it first. All drawers should be pulled out, since we will work separately on each part. Now with the help grinder we free the surface of the chest of drawers and drawers from the old coating.
When this is done, use a rag to dust off the dresser and inspect the surface for cracks and dents. All defects must be corrected immediately with a putty knife and wood putty. Leave the chest of drawers for the putty to dry completely.
Now inspect all connections and fasteners. If parts are moving away somewhere or the boxes do not move well, you need to eliminate this. If the cause of the malfunction is loose screws, then with a screwdriver you need to remove them, add a little wood glue into the holes and insert thin dowels of suitable size there. Then insert new bolts into these dowels. Or you can just fill up the holes with putty and make fasteners to the screws in other places, if possible.
If any of the frame parts of the chest of drawers are poorly connected, you can fix this by applying metal corners... And so that they are not noticeable from the outside, fasten the corners with inside chest of drawers. They will not interfere in the future with successfully storing things inside if they are small.
Now that the chest of drawers has become more reliable in functional terms, you need to sand it again with fine-grained sandpaper, wipe it and cover the surface with a wood primer. The primer is applied in two layers, after which it is given about a day to dry and absorb.
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Coloring the chest of drawers and drawers
After the primer has dried, we proceed to the most interesting stage- the process of decorating with paints. To do this, first all wooden surface drawers and a chest of drawers must be covered with a mixture of PVA glue and white acrylic paint. You can do this with a roller or a brush, only protect the metal and inner unpainted walls with masking tape in advance.
This will be the base under decorative coating... And to make this base more reliable, once again we lightly sand and prime it, but now in one layer. After the primer has been absorbed, wipe the entire chest of drawers with a damp soft cloth and then wipe it dry.
Now take your base color - gold paint - and shake it well. Using a soft brush or a small roller, apply this paint first to the front of the boxes, and then to the outer side, front and rear walls the main frame of the chest of drawers. Leave to dry.
Once dry, continue applying the gold paint where you did not originally apply it by turning the dresser and drawers in the direction you want. Wherein Special attention devote to painting the corners and transitions, which is convenient to carry out with a thin small brush.
Now it is important to wait for the gold paint to dry and set completely, which is at least three days. And only after this time you can start painting the chest of drawers. To do this, put the boxes in place, and then, using a pencil and a stencil, draw the outline of the future drawing on the chest of drawers in those places where you want to see it.
Do-it-yourself furniture restoration is often done not only in order to save a little money. Some things made of wood have a unique charm of antiquity, others are just so familiar that you don't want to get rid of them. In each case, you have to approach the repair and alteration of used furniture differently. Most often, the main task is to preserve the functionality of the item.
Do-it-yourself furniture restoration is often done not only in order to save a little money
Before you renew your old furniture, it is worth determining if it is not overly valuable antiques. In this case, its sale can be much more profitable than restoration. You can determine how valuable an ancient piece of furniture is by the presence of the master's mark on back side closet or inside the seat of a chair. If the sideboard or chest of drawers has the same marks on the bottom of the drawers, it makes sense to contact a professional antiques appraiser.
But in the event that you want to preserve antique furniture for yourself, extend its life and give it a chance to serve again, you should clean and examine the thing, identifying defects. In the simplest cases, it can be mechanical damage to legs, doors, surfaces. In more complex ones, it will be necessary to tighten the upholstery, restore the inlay or carved pattern, and strengthen the loosened joints. Each case requires a personal approach and specific tools. But most often you may need:
- drill and drills, screwdriver;
- face planer;
- files and emery cloth;
- screwdriwer set;
- jigsaw;
- sharp knife;
- pliers and round nose pliers;
- furniture stapler with staples;
- furniture fabric;
- sewing supplies and scissors;
- brushes, paints and varnishes, furniture wax and more.
If the renovation of the furniture will consist in decorating it with decoupage elements, then you will only need the necessary images (napkins, special sets, etc.), PVA glue and a brush made of soft hair. For craquelure, you need to buy a special varnish, if you wish - metal powder for gilding or silvering. It can be useful for decoration and self-adhesive film for precious wood or stone, plastic moldings and furniture fittings.
There is another interesting material for decorating old furniture. It is called linkrust and is a thin film with volumetric embossing. By applying metal powder to the convex parts, you can even old wall make a work of art.
In some cases, it is required to disassemble a thing into parts. This usually happens if the furniture repair is not only in the external decor. When pulling upholstered seats, restoring lacquered furniture at home, you will need to separate at least the main parts. In order not to confuse parts when assembling complex assemblies, you should photograph the disassembly process.
Gallery: restoration of old furniture (25 photos)
Restoration of old furniture (video)
Stylish DIY furniture
The easiest way to renovate old furniture is to decorate surfaces in a modern spirit. With the help of simple techniques, served things can be given modern look v different styles... Homemade kitchen sets and dressers of the 30-40s of the last century will always find a place in country interiors, shabby chic, Victorian and similar styles, implying not quite modern details... Soviet products of the 50-70s. will fit quite well into the minimalistic modern interior... You just need to slightly change their standard appearance and restore the furniture in accordance with your requirements.
The new life of an old nightstand can begin by removing dirt and old paint... Some surprisingly elegant and exclusive handcrafted items have been repainted several times over the years. This completely deprived them of the attractiveness and charm of antique furniture. It is best to remove the paint completely, to clean wood.
Before renewing old furniture, it is worth determining if it is not too valuable antiques. The same should be done if the cabinet was varnished. As a rule, the coating is in very poor condition. The easiest way to remove both paint and varnish is sharp knife, file and emery cloth. Loose and poorly closing doors are best removed to replace fittings.
If cracks and potholes are found on the furniture, then you need to make a special putty based on wood glue or acrylic resin. For 1 part of the binder, you need to take 3-4 parts of small sawdust (if possible, even sift them). With this compound, cover up defects, capturing intact areas around the groove. After the mastic is completely dry (up to 48 hours), treat the surface with an emery cloth stretched over a flat wooden block.
A beautiful pattern of cleaned wood can provide ideas for finishing without painting. In this case, you need to cover the product with a wood stain for valuable species. Dry the bedside table, add decor to your taste (painting, decoupage) and cover all parts with transparent varnish. Install the handles of doors and drawers in their regular places, if necessary, you can replace them with more modern ones or, conversely, corresponding to the style of noble antiquity.
The easiest way to renovate old furniture is to decorate surfaces in a modern spirit. How to update large furniture?
You can restore an old chest of drawers or wardrobe in a similar way. Large pieces of furniture often contain many boxes that swell or dry out over time. The restoration of an old cabinet, bureau, chest of drawers should begin with checking the integrity and ease of movement of these parts.
If necessary, you can disassemble the boxes into their component parts. Connections (usually a tenon-groove in different options) clean off old glue, process with a file and glue thin pieces of wood into the grooves. To do this, you can take a cheap veneer or use one of the layers of plywood. Having compacted in this way, apply glue (carpentry, PVA, instant) to the surface and connect the parts of the boxes. Thin self-tapping screws can be used.
If it is necessary to replace the handles, cover the holes from the old fasteners with a crack repair compound. After drying, sand the surface with a sandpaper. Make new holes and reinforce the fittings.
The front wall of the box can be fixed on wooden dowels. If during the parsing process it was not possible to save them, then it is very easy to make new ones from a round stick of a suitable diameter (kebab skewers, for example). The remnants of the old pins need to be drilled out, pour a little glue into the recess and insert a small piece of stick there. Also make mating holes and put the wall in place.
As a rule, the restoration of cracked boxes also solves the problem of their movement along the guides. If there is interference somewhere, you can examine the rubbing surfaces and grind off some of the wood with a file.
When pasting with any thin film, you need to remember that surface defects under it will be noticeable. Chips, cracks, peeling coating must first be leveled. Wipe wood defects with a putty compound, and remove the old coating. On large surfaces of dressers and wardrobes, this is easiest to do. grinder... The drill attachment in the form of a round brush with metal components is also suitable.
It is advisable to use a respirator and goggles during work to prevent dust from entering the eyes and respiratory tract. Cleaning large furniture from paintwork best done in non-residential premises or outdoors. The dust remaining on the furniture after processing must be thoroughly washed off with clean water.
Ideas for decorating a wardrobe or chest of drawers
It is up to the master himself to decide how to restore old furniture at home. It depends on the style of the interior of the room. Reconstruction can be done in different ways:
- pasting film;
- coloring and decoration;
- varnishing.
Restoration of Soviet furniture with a flat surface and without unnecessary decor can be done using fabric or thin leather (leatherette). Depending on preferences, the front walls of the drawers can be covered with such material or pasted over with a metallic film. Usually, this is how the restoration of chipboard furniture is carried out, which does not imply the preservation of the pattern of valuable wood.
The sides of the chest of drawers, its countertop can be painted in contrast: in dark colors for a minimalist style or hi-tech, in cheerful, but dim beige, blue, pink shades for country and similar interiors. Corresponding hardware details can complement the finish. V furniture stores and construction companies always have a wide selection of moldings that imitate stucco or have strict graphic outlines. Decorative overlays on the pieces of furniture free from pasting will give the updated dresser or wardrobe a resemblance to antique carvings. Handles of the appropriate design will help to complete the look of the transformed object.
Furniture with a slight worn effect is very fashionable nowadays. This does not mean at all that you can put a curbstone or chest of drawers with a peeling coating. The shabby chic style is characterized by the imitation of well-preserved, but old furniture. Therefore, any chair, wardrobe or bookcase is prepared for repair according to general principles: removing the old coating as much as possible.
The processed products are torn with a thin layer of furniture wax in those places where scuff is needed: on convex parts of the relief, on corners and edges, near handles. Surfaces are painted with light acrylic paint... After drying, it is enough to remove its layer on the waxed places. Restoration wooden furniture It also implies decor, either by painting, if the master has the ability to draw, or by decoupage.
To do this, use finished drawings, pages of old books or notes, napkins with the desired pattern. A layer of PVA glue is applied to the furniture, press the picture and smooth it with a soft brush, removing air bubbles. Once dry, you can sponge paint the edges of the design to mask the transition from paper to painted surface. Do-it-yourself restoration of the chest of drawers can be considered complete, and to protect the pattern, the surface must be varnished.
How to restore old furniture (video)
How to update upholstered furniture?
Compared to reworking wooden things, restoring upholstered furniture with your own hands seems quite difficult. But you can cope with this task as well. Most often, you have to change worn upholstery and filler.
To re-fit an old chair with your own hands, you will have to pick up furniture fabric. For modern headsets flock or velor are also suitable, but they can deprive an old thing of its inherent solidity. For artsy armchairs with carvings and curved details, you will have to look for quality furniture tapestry.
Disassembling the upholstered furniture of the last century, you can find inside spring block or foam rubber, most often beyond repair. They can be replaced with modern high-density foam rubber. It is best to choose a thick plate of denser material, and on top of it make a thin (about 2 cm) pad of soft foam. For greater preservation of the filler, burlap or other dense fabric is placed on top.
If the chair or sofa was not completely soft, but contained polished parts, then before restoring the furniture with your own hands, you need to restore the coating with varnish. Polishing is done with GOI paste.
The restoration of the chair continues by laying the filler:
- grease the base of the seat with glue and lay thick foam rubber on it;
- press evenly over the entire surface;
- smear the surface of the foam rubber with glue and lay a thin material;
- lay a rough burlap upholstery over the foam rubber, attach it with stapler staples;
- paste over the armrests and backrest, if necessary.
Depending on which design soft furniture, you may need to make a relief on the filler. Parts protruding above the surface must be cut out separately and glued.
Finally, you will need to sew new covers. Use old upholstery for the patterns. Put the finished cover or furniture fabric on the wrong side near the edge of the polished part, attach with a stapler along the edge.
Turn over on your face, covering the soft filler, pulling the cover over the armrests and backrest. Attach to the inside of the furniture, underneath the armrests, etc., restoring the upholstery as it was installed before. If the chair has overlaid wooden parts over the fabric, they are reinstalled last, when the upholstery is completely replaced.
Some old furniture models have overhead pillows. Their filler should be inspected and replaced if necessary. The covers are easy to sew according to the patterns taken from old upholstery... There is much less work with these details than with the constriction of the sofa or chair itself.
The restoration of old furniture is a creative process in many ways. Even when restoring its old appearance, it is necessary to use both new casing, and modern technologies spending a lot of time and no less imagination. But when looking at a sofa restored at home, carved or polished furniture that can be used for a long time, the master does not regret the effort spent.
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Dresser decoupage is an easy way to breathe into your furniture new life.
If your chest of drawers is covered with cracks, is old or just tired of you - do not rush to throw it away, because it is quite possible to turn it into a new one without spending a lot of money.
This can be done with the help of decoupage - an unusual furniture design technique that came to us from France and quickly fell in love with in Russia.
In the article, you will learn how to restore furniture in this way, and also get a master class on decoupage of a chest of drawers.
Photos, videos and instructions will help you cope with this work and give new life to your old things.
The decoupage technique consists in covering furniture and other household items with colored paper, pictures, as well as additional effects such as painting, gold plating, etc.
The decoupage technique gained the greatest fame in the 17-18 centuries: with its help, merchants counterfeited Chinese furniture, which was fashionable at that time, by covering ordinary furniture additional elements and decorations.
Such a product came to the taste of the poor segments of the population who could not afford real furniture.
Initially, this technique spread throughout Europe under the name "art of the poor", but soon it was carried away by the wealthier segments of the population, and soon it reached the court of King Louis XV.
In addition to gluing furniture, decoupage is also common on other items. Everyday life: often, with the help of decoupage, they decorated clothes, for example, ladies' hats, plates, caskets, mirrors, etc.
Over the years, decoupage has not lost its relevance, but, on the contrary, has entered on a par with other professional occupations - for example, such great artists of the 20th century as Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso used this technique in their works.
Today decoupage is available to everyone who loves creativity.
A big plus of this technique is that you do not need any expensive tools - just imagination and improvised blanks, for example, old magazines, stickers or pictures that can be purchased inexpensively in specialized stores.
In the photo you can see what the decoupage technique looks like - in fact, it is just furniture and household items pasted over with pictures and varnished.
Naturally, in order for the result to look attractive, and not haphazardly, you need a concept for the future creation.
Can be used already ready-made ideas- for example, decorate your chosen item in the popular Provence style.
To do decoupage, you need pictures, which you can find in magazines, newspapers, books, albums with stickers, on wrapping paper, postcards, photographs, etc.
To cut them out, you will need scissors or a razor, and to glue them, you will need PVA glue or special glue for decoupage.
To remove the glue, you will need a rag or sponge, and to finish the work, the pasted pictures need to be varnished or with acrylic and polyurethane spray.
As you can see, this technique will not require large expenditures.
Decoupage can be used to decorate literally any object, and it will be interesting for both adults and children, who can use it to decorate their notebooks, diaries, shelves or tables in the room.
However, when it comes to pieces of furniture, decoupage needs to be approached with great responsibility, because this item will stand in your house for more than one year.
Decoupage furniture is not like that simple task, and below you will receive instructions on how to deal with this, so that the chest of drawers is really pleasing to the eye.
How to restore a chest of drawers using decoupage?
Before you start decoupage of a chest of drawers, you need to decide how you want to see it in the end, as well as choose a coating technique. One of the most simple techniques- paper decoration.
Such restoration of a chest of drawers with your own hands is suitable for those who do not have much experience in furniture decoration, because it is quite simple, but at the same time it looks attractive and original.
The design of the chest of drawers depends on the place of its position and the general interior, for example, with a strict monochromatic design of the office, the chest of drawers can be decorated using ordinary newspapers, but for the children's room it is better to choose something more interesting and bright.
If the room is decorated in a certain style, for example, Provence, then it makes sense to make a chest of drawers in the same way, so that it does not get out of the general style.
Watch the mini master class before you get started. Decoupage takes place in several stages.
The first step is to wash and dry the surface of the furniture and remove the drawers and shelves that are inside. If the chest of drawers is uneven, then sandpaper it.
Now you can start painting. You can paint the chest of drawers in whole or in part, depending on your idea.
Then, after drying, the painted parts are treated with sandpaper and the next layer paints.
Now decoupage itself follows. Take the miniatures you made (newspapers, magazines, etc.) and cut out the images, and then place them on the surface that was previously greased with glue.
The paper can be flattened with a roller or simply by hand. Then you can apply paint along the contour of the drawing, if you want, you can varnish the chest of drawers.
Wait a while and you can collect the chest of drawers.
Decoupage with cloth
As you can see, the first mini-master class is not difficult at all. It will be a little more difficult to decorate the chest of drawers with fabric. In terms of material costs, it will not be more expensive - most likely, there is an abundance of old fabric in your home.
Usually, not the entire chest of drawers is decorated with this technique, but only the drawers, but you can try another method by looking at the design options in the photo.
This mini-master class begins in a similar way to the previous one - you first need to wash and disassemble the chest of drawers.
Before gluing the fabric, you need to make mini-blanks - that is, patterns with a suitable pattern, while they should be several centimeters wider than the drawer front.
you can buy ready-made patterns, or choose an example from the photo, or come up with a drawing yourself.
When the fabric is ready, coat the outside of the drawer with glue and place the fabric, then smooth it from the middle so that it is flat.
It is better to attach the fabric folded inside the box with a stapler so that it holds better. After the glue has set, you can assemble the chest of drawers.
The hardest part about this method is making patterns. A mini-master class on video will help you with this.
It is best to choose a fabric that matches the tone of the interior, or in some interesting and popular style, for example, Provence.
Luxurious decoupage option
The following mini-master class will help you make a chest of drawers in truly luxurious style and turn it into the main addition to the interior.
To do this, you will need some blanks: paper for pasting - it is better to buy ready-made, as well as additional decorative elements- for example paints and gold leaf.
After preparing the chest of drawers, you need to paint all the details, and then apply the ornament of your choice to the doors.
The pattern can be applied according to a ready-made template, or watch a master class on decorating a bohemian chest of drawers.
Cover the finished ornament with gold leaf or other material of your choice, and cover the fronts of the boxes with baguette frames.
Then the entire surface must be varnished, and the chest of drawers can be assembled.
If you do not want to design a chest of drawers in a too pompous style, then you can choose something lighter and more modern, for example, Provence, hi-tech, etc.
Aging dresser
The last mini-master class is devoted to how to artificially age a chest of drawers. You can do this in addition to the selected style, or you can choose this design option as the original and only one.
As in other cases, you need to completely disassemble the chest of drawers and process all its parts with sandpaper. Then wipe the surface with a sponge or rag.
Paint the furniture and wait for it to dry a little, and then you can start "aging".
To do this, you will need some ideas and tool blanks - candles, a scraper or a skin will do.
You can create artificial damage on the surface with a scraper, and rub some fragments of the surface with a candle.
You can apply other options for "aging" by watching a master class or a photo with decoupage. Then you need to fix the workpieces with an additional layer of paint.
Re-sponge the dresser - where the paraffin was applied, the paint will come off easily and you will get an aging effect.
If you want, you can also add decoupage to the resulting design using paper or ornament. After everything is ready, cover the surface with varnish and you can assemble the chest of drawers.
This style is considered "rustic", but it will perfectly fit into a city dwelling if your apartment is decorated in country or Provence style.
Thus, with the help of decoupage, any restoration of the chest of drawers can be carried out.
To do this, you only need to make inexpensive blanks of which the drawing will consist, choose a design style (Provence, Art Deco, hi-tech, etc.) and put a little imagination and effort - then you can restore the old chest of drawers so that it will turn out no worse than a new one.