Redecorate any space can be very expensive and maybe you just need to restore your old furniture to make it look better. DIY projects and furniture restoration – or any restoration – is a cheaper option; you can make any piece of decoration look unique, and at the same time you can re-use some of your old furniture and save some money.
Most rooms, like your bedroom or the living room, might improve with some furniture with vibrant colours or changing the covering of a sofa or a chair. Even if you never attempted this, almost every restoration can be done at home and you won’t need a lot of expensive tools – and you will get exactly what you want because you did it.
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Is it possible to restore furniture at home?
You can do almost everything at home if you are willing to learn and have the time in your hands to do it and finish it. It’s really important to also have in mind what you want, in other words, visualize the final result and work towards it. Furniture restoration at home is more about having fun and doing edgy changes to create striking furniture for you.
In any case, we recommend you to start with some wood furniture. Wood is easy to work with, is easy to restore and the results can be amazing. Also if you restore a piece of wood furniture you will be helping the environment a little bit more so everyone wins, you and the planet.
Before you start any furniture restoration project is important that you have the proper tools to protect yourself rather than to work with. This means that you will need to buy a pair of work gloves and a dust mask. Finally, DIY restorations are meant to be fun, so please be careful with any chemical or any product that might be harmful and do it in a ventilated space.
What you should know before starting any restoration project
If you are ready to start your own project and learn by making mistakes, you should read more about restorations and, luckily for you, we will tell you some little tips that will come in handy. Restorations should be a great experience, so you might want to have in mind:
Start simple: choose the best equipment
Some projects are harder than others, so you might want to pick an easy one before going to the hard ones. Make sure you have all the necessary materials ready for the reconstruction. At FFX, you can find a wide variety of equipment and supplies specific to your needs. Wood is an excellent start, is durable and easy to work with, won’t need many tools and with some paint, you might restore any wood furniture. Make sure to check if the wood can be restored and if it’s not infested with woodworms.
Decide what you want
Having a vision can save you tons of time. Look at the room, the piece of furniture you want to restore, and ask yourself what could improve that space. You can check for some ideas online here of what could look good, even maybe check for some tutorials and then, you can start to work on it.
Buy everything beforehand
When you have everything planned on your mind, is time to make a list of everything you will need and buy it, including your protection. Is better to have already all the wax, paint, filling, or varnish you need in your house, this way you won’t be delaying the project and you could do it all in one day.
Prepare your workspace
Restoration can be messy, and in case you work in a tiny space or a room, you will want to prepare it, so you won’t spend days cleaning it. Protect the floors, the walls, and the lamps so they won’t get stains, always use a mask and have a broom close to you.
Prepare the surface
If you don’t prepare the surface beforehand you won’t have the results you want and you will have to work extra harder later. You will want to remove any paint or chemical coverage from the wood with sanding paper or a grinder, and a mask. This will guarantee that the paint, varnish, wax, or other coverage will stick for more time on the surface and it will erase the scratches.
Choose the best paint
Painting the furniture is the easiest and most effective way to do a fast furniture restoration. A new coat of paint can make an old desk look modern or art deco, depending on its form and the colour you choose. Some paints are more suitable for restoration, can last more, and are much more vibrant on woods or plastics.
Acrylic is one of the most lasting options available and is easy to work with. It’s very opaque so the colour will be vibrant and bright, can endure water, and can last even in garden furniture. Chalk paint is another option but is mostly used to create texture and cracks on the paint’s surface, giving a vintage aesthetic to most of the pieces.
Can I reupholster a sofa at home?
Maybe not a sofa if you are just starting but you can restore furniture with this technique at home if you have the fabrics and the tools. This could be a little harder but is worth it; there are a lot of tutorials on the matter and you can make any chair look modern and fresh without spending a lot of money. In this case, you will need:
- Fabric, the one you want
- Cotton tape
- Scissors
- A Staple gun
- Staple, of course
- A Box cutter
First, you will want to remove all of the old fabric from the chair and, with it, take measurements. When you cut the new fabric make sure to add more centimetres of material because if the fit is too tight, it won’t last.
When you have everything ready you will need to sew it into the armchair and for that, you will need the staple gun. This is maybe the hardest part, if you have the cotton tape you can tape the fabric and slowly sew it to the chair or sofa. If this attempt goes right, you can also do this if you want to pair a chair with some of these home decor ideas.
