Upcycling has no downside

Picking up secondhand furniture from charity shops and car-boot sales can be a purse and planet-friendly way of kitting out your home. But often, this means dated medium-density fibreboard, which can look a bit blah. There’s always the option of upcycling, of course – a fun and relatively thrifty way of giving furniture a refresh and unleashing those creative juices.

If you’re new to upcycling, make sure you’ve planned out the whole process before you start. This isn’t just a question of deciding on the methods and colours you’ll be using – but making sure you have all the appropriate tools for every stage, and enough time and space to complete the job.

Think about how you’re going to protect any surrounding items, and your clothing, from getting splashed or dusty while you work, and ensure you’ve got a well-ventilated suitable area sorted out before cracking open those paint and varnish cans.

There are some paint products that promise to cut the groundwork, but if you’re going the traditional route or want more control over your finish, then you’ll need to do some prep. This usually means some thorough sanding (you want to create a rough surface to “grip” the paint so it holds), plus using a suitable primer before you get going with the painting.

Once dried, you’re ready to go with your new colour of paint. If painted on plain MDF, you will need to give the furniture a gentle sand after the coat of primer/undercoat, and before applying the paint.

To get that aged, distressed look to furniture, it’s best to use a slightly darker shade as your undercoat, and your main colour as a second layer.

Then you can use sandpaper to lightly scuff certain areas, such as corners, to reveal the colour underneath and bring the texture of your furniture to life.

The best thing about going to all this effort is you have free reign to create whatever you fancy.

“Upcycling gives you the chance to create one-of-a-kind furniture that’s completely your own, adding a real personal touch to your home,” says Kasia Wiktorowicz, Valspar marketing communications manager.

“In recent years, we’ve experienced the ‘flat pack culture’, which people are currently turning away from. It’s now more important to have an element of craft and storytelling within the home, and this is exactly what upcycling offers.”

So, be creative with colours – this might mean colour-blocking with drawers in different colours, for instance, and think about adding extra finishing touches, such as stencilling or replacing knobs for extra style. Of course, you can always go for classic and understated, too.

And if you don’t have the space, time or tools to go full-on restoration mode, you can always try some of the paint products that promise to do the job in one or two simple steps.

Ronseal Chalky Furniture Paint comes in eight pastel shades and just two applications on un-primed MDF will give you a chalky, matt finish. Rust-Oleum also has a paint range that can be used directly onto un-primed wood, including MDF. If you’re after a gloss finish, try Rust-Oleum Gloss Finish Furniture Paint.