Often, after renovation and change of furnishings, there are pieces of furniture left in the apartment that are a pity to throw away, and cannot be fit into the new interior of the living space. In this case, the solution may be to restore and update the design of old furniture products.
This procedure is worth resorting to when you still have an old sideboard at your disposal, which in its functionality is superior to many modern furniture made in minimalist traditions. Even if experiments with restoration fail, you can always send it to the country, install it on a loggia, or give it to less wealthy friends.
Before starting restoration work, you should familiarize yourself with the existing methods of updating furniture and stock up on the necessary materials and tools.
Pros and cons of restoration
Putting a Soviet sideboard in order is more difficult than a bedside table or armchair. First, they study all the information on this issue, only then decide to restore the sideboard themselves or outsource the work to craftsmen. The peculiarity of the restoration is that the antiques were mainly made from natural wood. Then not every paint or varnish is suitable for the job.
Wooden buffet
In the kitchen or living room, a cabinet serves a decorative or practical function for storing food. It is subjected to retouching in the following cases:
- deciding to change the interior of the kitchen or dining room;
- decline in appearance;
- peeling paint;
- finding traces of rodent teeth;
- presence of broken parts.
Among the disadvantages of the alteration, one can highlight the high cost of high-quality materials and the large volume of sideboards. Positive aspects after restoration of the sideboard:
- acquires an attractive appearance;
- fits into the interior;
- performs not only a storage function;
- the value of furniture rises;
- There is an opportunity to completely redesign the cabinet.
Advantages
Restoring furniture yourself has a number of advantages.
These include the following:
- Saving money on purchasing new products. A restored wooden sideboard can last for many years, while buying antique furniture will cost a lot of money.
- To decorate wooden furniture, you can use available materials, especially for cosmetic repairs.
- Restoration allows you to restore the original color, eliminate chips, cracks, stains and other defects that appear due to negative external influences or during long-term use.
How to update your buffet
There is nothing complicated in the process of remodeling a sideboard. You don’t need to know or have the skills of a professional. Before the restoration process, a large location or room is selected if the buffet is of a solid structure.
Lay newspapers or thick polyethylene on the floor
For protection when working with paints and varnish, purchase a respirator and rubber gloves.
The sideboard is moved to the workplace, cleaned of dust and dirt, shelves and drawers are removed, and the doors are removed. Next, remove the old coating, then wash the cabinet and let it dry. Treat with a primer, putty, paint, replace damaged parts. Wooden handles are replaced with metal ones. The finished structure can be painted.
They place the buffet where it will bring more benefit and not take up much of the necessary space.
Restoration of wooden furniture. 12 cool ways to update old furniture.
Old furniture can be slightly changed in appearance and then it will fit perfectly into your intended interior.
What ways are there to update furniture?
1. Decor with paper.
Do you want to change the color of your furniture to an unusual, non-standard one? Old wallpaper and pieces of beautiful paper are perfect.
The paper is glued to the cleaned surface of the object using PVA glue or wallpaper glue.
The principle is the same as when gluing wallpaper - after applying the glue, leave the paper for a couple of minutes to get wet
It would be a good idea to update the furniture in the nursery using old maps.
The idea, by the way, is very popular.
Remnants of wallpaper and beautiful paper are also suitable for decorating furniture.
Great idea to update the sides of the drawers with paper. It turns out quite original.
2. There are ready-made stickers - sticky paper. With its help, you can update the surface of furniture with unusual patterns.
Old furniture is often updated with regular vinyl film.
People with imagination get creative with film. One drawback is that if it is not glued correctly, the film is short-lived in use.
But the film is good for beginner furniture renovators; it will cover all the imperfections and cracks.
There is a film with figures of various animals and flowers. Typically this film is used for a children's room.
3. Decorative elements.
If the furniture is boring, you can decorate it with plastic elements that are sold in construction or art stores.
You can also cut the elements out of plywood with a jigsaw if you don’t find any ready-made ones for sale.
4. Decor with fabric.
Furniture is still decorated with fabric today.
There is also a new technique for working with fabric, Patch decor.
Pieces of fabric soaked in PVA glue are used to paste furniture in different orders in the Patchwork style.
Patch decor uses not only fabric, but also various elements made of fabric and cord.
Required materials and tools
You will have to spend money on high-quality materials, otherwise the restored sideboard will not last long. Household tools are suitable for restoration; some items can be purchased in addition. When working you will need:
- spatula, coarse and medium sandpaper;
- furniture scraper, foam sponge;
- a set of brushes, paint, water-repellent varnish;
- wax, stain or acrylic if you are going to age the structure;
- wood clamps;
- glue, high-quality paint remover;
- caliper, marker;
- drawing for new parts;
- new fittings, electric jigsaw.
To clean distant and hard-to-reach corners, use a vacuum cleaner or an old toothbrush.
New fittings
An important stage in the reconstruction of old furniture is the replacement of fittings
First of all, you should pay attention to the condition of the hinges. They need to be replaced if they are rusty or damaged.
The location of the hinges is changed if pieces of material are torn out at the places where they are attached. The resulting holes are sealed using putty or sawdust mixed with PVA glue.
It is also necessary to check the condition of the guides in the cabinets. If necessary, they can be replaced with higher quality fittings. The extension system can be roller or ball. The second type of guides is considered more reliable. They ensure silent drawer opening.
The last stage is replacing the handles. They should be chosen taking into account the design of the furniture. Handles can be completely metal or combined - with ceramic or glass elements. For antique furniture, bronze fittings are suitable.
Repair techniques
The remodeling technique is chosen to suit the interior of the room. An old wardrobe looks good in a modern, country, or Provence setting. Completely restored models can be selected to suit any style.
Retouching techniques can be combined
There are different types of buffet restoration.
Buffet in Art Nouveau style
Complete restoration
Long restoration process. The quality result justifies the time spent. In the process, the old paint is removed and the buffet is cleaned down to its base. They change parts, fittings and decorations. You can also change the configuration of item placement:
- add or remove shelves;
- completely remove the doors;
- make the upper levels open;
- the upper part on the legs or stand is trimmed.
The finished design resembles a cabinet, or the same buffet. Item storage functions remain the same.
Partial restoration
This type of repair involves new painting and removal of defects in the swollen layer of wood. Sometimes the fittings or fastenings to the doors are replaced. During the first partial repair, materials used from the past are obtained from analogues.
Buffet in Provence style
Decoration
Here you can purchase a suitable design on stencils. Drawings that are a tone lighter or darker than the furniture fit not only into the image of the buffet, but also into the interior of the room. The stencil must fit tightly to the surface of the sideboard, so additionally use paper tape.
The wall decoration area is varnished
The consistency of paints should be of medium thickness and applied in a thin layer.
Decorated buffet
A thin layer of paint is applied without streaks with a foam sponge.
Decoupage
Buy napkins for decoupage. As a result, they can be varnished or the design can be left unprotected. The area for decoupage is treated with sandpaper, cracks and chips are covered. The napkins are covered with glue and applied to the marked places.
Decoupage of an old buffet
After applying the napkin, go over it with a rag or spatula so that there are no bubbles.
From an old sideboard - an “antique” sideboard
Antique furniture is always in fashion - it adds an aristocratic touch to the entire interior. It’s nice that this technique can be done with your own hands, which means it’s cheap. There are several techniques for artificial aging, choose the one that suits you best.
Method 1 – craquelure varnish
Additionally, you should purchase craquelure varnish in specialized stores; all other materials were described above.
Description of works:
- After removing the old coating and sanding with sandpaper, apply a special craquelure varnish to the surface. It has the ability to transform the entire surface into a canvas cracked, as if from old age;
- After the previous composition has dried, you need to apply paint or clear varnish to the surface of the sideboard.
After all the procedures, you will receive an “antique” sideboard in a surprisingly short time. It should be noted that using paint in this method is more preferable - the effect will be brighter.
Method 2 – mechanical aging
For this method, you need to prepare two stains on different bases, a shellac primer and restoration wax.
Description of works:
- after cleaning the old varnish or paint, apply water-based stain as a base;
- lighten with a moistened sponge those places that are more visible;
- after drying, you need to sand the areas that will be darker;
- now apply the stain again with a different base;
- After the second layer of stain has dried, fill all places with shellac primer using a brush;
- using a wire brush, rub in the restoration wax, moving it along the fiber;
- After the wax has dried, wipe the sideboard with a soft cloth;
In fact, there are many more ways to age. Uniquely beautiful masterpieces are created using the “shashel” method, but this can be done by those who are familiar with carpentry.
Work process
After selecting the room, you need to cover the floor with polyethylene. When removing old paint, the solvent will not damage the floor. Next, the cabinet is cleaned and washed of dirt. Dry outdoors under the sun, or leave indoors until completely dry.
I remove the removable parts and inspect them for damage.
Parts for replacement are cut out of the bars.
They are treated separately with primer, paint and varnish. The surface of the cabinet is degreased, primed, the cracks are sealed, and then painted. The paint must dry completely, then apply a water-repellent varnish. Attach the doors and shelves to their original places.
Caring for restored furniture
New life for an old sideboard with your own hands using the decoupage technique
Restoring an old sideboard has minor drawbacks, which, however, are no different from caring for new furniture. The surface should be carefully washed when dirty, ideally with clean water and a soft cloth, so the sideboard will not be scratched.
White buffet with old grandma's dishes
It is not recommended to place old refurbished furniture in areas of high humidity or heat generation. Next to the stove in the kitchen, near a radiator, or even just near a window, the condition of the paint can quickly deteriorate. You should also not leave the buffet on the veranda.
Unusual design of a Soviet buffet in the old Russian style
Restoring a sideboard with your own hands begins with inspection and repair, after which you can begin decorating the surface. This way you can give an old sideboard a completely new life and update your home interior.
Errors when pasting
You tried your best, but something went wrong. It doesn’t matter, almost everything can be fixed safely.
Bubbles? If they are small, then simply pierce them with a needle: squeeze out the air that gets in where it is not needed and carefully smooth the problem area with a cloth. With larger ones, an ordinary syringe will help - inserted inside, it will draw out all the air, and the hole will easily disappear when smoothed.
Folds? Whatever helps dry your hair will also work great on your hair. Run a hairdryer over the folds and they will smooth out. Don’t get too carried away, otherwise, by getting rid of one trouble, you will invite another.
Crooked? If you remember to leave a margin of 1 centimeter for each fragment when taking measurements, then you definitely won’t panic: an ordinary stationery knife will correct the situation, which can be used to remove the excess, and joining will easily cover the traces of your “cunning” operation.
