When it comes to furnishing our homes, many of us flock to the nearest furniture showroom and spend a small fortune on new pieces. Now, not only does this cost us far too much money – often more than we can afford – it means that second hand furniture becomes less popular and can end up being dumped into rubbish.
However, Kwiksweep, want to share their secrets on how you can furnish your home with upcycled furniture, all for a fraction of the price it would cost you to buy new furniture.
Should You Upcycle Yourself or Buy Readymade?
Pic Credit: Pixabay
These days, a lot of people are upcycling furniture in their spare time. Which means, if you’re not keen on doing the work yourself, you can easily find pieces for sale online. Just look for pieces on the likes of Gumtree and other local selling sites. Just be prepared to pay more for ready upcycled pieces than you would for second hand furniture in need of some TLC.
If you choose to upcycle yourself, you can furnish your home very cheaply. Plus, because you are painting or altering the furniture yourself, you can really upcycle it to match your décor and tastes, choosing exactly the colours and accessories that you like.
Where Can You Find Furniture to Upcycle?
Of course, in order to furnish your home, you’ll need some second hand furniture to upcycle – so where can you find good pieces? Well, there’s a number of options:
- Look on local selling sites for people selling furniture cheaply
- Try your local charity shops
- Auction houses often have sets of furniture for sale
- Look for local second hand furniture shops
- Ask friends and family if they have any old furniture they don’t want anymore
How Do You Get Started with Upcycling?
Often people feel intimidated by the idea of upcycling, however, in most cases you just need some sanding paper, a primer and your paint of choice. Add to this a little patience and in no time at all you’ll have brand-new looking furniture.
Pic Credit: Pixabay
If you’re feeling braver, look for upcycling groups on Facebook or YouTube, where you’ll find lots of inspiration as well as guides to new techniques – such as decoupage – to really give your furniture a professional finish.
It’s also possible to turn old furniture into entirely new items for your home. For instance, many people are using old bedframes to make benches or converting cribs into a tepee. There are also hundreds of hacks for altering Ikea furniture into new things.
When it comes to upcycled furniture, it might seem like more work than simply buying new. However, not only will it save you a lot of money, your home will also look far more unique compared to others who all buy the same types of furniture from similar shops. Indeed, your friends and family will be desperate to copy your style.
Plus, instead of encouraging more new furniture to be created, you will be helping items destined to end up on landfills to be reused for many years to come.
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