Fancy reviving your bedroom but don’t want to spend a lot of money on new furniture and furnishings? Re-using and restoring your existing furniture is an ecologically-friendly and economically-sound way of creating a new look for your bedroom. And it’s easier than you might think.
If you can hold a piece of sandpaper and wield a paintbrush you’re well on your way to creating a masterpiece from your old, warn bedroom furniture. Whilst painted beds can look great, if yours is getting a bit worn around the edges then you could repaint it – white beds are very on trend at right now – or you could strip it down to the wood. Oak beds look amazing and stand the test of time, style-wise, so if you have one of those then stripping off any paint will give you a really lovely bed that will make your whole bedroom look fabulous.
If you have an upholstered bed then consider having it reupholstered in a new fabric. It’s amazing how much of a difference that will make to your bedroom – it’s very hard to see just how worn or grubby upholstered beds can become over a long period of time because you see them every day, so you’ll really appreciate the freshness and brightness of new upholstery.
Another piece of bedroom furniture that’s easy enough to restore is your chest of drawers. Again, you can paint these or strip them down to the wood and either varnish or rub with beeswax to give it a whole new look – or just change the handles on the drawers for an instant, cheap facelift. If your wardrobes have handles too then change them to match those on the chest of drawers to co-ordinate the room.
If you do decide to do some DIY renovating, make sure you’re prepared so that you don’t have to stop part-way through the job to get essential equipment. Stopping part-way through painting can leave an uneven effect. Put down dustsheets or plastic sheets (to avoid driving yourself insane, tape down plastic with masking tape to stop it sticking to your feet and scrunching up) and make sure you have enough paint for the job.
If you’re painting a piece of furniture, use a mini-roller rather than a brush to get a much smoother finish. It will take longer, because you’ll need to add more coats since rollers apply thin layers, but it will be worth it. Consider buying a cheap roller and plastic tray for a couple of pounds and chucking the roller brush away afterwards (you can keep the plastic tray and metal holder for another time if you want, so you’d just need to buy a replacement roller brush head for next time) – it’s a lot less hassle than washing the brush head after each use. Whilst you wait for a layer of paint to dry then wrap your tray and roller in cling film to keep it from drying out.
If you’re using sandpaper, then make sure you wear a face mask to protect your lungs (old furniture can sometimes be covered with lead paint – not good to inhale – so if you think that might be the case make sure you ask advice about which face mask you need to keep you safe). Use a well-ventilated room but make sure the door to the rest of the house is closed and that the edges are blocked or you will be finding dust throughout the house for weeks!
Finally, to keep your clothes clean, tear three holes in the bottom of a bin liner – one in the middle for your head and one at each corner for your arms. Slip it on over your clothes and you have instant overalls.
The Sleeproom sells contemporary beds, fancy French beds and French bedroom furniture; tables and wardrobes . They have recently extended their repertoire to include sofas and armchairs . Which not only look good, they’re also very well made, are very good value and most importantly they sell furniture which is really comfortable.
