Ikea vs doing up good quality second-hand

[holmessweetholmes]

I have fallen out of love with Ikea . Except their meatballs, obviously .

We are about to re-locate and I'm thinking of gradually replacing my now rather rickety Ikea stuff by trawling round second-hand furniture shops near my new home, in the hope of finding more solid things which might need a little tlc or a coat of paint but which are better quality.

Does anyone do this on a regular basis? If so, is it easy to find good bargains and have you painted furniture successfully (with chalk paint etc)?

Thanks!

[Halsall]

I'm sure someone better-qualified will be along in a moment, but I'd say you can do this, OP. I've painted things with chalk paint and it looks great. I've also picked up very cheap items that look a treat when 'done' (art-deco-ish chest of drawers for £30, for example). And I'm in the South-east so it can be done. Charity shops are your friend!

[ArtyBat]

Yes, old furniture is fabulous for making over, even the 'cheaper' end of old furniture is well made with dove tail joints etc, and often come with original handles which, if you take off before sorting the furniture, can be cleaned up beautifully.

All my furniture - apart from my sofa and my bed, is at least 70 - 80 years old, some even older. I've had it all my adult life, with no intention of changing it, as I restored, painted, waxed, whatever each piece to suit me.

Chalk paints etc were not as available 35 -40 years ago, so I used thinned down acrylics on sanded wood. Some extremely thin for colour washing, some a little thicker for painting designs, some left neat for stencilling. Once dry and hardened off, I either waxed the piece or satin varnished them.
They're still going strong, and will probably outlive me.

Non of my furniture 'matches' or 'co-ordinates' - those words are banned from here. Instead, they live with me and often have different functions according to my needs. Eg -one 1930's cupboard has been used for art materials storage, dry foods storage, and currently stores some glass and ceramic.

Freecycle is really good for this. Last year I was given 3 delightful and very old chairs. I now use them in the house as display easels for art work.
Also try charity shops, rubbish skips, your local recycling centre.

[CointreauVersial]

I'm bookmarking this thread, as this is something I'd love to do more often. I have a houseful of Ikea, but also a few hand-me-downs from family etc. and it is obvious which items are the better quality. My dining table and chairs were from my grandpa - they are 1960s from Heals, so not antique but amazing quality. I put new covers on the chairs and stripped and varnished the table (which extends to seat 12!), but really I need to do the table again, as it was originally teak-oiled.

A friend of mine buys a lot of second hand furniture, and pays to have chairs re-covered and so on. It isn't cheap to do it properly! But you do end up with a unique item which is built to last.

I need an armchair/easy chair for the living room, and would love to find something old/unloved and get it tarted up and reupholstered. I need to find a good second hand furniture shop or auction, I think.

[StripyBanana]

I'd like to do this but have found it doesnt quite look right in our tiny modern box estate house. Ww had some passed down furniture but had to give it back to dad... and now we look like an ikea catalogue!

Tempted to chalk paint some of the kids drawers though. Do you wax it after?

[Mylovelylovelyhorse]

Gumtree

I've furnished our entire house in the cheap

Or if ebaying search 'good' names. Ercol often goes cheap, especially the less fashionable dark stuff which lends itself well to a bit of a makeover, and as it's pretty mass produced I don't feel bad

[ArtyBat]

This will out me, but I want to show you what i mean.

This was a piece I spotted about 20 years ago on the back of an open truck - about to be carted off to the tip.

You can see it in the original blue paint, then stripped, then colourwashed and painted.

[ArtyBat]

Top view.

[Mylovelylovelyhorse]

Actually I'm not a massive fan of chalk paint although I've used it with some success. I've done all the furniture in three bedrooms with one tin of f&b. I was lucky that I got some oil eggshell knocked down cheap before they changed the formula and it's far more hardwearinging than Annie Sloane

[bigTillyMint]

My DH loves our kitchen chairs which were left here by the previous owners 15 years ago. I have recovered the seats a few times (children were very messy!) and have just recently stained/varnished them - they look great and much more sturdy than the modern IKEA/other ones I was considering!

[mineymo]

We've done well from charity shops, second-hand shops, the sales pages of local newsletters and ebay and had some amazing bargains. We got a 6 foot welsh dresser (top and bottom parts) for £200 and an apothecary cabinet for £20.

A lot of things we've left plain wood or we've had them stripped (remarkably cheap at the local restoration place. £20 for a door!) A few things we've chalk painted. You can buy Annie Sloan sample pots for around £7 including delivery and they cover a surprising amount (plus you can add a bit of water to make it go further). For example my grandmother clock (a handmedown from my Nan, once mahogany) is now a lovely shade of turquoise, completely covered from one sample pot.

[Halsall]

Following on from lovely horse, I did use f&b to paint something recently, then waxed it with Annie Sloan wax. Looks great! I prefer things that are painted with solid colour though, can't be doing with 'shabby chic'

[Mylovelylovelyhorse]

I've done old Lloyd loom stuff for ds's bedroom. A chair and ottoman were about £20 off ebay bi recovered the cushioned bits in off cuts of cool fabric from the trendy fabric shop and they look great- even if I do say so myself

[holmessweetholmes]

Ooh lots of replies! All sounds great. I'm really keen to give it a go. I've downloaded an Annie Sloan book onto my Kindle and lots of the projects look good.

I'm not sure whether I'd go for the full-on distressed look in all rooms. Ds has got a more expensive, sturdy Ikea chest of drawers in white. I was thinking of painting just the drawers in bright colours. There's one like it in the book, done without distressing for a more modern look.

I also have a big mirror with a really dark, ornately carved oak frame (from a junk shop). Maybe that would be a good place to start - it would look good in distressed cream or white maybe.

Haven't looked at the photos from upthread yet - they don't show up on the MN app. Will go on the mobile site!

[holmessweetholmes]

Wow ArtyBat - that's amazing! I fear I am not that talented...