To think that a lot of 'upcycling' is bollocks?

[thereareflowersinmygarden]

Lots of it on Facebook selling sites.

People get a lovely old, wooden piece of furniture, slap some white paint on it and think they've actually done a good thing. Often, they've taken a beautiful 1930's walnut sideboard or such like, and vandalised it.

Just why? Why can't these people get a useful hobby?

Agree and 'distressing' a lovely old piece of furniture and claiming it makes it look even older is just vandalism in my opinion.

I hate the distressed shabby chic look. It just looks like the owner takes shockingly bad care of their things.

Aka, shabby shite

I know what you're saying, some attempts at upcycling are not to my taste at all.

However, I think the general principle of taking something new and making it over with paint is much better for the planet and far less consumerist than buying new from Ikea or Next.

Plus, a painted piece of mid-century brown furniture is going to be 100 times more sturdy and durable than modern stuff.

I blame Changing rooms, cash in the attic and their ilk.
People have become convinced their shite is worth a fortune.

Wouldn't not using the paint, be even better for the planet?

We could make compost out of the philistine wielding the paintbrush too- win win!

I’m on a forum dedicated to mid century modern furniture. There are a minority of people on it who are obsessed with taking beautiful original furniture and painting it with garish drip effect paints and similar. They have no souls!

I think there is a difference between slapping a layer of chalk paint on some drawers and actually rescuing something that would go to landfill. My coffee table was stained dark wood with coffee ring marks that I bought from a charity shop for £5 - I sanded it down to the natural wood and varnished it. It’s very solid and looks fab. Although I agree there are lots of very dodgy “upcycled” item out there. And some of the upcycling daytime tv shows are just cringey.

Absolutely all for buying old but as OP says slapping inappropriate paint on and trying to claim it's an improvement and therefore you can sell it for an inflated price because it's now 'shabby chic' is a terrible thing to do.

I've got several old pieces of furniture in my home. They weren't cheap but they are beautiful and part of their beauty is the way the wood has aged over the years.

Only a philistine would think painting over the beautiful wood or 'distressing' them could improve them.

I'm laughing at the Wayfair advert that just popped up at the bottom of this thread for chests of drawers that look like they were painted by chimps.

I think it depends.

Some people do ruin some really fantastic pieces of furniture, but some people also act like anything old is an amazing antique that needs to be protected.

Just because something is old and built out of decent wood doesn’t mean it’s special. A lot of the furniture people get upset about being messed with is really just the IKEA furniture of its day, the basic stuff just about every middle class family had, that’s still around in mass quantities. There’s particular dressing tables for example that are very commonly up cycled, and that people often get upset about. They’re well made and look good if that’s your style, but there’s still tens of thousands of them around so they aren’t special and they’re worth next to nothing. Messing with them is really no different than messing with something you just bought new.

BE18mum That's an entirely different thing from most upcycling. You were rescuing something and restoring it to it's original state.

I have obviously got no taste I like shabby chic 😊

Can I also add my irritation at the word " sourcing"? "This piece was sourced from my local recycling centre"- found it in a skip.
I love using old furniture - my generation wouldn't have had anything to sleep on/ sit on at uni otherwise. But I agree- caution is definitely needed when "upcycling".
I really like Sarah on Money for Nothing- she's great.

Or, you could just let people do what they want to, and enjoy what they want in their own homes, because it has fuck all impact on your existence.

I have a beautiful Welsh Dresser that I've painted in Annie Sloan because I wanted to. I also have an antique chest of drawers that I've painted and waxed because, guess what? I wanted to.

I love them both, they are mine, in MY home and I want them there.

Its not a hard concept to understand that everyone is different.

Efferlunt Where is this forum of which you speak?

I think it all depends on personal taste. I hate painted floor boards, most of which were never of a quality that were meant to be on display. But that doesn't mean i am right. I love old furniture but hate yellow pine. Pine furnuture sanded and waxed/painted can, to me, look far better.
If changing the surface means it doesn't get trashed then that is a good thing. We need to stop binning and buying so much new.

I have 'upcycled' a chest of drawers from a charity shop which had deep scratches and gouges across the top.

After sanding, filling, re-sanding, priming, painting, fitting better knobs and varnishing it, I have a half decent chest of drawers.

The top is grass green and the rest of the chest shows off the grain of the wood.

Spare me from moss green and dove grey.

ProfessorMoody

Did you miss the bit about them being on FB selling sites?

Two very different things

What ProfessorMoody said.

Some stuff looks awful, but some is lovely.
When I separated and was buying things for my new house on a budget, I wanted a nice light coloured dining table, round.
All the new stuff was hundreds of pounds and the old stuff was really dark, especially as I needed a specific size due to my small kitchen. I found a woman who upcycled tables. I got a gorgeous light pine topped dining table with white pedestal and matching chairs. It's going strong 20 months later and I still love it. It cost me around £100. Bargain for me at the time.

Some people do ruin some really fantastic pieces of furniture, but some people also act like anything old is an amazing antique that needs to be protected.

I agree so much with this. My nan was disgusted that I'd painted her old wardrobe white to go with the rest of my room. When I pointed out that she didn't want it in her house, I'd tried and failed to sell it for very little on Facebook and the British heart foundation weren't interested as they had "loads of that old stuff and it never sells". It was either paint it to go with the rest of my room or it was getting chopped up for firewood.

Yes it was beautiful but a lot of the furniture I've seen upcycled is very much of a time that just isn't fashionable Any more no matter how nice it is.

I ‘upcycled’ some orange (but solid, good quality) pine bedside drawers. Sanded them down to the orignal light wood, lime waxed them, changed the brass handles for iron ones, they look fab. I already had the lime wax from a previous project and only paid for the handles.

Agree slapping paint on some things is criminal but having said that, if it encourages people to re-use old furniture then great. The sooner we move away from this disposable society we have found ourselves in, the better.

Did you miss the bit about them being on FB selling sites?

No, I didn't.

What's wrong with them being on FB selling sites, then? I once sold a beautiful writing bureau I'd done up, to a lady who had wanted one for years but couldn't paint one herself as she was disabled. She wanted to buy it, I was selling it. I don't understand why that's an issue. Did it have an impact on your life in any way?

Depends on if the person has actually improved the piece or not. Some people don't know when to step away and say it's finished! Also some of the furniture that's been 'upcycled' was beautiful before.