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?

Nah, think it was just the goady judgemental comments tbh.

I’ve painted bits of 80/90’s wooden/pine furniture, that would otherwise have been skipped, and think they look good. I won’t paint anything mid century (or god Forbid, use retro wallpaper on it!) but I have stripped back and restored a g-plan sideboard that I bought for 20 quid which is now beautiful but was hideous before. I have also sold mid century stuff that I can’t restore knowing full well that someone is going to paint it

Ultimately, as a pp said- wooden furniture is well made, but ugly often, and doesn’t fit with modern interiors. I much prefer to buy old and make it work for me than buy new. I have a very few select upcycled/painted pieces that I have find myself and I LOVE. I would never buy someone’s upcycled work though, as I know how cheap and easy it is and there’s no way I would pay hundreds for a pine chest of drawers and a bit of paint!

I think adding to an item's cost ££££ because you've whacked some gold paint on it is taking the piss. As is 'shabby chic' when it's just stuff that has been battered about and can't be bothered restoring!

When we moved to a much bigger house most of our furniture was from house clearances, hand me downs and charity shops. It was a mismatch of functional furniture not all of it marvellous quality. I've painted a few bits but certainly wouldn't think it good enough to sell. A friend of mine was boasting about her vintage French style coffee table that was only 60 pounds. It was the small table from a set of 80s mahogany nest of tables that some one has painted in chalk paint and shoved a toilet de jouy napkin under the glass. My friend really liked it which is I suppose all that matters.

There's a woman near me who upcycles stuff and imo it looks awful and she prices it far too high for being somethibg you could do yourself

Shabby shit.

I think that anything that keeps stuff out of landfill is a good thing.

Chalk paint - of whichever brand - is fab because you don't need to sand and prime. It's instant gratification.

When we had our first house we inherited some very well made orange pine chest of drawers and bedside cabinets. Fast forward 20 years and they are exceptionally dated (although still in very good nick and functional). Painting them and replacing the knobs has given them a whole new lease of life and they're now in DD's bedroom. Reusing them has saved them from landfill and means we haven't had to go out and buy her new drawers. Win win.

Look at any auction house website and you'll see 1930s/40s/50s bedroom sets going for pennies.

"A modern mahogany king size bed surround" - sold for £1.
"A modern mahogany coffee table " - sold for £2.
"Two mahogany circular occasional tables, an oval occasional table and a magazine rack" - £20 the lot.

Unless what you have is Victorian or before, or by one of the well-known mid-century designer brands it is worth nothing. It's not particularly fashionable, and even if you do hang onto it for 100 years, there was SO much of it made that it's ever unlikely to be worth much.

I really don't see any issue with someone picking up a mahogany bed surround at an auction for a quid (£1!! so little it;s untrue) and then painting it. Far better that they get a new bed surround for £20 including a pot of chalk paint than rushing off to buy a new hardwood frame somewhere for an awful lot more and destroy some virgin rainforest in the process.

If you like brown wood furniture then that's fine, take advantage of the low market and fill your boots. But most people don't, and choose to paint it.

My favourite is people screwing some castors to a pallet and thinking it’s now a coffee table worth £200+

I have a friend whose husband recycles pallets into furniture in trendy North London. He makes an absolute killing. It mystifies me.

There is a charitable enterprise near me that recycles pallets and other waste wood.

woodsaints.com

'DISTRESSING' is the right word,,Some lovely old furniture looks very distressed when its been buggered about with

Stuff like pallets and 90's shabitat pine furniture I don't mind. The former I'd consider to be re-using wood and the latter, you can still buy. It's not finite resource.

Stuff that was made in the earlier half of the last century out of real wood- that's a rapidly declining stock. Stuff that good isn't really available to the average family anymore. It would be s shame if the majority of it got destroyed by the upcycling fad.

Ever watched'French Connection'? Some lovely french items have been bastardized in the making of this programme

We just bought a huge dresser and matching dining room table for the dining room (mainly to disguise the absolutely atrocious job the previous owners did with the tiled floor) but it was that bloody awful orange pine.
£100 for both and we sanded it down to a light wood tone, painted parts of each and reupholstered the chairs. It looks fab now, you can still see some of its age in the grain, and we wouldn’t have been able to afford the same thing elsewhere.

It can be done well, but I agree that some stuff just shouldn’t be touched, and it certainly shouldn’t be bumped up to ridiculous prices due to a bit of painting and sanding.

It would be s shame if the majority of it got destroyed by the upcycling fad.

Don’t worry, that won’t happen. The majority will be destroyed by being dumped/burnt/chopped up.

I think it's a bit off to complain about people "vandalising" old furniture. Even if it was good quality, there's no demand for it now (which is why it can be picked up so cheap) so better that it is used.

In a few more years everyone can "downcycle" painted furniture and have great fun stripping all the chalk paint and varnish off "upcycled" pieces and then sell on "restored wooden furniture" for profit.

I think painted furniture can be nice, but not the distressed, shabby chic look. Which is practically all you can find where I live, along wih faux farmhouse style. (Google Joanna Gaines and HGTV Fixer Upper and you’ll see what I mean). Not too keen on mid-century modern stuff either. I like clean, simple lines and contemporary. I got dragged into a new store that opened near me called French flea market or something like that. I kept thinking that the owners had clearly never been near an actual French market!

I “upcycle” furniture for friends and family. I have a new grandson and his mum and dad are on limited income, but his nursery furniture is all upcycled. I hate “distressed” though, because most of the time it’s done very badly. If it’s something that someone else doesn’t want, surely better than it going to landfill? And I only use paint with no/low VOCs, so minimal harm to the environment. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t paint every bit of furniture I own - I have some lovely pieces that will never (in my lifetime) see a paintbrush. It’s not about slapping any old paint on old furniture for me, it’s about rescuing something someone else doesn’t want and giving it a new life.