An inspired painting idea from Kriz is to make someone else’s trash her special cable spool bookcase that doubles as her coffee table. Some basic carpentry work, a few expert whacks of a hammer, and a piece of furniture is born.

If you’re a new DIYer, start with small projects. Visit secondhand stores and trawl for preloved articles that appeal to you and may serve your purpose. Just be careful that you examine the things you want to buy before you finalize the purchase. If you want to buy something that is made of wood, stay away from those that are decrepit, rotting, even termite-eaten or full of holes. You wouldn’t want them to fall down around your ears even before they start their upcycled life. Also, don’t bring back things that have insects in them or else you may start an infestation inside your home!

Another Cable Spool DIY Project

DIY decoupage on cable spool coffee table

Another cable spool DIY project used the découpage technique, the art of using paper to decorate objects. This adds visual texture to the recently painted surface. Watch this video and find out how Carol made an attractive coffee table for her living room.

Upcycling Furniture with Paint

There’s a saying in the world of upcycling.

There are no mistakes in upcycling – only lessons learnt. (Anonymous)

If you’re someone on a budget, there is no reason why you can’t have a beautiful home. Just have painting ideas on hand before you go and get yourself a preloved furniture on which you can practice your DIY chops.

The best way to look for items to upcycle is to visit secondhand shops, thrift stores, junk shops, ukay-ukay, scrapyards, etc. Just surf the internet and you’ll find some of these places, if not all. You can also crowdsource on social media. Friends or family members may be thinking of getting rid of stuff so if you send out a post about your search, you can have first dibs on whatever it is they want to get rid of. Their trash, your treasure.

When you’ve chosen your item, how you would paint it depends on the surface material.

Wood

If you’re dealing with wood, reading this thorough guide on how to repaint a wooden surface before you even begin to repaint will be very useful, even necessary if you want your paint job to last a long time.

How to paint old furniture

Click on the link for a DIY tutorial on how to repaint old wooden furniture. It’s not that hard but it does require some patience while you wait for coats of primer and paint to dry. Still, we are just talking days here and not weeks.

If you don’t want to cover the wood with color using enamel paint because the bare wood is beautiful as it is, Boysen has other products that you can consider, like Boysen Oil Wood Stain and Boysen Xyladecor. They bring out the grain and texture of wood, as well as protect the material.

Metal

If the material is metal you want to paint is metal, read this guide first on how to prepare metal surfaces for repainting.

How to Distress a Metal Bar Stool

Carlo did a great tutorial on how to distress a metal bar stool for his mom’s neighborhood fruit shake bar. Follow the highlighted link or click on photo above.

Some people were aghast at why someone would repaint the stool and then sandpaper it to give it a distressed look. It’s all in the styling, and it’s a refinishing technique used by designers who love the shabby chic look. No judgment please.

More DIY Tutorials

Boysen has loads of video tutorials on varied painting ideas. Subscribe to the Let it B YouTube Channel. Surf to your heart’s content. Pretty soon, you may find enough courage to pick up those tools and DIY your way into a beautiful home!

Author

Annie is the Managing Editor of Let it B | MyBoysen Blog. An unrepentant workaholic, she runs this blog and her own company Talking Lions (https://talkinglions.com). She thrives on collaborating with people who are good at what they do, and working together with them to create something special. Annie learned interior styling while managing her own wholesale business in the Netherlands, importing high-end, handmade home furnishings to stock four outlets and a showroom in the country.

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