Paint Direct's guide to upcycling

The average price for a dining table can be anywhere from £100, reaching £1000 quite easily with very little inbetween. Upcycling a table rescued from Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree and other local selling sites can save you a lot of money for something that is completely bespoke to your tastes and interior.

Using Eathborn’s Claypaint, you can create a beautiful, whitewash dining table that would still allow the natural wood to shine through, providing a premium style for very little.

To do so, you’d need to lightly sand down the table, so that all varnishes, and oils have been removed to provide the best surface possible for painting.

Once you’ve sanded the table, dust it off and it’s ready to paint!

Painting your table

To create an antique look, it’s recommended to use Earthborn’s Claypaint in one of these shades: 

White Clay, St John, Flutterby and Posset. 

If you’re looking to go a little more chic, why not try a shade with a pink undertone, such as Piglet, or Ballet Shoe?

Before you can use the luxurious, environmentally friendly flat matt paint to upcycle your furniture, you’ll need to water it down to ensure that you can still see the wood grain below the paint.

To dilute, simply mix your chosen shade of Claypaint with water (rule of thumb, you should have a ratio of 1 part water to 1 part paint) and apply with brushstrokes that follow the grain of the wood. 

As you paint, have a soft, damp sponge on standby to remove any excess paint before it dries. A preferred method of removal would be to lightly dab, or gently wipe depending on the amount of excess. 

The best part? Typically, you’d only need to do one coat and you’re done! 

Top tip! If you’re unsure of how opaque you’d like it, test a small patch on the underside of the table based on various coats!

Upcycling vintage chairs using varnish

Once you’ve got the perfect dining table, you need equally as nice chairs to go around it.

One of our customers salvaged these four, retro G plan chairs from Facebook Marketplace for £30.00.

Following the same process for the table, the upcycling began by sanding.

Using 80 grit sandpaper, they were able to remove decades of varnish from the chairs, revealing a lighter wood underneath. Once sanded, they were wiped down to remove all traces of dust.

Once ready, the painting process began. 

Opting to realign the chairs to their past, the chairs were painted with Dulux Woodsheen in French Oak.

Applying thinly, using short, even brushstrokes, the chairs were completed with two coats of Dulux’s Woodsheen. 

Did you know that you can use Dulux Woodsheen both indoors and outdoors? To save further waste, you can upgrade any outdoor wooden furniture too with the leftover paint! 

Completing the upcycle, they reupholstered the chairs with orange corduroy, using a staple gun to pull the chairs together.

Quite the change, don’t you think?

Don’t forget to tag us on social media to show us your projects for your chance to feature in our blog!