Why upcycle?

I have always had a passion for saving things from being thrown out and have quite often had to stop and take stock of my stuff... do I really need all of this and why am I keeping it? In recent times I have been trying hard to reduce the amount of purchases I make and buying second hand where possible, especially when it comes to furniture.  I also have a love for all things vintage and retro.  I love the mid century designs, colours and style. As exciting as it is to visit those super sized flat pack stores they just don't make furniture like they used to.

I very much enjoy working with timber and creating something with my hands.  I loved woodwork and metalwork in highschool and often would follow my dad to the garage to see what he was doing and make book ends and door stops from scraps of wood and left over paint.   

We create so much waste as a planet of people and although I have been a part of this I would love to see more of a conscious change in myself and in others.   In Brisbane we regularly have a service provided by the council where hard rubbish is collected from the kerbside from each suburb.  I must admit it does feel a little like Christmas for me with all of the interesting items placed on the kerb.  There have been times when I have pulled up with the kids on board and grabbed a piece a furniture and placed in the boot.  The trash and treasure market stall holders also do this so you have to get in quick!  I'm pretty sure I'll need a van if I keep this up and it's a little embarrassing trying to jam furniture in the car only to discover it doesn't fit!  The kids always wonder what the heck I'm doing as well and I'm often trying to explain that I'm not stealing, I'm recycling.   I'm sure it won't be too long before I have two little helpers assisting me to load the car.   For now I'll have to resist as the garage cannot fit any more "projects".  It overwhelms me how much stuff we throw out and I can't bare the thought of a perfectly good piece of furniture being crushed in the rubbish collection.

So a couple of months ago I decided to start up-cycling.   I don't think you can call it refurbishing furniture because I'm not restoring it to its original condition.  I commenced this new adventure with a couple of purchases I made on eBay and Gumtree.  Wow... it was so much fun! I now have 4 projects on the go and have sold 5 pieces so far . Here they are.

This desk had a plastic laminate top and a thick layer of a cream coloured paint.    I stripped the timber back by sanding it, painted the top with chalk board paint, put new handles on the drawers and lined them with wallpaper.

I wanted to try something new with this next project and decided to give some stenciling a go with acrylic paints.  It did take some time and patience but I was pretty happy with the end result.

I just love this little map desk.  It was surrounded by a pale coloured plastic laminate which didn't really look that great so I used a black spray paint to frame the map and help highlight the colours.   Some sanding, new handles and some more black spray paint and a funky new look.  Again I lined the drawers with wallpaper.

I wanted to try some stenciling again and picked up some new stencils from a craft store. I was quite happy with the finish, however it didn't sell so well on Ebay with only minimal watchers. :(

Some more stenciling and a little bit more colour I think gave this desk a fresh makeover.

I am certainly learning as I go and fine tuning my self taught skills.  I also have a minimal selection of tools so I guess I'll be asking for hardware store vouchers for Christmas and Birthdays...YAY!!  Well I think I need to get stuck into the projects again, its been a couple of months.  This time I will try to remember to take before and after photo's!