How to restore an old cabinet?

Restoring an old cabinet is actually not so difficult, given the necessary materials and drawings. The old cabinet, which over the years of operation has lost its former appearance, can be brought back to life with the help of simple manipulations.

There are many ways, for example, art painting, pasting a cabinet with self-adhesive wallpaper or complex decoration with textile and metal stripes. In this article we will talk about the basic principles of furniture restoration, as well as how to restore an old cabinet with paper applique and colored napkins.

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We restore the cabinet by painting

Staining is one of the most straightforward ways. At the same time, it can give a very interesting result.

What we need in work:

• Water based solvents;
• Chisel;
• Fine sandpaper;
• Acrylic primer;
• Acrylic lacquer in spray can;
• Acrylic paint or gouache;
• Acrylic transparent glue or PVA glue diluted with water 1: 2;
• Paper napkins;
• Brushes made of natural hair.

Restoration technique

If your old, but still quite sturdy cabinet or chest of drawers has an up-to-date look and traces of long-term use, then you can restore your cabinet yourself so that it will please you for a long time.

As a rule, repairing a cabinet involves several stages, let's take a closer look at them:

1. Before you begin restoration work, you should remove all the furniture from the furniture.
2. Next, use a chisel to align the doors, and if necessary, replace the awnings so that the doors open normally.
3. Align the cabinet structure (remove the roll formed by removing the gaps between the box planes).
4. Use a thinner, spatula, and sandpaper to remove the old coating.
5. To remove stubborn dirt, treat the inner walls of the cabinet with denatured alcohol and leave it open until it dries completely.
6. Sand all roughness roughnesses with sand paper, and then putty and paint over single scratches, choosing a suitable paint color.
7. Using plastic moldings, imitation stucco moldings and gypsum plates (if you chose the Rococo or Baroque style), restore lost elements of the cabinet surface.
8. Sand small irregularities once more and apply a primer.
9. Coat the cabinet with a coat of paint using a roller and let it dry completely.
10. Cover the furniture with varnish.
11. Remove rust and polish the removed accessories, and then attach it to its original places.

Important! Sometimes it is necessary to completely replace all the fittings, especially if as a result of the restoration the general style of the cabinet has completely changed. The inner surface of the furniture, as well as the shelves, can be restored according to the above recommendations, and then painted with the same paint.

The closet is ready!

Important! It looks very nice if you paint the shelves in a contrasting color. For example, if the main color of the cabinet is pastel pink, then the shelves can be painted in the colors of bright greens.

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Decoupage restoration

This type of decoration was invented in China and was originally used only on wood surfaces. Decoupage is an application of cut out elements of the picture, as well as painting parts with paints. Using this technique, restored furniture looks very decorative.

A simple, but at the same time, fascinating technique will not only help to restore the old cabinet, and, perhaps, will encourage you to create other original interior items and develop your design talent.

Workshop on updating the cabinet using decoupage technique:

• Prepare the surface for painting: treat the wood with sandpaper to remove all defects. After - apply a primer.
• If decoupage of the cabinet glasses is planned, they must first be degreased. After this procedure, apply a primer layer on them with a foam sponge and leave to dry completely.
• Paint the decoupage surface with white (or the tone of the picture) paint, dry it.

Important! Sometimes, instead of painting, it is recommended to glue the wooden surfaces with a decorative film.

• Cut a fragment of the picture from a paper napkin, remove the two lower layers, and carefully attach the upper one to the painted surface of the cabinet;

Important! A damp cloth is very easy to damage. If a break occurs, gently slide and connect the edges with a needle.

• Remove the resulting air bubbles with a brush that was previously greased with glue, or puncture.
• Apply a layer of glue to the glued picture, leave it for a long time until it dries completely.
• Using a thin brush, draw small details and paint over the joints.
• After complete drying, cover the surface with two layers of varnish.

Important! Alkyd varnish must be applied only after acrylic, otherwise - it will give the paper undesirable transparency.

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Style Directions

In order for your restored cabinet to fit well into the interior of the room, it must correspond to it in a general style. Therefore, simply choosing a beautiful decor for the cabinet will not be enough, you still need to correctly determine the overall style direction of the room in which it will stand.

Provence

Provence style conveys the atmosphere of a simple and carefree French village with lovely flowers and picturesque meadows. Therefore:

1. The basis for applying the application is pastel colors.
2. Fragments of colored napkins are also selected to match her. This can be images of any (but not exotic) fruits and vegetables, houses and flowers, as well as any elements of the rural life of the province in France.

Important! This style is now in fashion, so picking up other elements of the interior - pillowcases, curtains or sofa upholstery to a cabinet of this design will not be difficult.

Ethno

Another trend today is Ethno-style. It can be of any era and country:

• Japanese Ethno is characterized by images of birds, butterflies, sakura flowers.
• And in the Ethno-Indian style, bright colors, gilded ornaments and geometric prints prevail.
• African motifs imply the use of sunny, hot colors, images of figures of predators on the background of a lonely tree or sunset sky.

Shabby Chic Style

This style is distinguished by romantic motifs and elements of artificial aging:

• Frivolous cupids on a cream or white background, various pastorals combined with the effect of scuffing and gilding - these are perhaps the most characteristic signs of this style.
• Of the aging methods, patina (oxidation of parts), potal (gilding or silvering), craquelure (the effect of a network of small cracks) are used.

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Stock footage

There are many ways to restore an old cabinet. In this article, we examined only a few of them. Based on this, you can create your own unique furniture. It all depends on your imagination, design abilities and personal preferences.