Cabinet furniture: secrets of design and assembly

If you love the antique style of interior design, you will be interested in how to design antique furniture with your own hands. Antiques cost a lot of money, and if you age your existing furniture yourself, you can use it to decorate a room in a classic or vintage style. Moreover, such products will combine the functionality of modern products and the appearance characteristic of headsets purchased a long time ago.

Antique bedside table

Using old furniture in a modern interior

The design of old furniture, made by yourself, in any case should not be created independently, in isolation from the design concept of the entire room. The fact is that well-chosen furniture will allow you to almost completely recreate the sensations of the era in which your room is furnished. At the same time, it will emphasize the individuality of the owner of the room, and will also indicate that he has a developed artistic taste.

Handmade furniture can highlight the individuality of the owner of the room

You can use it to create room interiors in several ways.

Attention! For example, you can build an entire environment around a significant piece of old furniture.

This could be a wardrobe or bookcase, a library or a massive bed. In this case, you will receive a room design tailored to her, as a result of which she will play the main role in it.

You can build an entire environment around a significant piece of old furniture

The second option is to “fit” the furniture itself into the existing interior. Here you will have to adjust the furniture to the space of the room, in this case, in order to design the furniture yourself, you will need a photo of the room where it will be installed. This will allow you not only to artificially age it, but also to create some elements of the item being aged in the style of the decor of such a room.

Vintage style bedroom

It is worth noting that antique furniture can be used not only in classic interiors. The fact is that with proper design of its location, it can serve as a detail emphasizing a particular architectural element or zone in it. As a result, even a high-tech interior may well include the same aged cabinet.

Antique furniture can be used not only in classic interiors

If you yourself don’t know how to use old and distressed furniture in interior design, you should study publications on this topic posted in specialized literature and on specialized Internet sites.

The design of old furniture, made by yourself, in any case should not be created independently, in isolation from the design concept of the entire room

As a last resort, you can attend master classes on how to properly design furniture with your own hands and watch a video on this topic. In addition, if you are serious about furnishing your rooms, finally invite a professional interior designer who will help you draw up a design project for a particular room.

Aged dining table and chairs

However, in any case, its appearance will directly depend on how well you made the antique furniture. If it clearly looks like a remake, the entire effect of originality and novelty will disappear.

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Basic methods of antique decoration

Do-it-yourself furniture design at home can be made antique in several ways. So, today the most common techniques are:

• "decoupage";
• aging;
• covering furniture with new fabric.

Chest of drawers made using the decoupage technique
Decoupage is considered the most fashionable method of decorating furniture in an antique style. It is very common in the West, for example in Germany, France and Poland. Translated from French, decoupage means “to cut out.” From a technological point of view, it involves gluing pre-cut geometric shapes or decorative elements made of fabric, paper and leather onto the surface, followed by varnishing.

Decoupage is considered the most fashionable method of decorating antique-style furniture

In order to design furniture with your own hands, you will need to purchase or select the following materials and tools:

• improvised materials from which you can make pieces of a decorative element, for example, leather, newspapers or napkins;
• glue, preferably PVA or special for working with wood;
• stationery knives and scissors of various types;
• tools for smoothing the glued elements, for example, a paint roller;
• varnish, polyurethane or acrylic;
• primer, acrylic paint and brush.

Materials and tools for decoupage
There are several types of decoupage, for example:

• classical;
• reverse;
• dekopach.

Special napkins for decoupage
In addition, furniture can be aged by painting it in a special way.

Advice! As for the described decoration method, a beginner should start with the classic technique, which involves gluing various images to the front part of the furniture being aged.

After you coat it with varnish, it will acquire a unique appearance.

Furniture using decoupage technique

So, for example, if you want to decorate a stool using this technique, you will need ordinary colored napkins with a floral pattern. In this case, first you will have to remove a layer of old paint from the surface of the product with a spatula or sandpaper. After this, it is painted over again.

Next, having removed the top layer from the napkins, carefully cut out the necessary designs, and then glue them to the surface. The glued pattern is smoothed with a sponge or roller, and the excess glue is blotted with a rag. When the pasted decorative element has dried, you will need to varnish the stool.

If the napkin option doesn't work for you, you can cover the image with gold leaf or metallic paint. The resulting pattern is shaded with pastel paint and also varnished.

What to consider when designing

There are several nuances that are important to consider when drawing up a drawing:

1. The width of the drawers should be less than that of swing doors - otherwise they will get stuck and will be difficult to pull out.
2. The number of compartments depends on the number of doors: one for three doors, two for four. This ensures accessibility of all storage areas.
3. Not all areas are suitable for placing boxes - some are called "dead". These include, for example, the edges of doors.
4. The need for additional supports for shelves longer than 50 cm.
5. Sliding structures must have stoppers to prevent the doors from opening or closing on their own.
6. It is advisable to make the doors the same width so that the opening opens as much as possible.

Ways to create antique furniture with your own hands, drawings and diagrams
Before taking measurements, it is worth making a sketch of the room, showing on it all the protruding elements (pipes, window sills, any others), as well as the location of sockets, openings, switches. You need to find out the following parameters:

• room dimensions - width, height, length;
• distance from the floor to the window sill, from the corner to the beginning of the window, parameters of window openings;
• the width and height of doorways, the distance from them to the corner;
• diameter of communication pipes, distance to them from the wall, from the corner;
• height from the floor to sockets, switches;
• the width and height of all protruding elements;
• in the kitchen - location of sewerage, drainage, dimensions of built-in household appliances.

Measurements are taken only after all finishing work has been completed.

Drawer width

Number of compartments

Room dimensions

Height from floor to sockets, switches

Dimensions of built-in household appliances

Reverse decoupage and decoupage

Do-it-yourself design of old furniture and photos of such furniture will help you when you decide to work in the reverse decoupage technique. Usually transparent furniture is designed in this way, and the main technique here is that the design is glued to the back of its surface. The result is a very interesting decorative effect.

Using the reverse decoupage technique, transparent furniture elements, for example, glass tabletops, are decorated.

To begin, select a suitable design and cut it out, then soak it and coat it with transparent glue on the front side. Next, the pictures are glued and rolled with a roller, passing forward those images that will be in the foreground. At the end of the procedure, we fix the entire structure with transparent varnish.

The main technique of reverse decoupage is that the design is glued to the back side of the glass surface of the furniture.

This technique can be used when decorating cabinets, bookshelves and any other interior items whose elements are made of glass. In addition, it can be used simply to form the design of the room where your old furniture will be located. If you combine reverse decoupage finishing of furniture and premises, you can get a simply wonderful effect.

Decopatch is a technique for gluing individual pieces of any material end to end.

The third type of decoupage is decopatch, which is a technique of gluing individual pieces of any material end to end so that they form a single holistic picture. As a result, you can completely transform the furniture, giving it an antique look. By the way, it will be possible to decorate the walls of the room in a similar way if necessary.

Decopach can completely transform furniture, giving it an antique look

If we talk directly about the technique itself, it begins with cleaning the chest of drawers from old paint and varnish. Next, the surface of the furniture must be primed, after which the previously prepared picture will need to be torn into pieces. As a result, you will get pieces of, for example, old newspapers.

Bright chest of drawers using dekopach technique

The prepared furniture is covered with glue, and overlapping pieces of paper are placed on it using a brush. After this, the excess glue is blotted off, and after the glue dries, varnish is applied in 2 layers. This varnish can be sanded later.

Old satin is perfect for decorating furniture using the decorative technique

On a note! There is a type of decoupage - artistic decoupage. It is performed in the same way as the classic one, but the images are an artistic canvas.

Here the drawings are pasted onto the furniture in the usual way, and the missing details are completed with acrylic paints. The entire material is also varnished, giving it an original appearance and a mirror shine.

An example of designing an oval sofa

Documentation standard for upholstered furniture projects

This processing entails repeated etching and painting processes.
Carved treatment. Sculpted doodles and carved appliqués have adorned the sticks for many years. The carved treatment evolved into relief carving of the structure itself. Deep relief carving is one of the new processes and it has received an amazing response. The stick staff actually gets together and collects these sticks that wash up on the banks of the rivers near Des Moines. All of these sticks are used for legs and weapons on furniture, but the really special ones are used for sculpture, like this cowboy lamp. Sofa-4-backrest-1

Like all sticks, no two items are the same. Character-heavy sticks are also used to make candlesticks, Santa Claus, angels, hallelujah ladies, lamps, and accents on furniture and accessories, like the mirror on the left.

Designing sofas is easy by yourself!

The trend is increasingly moving towards individualism, self-development and a variety of products. It's no surprise that the sofa fits so well into today's world. Everyone is looking for individuality and their own creations, this search should not end in the living room. With a sofa on request, each luxury upholstered piece can now be designed to be unique.

Sofa-4-backrest-2

You send me by email, WatsApp, Viber or Skype a photo, picture, hand drawing of the furniture that needs to be designed, indicating overall and other dimensions and explanations at your discretion. I will formulate the questions that need to be clarified to complete the project, determine the completion date, price and contact you. I don't take advance payment. The calculation occurs when you see the result.

Your sofa as desired for a comfortable stay

You can adapt the upholstered furniture according to your wishes.
Using our online configurator, you can design your sofas to suit your needs. Become a designer: determine the model, size, covers and additions of your sofa. No matter whether you prefer leather covers or a fabric sofa. Looking for an extra-wide sofa? Or do you want to determine the appearance of the arm and back yourself? You can also influence the upholstery of the desired sofa. You see, you design your sofa the way you want! Time, events, people leave an indelible mark on the intricacies of our neurons, on the one hand, on the other hand, analysis of what is happening removes unnecessary, far-fetched, artificial layers and limitations of the mind like shavings. Life and professional experience allow us to look at many things more abstractly and generally, as if from a bird’s eye view, without getting hung up on the little things. Linking together and comprehending one’s experience with the experience of predecessors, passing on what was received to followers is, of course, not the only, but quite worthy goal.

If you have any questions about your sofa, please contact our friendly and knowledgeable team by email or phone. We will help you in word and deed. Today this is in every apartment. But how is the sofa arranged? Even in ancient times, people realized the importance of sleeping in the middle of the day or taking a short time to rest. The century before Christ is popular in ancient Greece. On a chaise lounge, like a daybed made of marble, ivory, metal or wood, the baked Greeks came to rest. Over time, the Cline became the couch we know today: with upholstery and a backrest.

By working the old fashioned way, we are not just marking time, but setting ourselves back in competitive competition. Whether we like it or not, the cult of consumption, which underlies our modern civilization, dictates its own rules for a comfortable existence in this world. And a swimmer rowing against the current will sooner or later run out of steam and go to the bottom. There are two more options. You can relax and let it carry you wherever it takes you, or you can row in the direction you want without resisting the general flow. The first option is of course heroic and beautiful, but it looks like masochism, bordering on suicide. The second one is too conformist, turning him into a weak-willed rag. I like the third option better, provided there is a reasonable definition of purpose and direction. It allows, without compromising one’s own moral and ethical principles, not only not to fall overboard of historical development, but also to overtake those floating nearby without much effort. My friends, do not let yourself drown in the muddy waves of ignorance and conservatism, rake out the clean waters of innovation and progress. I throw you an oar, catch it.

But the sofa is not only used for relaxation, but you can also enjoy cozy movie shows or play sports. And when family and friends visit, you can sit together on the sofa of your choice. Sofas can be found anywhere in any shape, so we would like to give you the opportunity to design your sofa according to your needs. Whether you want to install a multi-piece sofa for a spacious living room or a small daybed for a walk-in room, you can take inspiration from it and then buy the living room sofa you created.

While walking through furniture stores, you have probably caught yourself more than once thinking that the cost of modern models is quite expensive. In addition, the quality of purchased furniture does not always correspond to its cost. However, those men who know how to handle basic household tools can try to make one themselves. Modern upholstered furniture is made quite easily with your own hands, provided you have accompanying literature and purchase the necessary material.

Aging furniture yourself

Do-it-yourself vintage furniture design can also be done by artificial aging using ordinary stain or water-based paint. Acrylic-based golden paint is also used for this. In total, there are several similar techniques that you can choose according to your needs.

Do-it-yourself vintage furniture design can also be done by artificial aging using ordinary stain or water-based paint

The easiest way is to use stain on furniture made from light wood. Such aging will look very natural, and the products obtained in this way will not resemble a remake. At the same time, stain is very affordable and looks very natural on wood.

The easiest way to artificially age is to use stain

The simplest method of working in this technique is as follows. A layer of stain is applied to the previously cleaned furniture, the edges, bends and crevices are carefully coated. After this, the stain is washed off from the middle of the product using a wet sponge, leaving the bends and edges unaffected. The completely dried surface is wiped with antique wax, after which the furniture aging procedure is considered complete.

Craquelure varnish is designed to create the effect of cracking the surface

The second method of aging is the use of paint and craquelure varnish. It allows you to perfectly imitate the effect of cracking of a worn surface. To do this, take 2 paints that have different tones (lighter and somewhat darker). First, a dark layer is applied to the surface of the furniture, and after it dries, a light layer is applied. When both layers have dried, using sandpaper you will need to sand those parts of the aged furniture that should have darker tones. At the end of the work, coat the entire product with varnish.

The effect of using paint and craquelure varnish

The third way to make old furniture yourself or restore outdated ones is to paint it gold. To do this, the item to be decorated is painted with any paint and, after it has dried, acrylic paint of a metallic golden color is applied with quick movements using a sponge. In this case, too, all work ends with surface treatment with varnish.

Turquoise and gold distressed chest of drawers

We should also talk about upholstered furniture. If its wooden elements are finished according to the above recipes, then the upholstery will have to be reupholstered so that it looks, for example, in the Baroque style. In addition, replacing the fabric makes it possible to replace the filler, making it unoriginal looking and convenient to use.

Transformation of country furniture

Designing garden furniture is a very exciting activity. Entire episodes of TV shows from the School of Repair series are devoted to various ideas on this matter. .

Old, shabby furniture, which is already more than a dozen years old, is not yet a reason for the owners to send it to a landfill. After all, today there are many ways to repair furniture with your own hands, which will return it to a fresh look and, in many cases, even better than before.

One of these methods is updating furniture using ordinary paper or fabric wallpaper. This restoration method is one of many types of decoupage. By gluing wallpaper or appliques, you can very easily not only update old furniture, but also decorate it in a new way.

Furniture design for a children's room and cottage is perhaps an ideal opportunity to show creativity.

Even if something doesn’t work out the first time, it’s okay. Although the method of updating old bedside tables, coffee tables, wardrobes and chests of drawers is really very simple.

Decoupage a chest of drawers using wallpaper

Decoupage: materials

For modern furniture design using decoupage you will need:

• wallpaper (even scraps of old ones will do);
• old furniture;
• wallpaper glue;
• ruler;
• brushes and roller;
• sandpaper;
• scissors and cutter;
• special decoupage glue, as well as water-based polyurethane;
• dry cloth.

Sequence of work

Before you begin to implement your plan, you need to thoroughly clean the furniture so that nothing shines through the wallpaper. After the surface is prepared, we move on to technical implementation.

1. First of all, you should take appropriate measurements of the surface of the cabinet or bedside table where you are going to stick the wallpaper, and cut the sheets of the required size.

Note! If you wish, you can cut out and paste just one specific design, rather than a whole piece of wallpaper.

1. A thin layer of glue is applied to the surface of the furniture . This is convenient to do using a regular paint roller, since it ensures the most even distribution.
2. Pieces of wallpaper should be glued to the surface with extreme care . Wrinkles, bubbles and other irregularities are smoothed out with a dry cloth. In general, the process is similar to wall repair, only the areas covered are much smaller.
3. Using a ruler and a cutter or scissors, the excess parts of the wallpaper must be carefully trimmed.
4. Let the furniture with the wallpaper pasted on it dry for at least 4-6 hours.
5. Next, decoupage varnish is applied to the surface of the wallpaper.. To consolidate the results and increase the durability of the furniture, you can additionally apply a layer of fixative - water-based polyurethane - on top of the varnish.

   Painting furniture with acrylic paints

Caring for old furniture

In any case, old furniture requires special care. Thus, it is imperative to ensure that its surface is treated in a timely manner, and that the worn-out layer of varnish or wax is restored in a timely manner. This will preserve its appearance for a long time.

It is imperative to ensure that the surface of old furniture is treated in a timely manner, and that the worn-out layer of varnish or wax is restored in a timely manner

In addition, it is necessary to treat it with products against wood-boring insects, which like to settle on used wood. As for artificially aged furniture, it must be used with care so as not to disturb the decorative elements that were used on it.

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