Upcycling update ............................ Christine A. Smyczynski

Upcycling update

STORY AND PHOTOS BY CHRISTINE A. SMYCZYNSKI

Pandemic sheltering saw a rise in popularity of “do it yourself” projects. My favorite kind is furniture upcycling; taking and refinishing an old piece of furniture to create something new for your home offers a sense of accomplishment and keeps furniture out of a landfill.

Longtime readers may recall an article back in 2015 that detailed upcycling furniture from my parents. I painted various shelving units hot pink; they now hold my daughter’s art supplies. My deck furniture includes antique wooden chairs that I refinished and reupholstered. With some new paint, my dad’s old workbench became a side table. While those projects were satisfying, the furniture that had most sentimental value to me was an Adirondack style loveseat and two matching chairs. When my husband and I married forty-one years ago, we had our photos taken in my parents’ picturesque backyard. Several feature the wedding party sitting on that furniture.

After my mom’s passing in 2009, I helped my father clean and discovered the loveseat and chairs stored in the rafters of his garage. He was happy to give them to me. We used them for seating in our yard and, when they became too rickety to sit on, I turned them into planter chairs that graced my garden for a few years. When moisture and other elements began breaking down the wood, I had to discard the two smaller seats. Even the loveseat was becoming too frail to support a potted plant.

My husband was skeptical that it

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This Adirondack loveseat was upcycled to a planter in 2015...

...and, most recently, to a decorative shelf.

could be refurbished, but I wasn’t ready to part with it. I converted it into a shelving unit by cutting the legs down and removing part of the seat, leaving enough wood to support a shelf. After reinforcing and spraying it with varnish, I used yarn both for further reinforcement and aesthetic appeal. The unit now sits atop our TV cabinet; I change the decorations seasonally.

Another recent upcycling project was refinishing a desk chair for my daughter, Jennifer, an art teacher. At Christmastime, we move the furniture in the bay window area of our living room so we can put our tree there. Last year, however, I didn’t get a chance to move the furniture back for a few days after we took the tree down. Jennifer noticed the open space and commented, “Wouldn’t this area make a nice little art studio?” She was surprised when her father and I agreed with her! (Maybe it had something to do with the easel she had gotten a few years earlier; it was still in the box because she had nowhere to set it up.)

To define the space, we added a different paint color around the window, put down a rug, set up her easel, moved a desk from another part of the house, and bought a rolling cart for art supplies. However, we only had a folding chair for the desk. We searched in stores and online for a better alternative, but everything was either too expensive or didn’t have the right look.

Then one day this past January, Jennifer arrived home from work excited because she’d noticed that a neighbor had put a chair out by the road for garbage collection. While the chair was an ugly color—and covered with decals—and the seat fabric was worn, it was sturdy, and it had potential. We grabbed it and good thing we did; it snowed hard a few hours later.

We couldn’t start working until spring, since we prefer to sand and spray paint outdoors. Taking off the old paint and decals was a lot of work (thank goodness for power sanders!). After priming, we spray painted the wood a metallic rose gold. We bought foam for the cushion and, since I had fabric left over from when I made the living room drapes, I was able to make a matching seat cover. The final product fits in perfectly with the rest of the art studio.

Whether your inspiration comes from something handed down or something you pick up on your own, upcycling furniture is a creative way to give old items new life. I’m always looking for my next project. Keep your eyes open; maybe you’ll find one too.

FY

Christine A. Smyczynski is a freelance writer and blogger and author of Western New York Explorer’s Guide.