Decoupage of old furniture do it yourself - a decorative method of finishing materials, wooden objects and other surfaces.

decoupage photo
Pictures from the napkin are cut out with scissors and glued (attached) to the tabletop or facade.

Furniture decoupage originates from the Middle Ages, but is becoming increasingly popular today among people who love hand-made. Without being a master, it is easy to create a beautiful appearance of the surrounding things.

furniture decoupage
A large selection of materials in stores allows you to work with almost any surface, be it ceramics, wax (paraffin), fabric, wood.

It is worth replacing the fittings on the item in advance, treating the entire area, preparing it for decoration. If you cannot disassemble the set, you need to contact a master.

decoupage do it yourself
The variety of techniques in this applied art (gilding, volumetric gluing, craquelure, etc.) gives scope for imagination.

Types of decoupage techniques

To decorate furniture with your own hands, images are attached to the facades in various ways.

  1. Standard technique for decoupage of furniture.

Pictures are cut out of a napkin or images printed on paper. The resulting element is applied to the object, and glue is applied to it. After drying, this area is varnished with a colorless composition.

decoupage with napkins
If necessary, we draw the necessary details ourselves (the pictures acquire a three-dimensional appearance) or “age” the resulting image.
  1. Reverse technique of furniture decoupage. It is done for decorating glass, sometimes objects.
reverse decoupage
A picture cut out of a napkin is glued to the back side; after it dries, the necessary elements of the image are drawn to give it volume.
  1. Artistic technique of decoupage by cutting and gluing.

Effect: a single image on a plane with shadows drawn and shading manually.

decoupage art
It's not expensive, doesn't require any special skills, is quite fast and very beautiful!
  1. "Decopatch".

This is the use of various materials from which the necessary components are torn out by hand, for example, silky designer paper, material with the effect of plastic or glass surface, napkins.

decopatch
In decoupage, this is a torn edge and a frank demonstration of the decoupage technique itself.
  1. Volumetric decoupage technique.

It is based on the imitation of a painting created on a decorated surface using images cut out from a napkin.

decoupage with a pattern
You don't have to be an experienced craftsman to create such works with your own hands.

Stylistic directions of decoupage

Furniture decoupage is performed in different styles. The following are widely used.

  • Provence.

A design style that came from France. It is characterized by a whitewashed background and an image in pastel colors. Often, craftsmen complement it with craquelure and floral prints.

decoupage provence
Simple rectangular furniture, made by local artisans, is often decorated with discreet bouquets or single wild flowers inscribed in a square layout.
  • Simple City.

It is made using the decopatch technique. Newspaper clippings with torn edges or old photographs are used.

decoupage simple city
This is the most relevant style of big city people, which emphasizes its immediacy and democracy.
  • French vintage.

Features: decoration in two colors (white and black image, less often include pastel colors). Can be used for a chest of drawers, tabletops and other items.

decoupage french vintage
This is a variation of the simple city style, which was influenced by minimalism.
  • Shabby chic.

This is decoupage, which makes the surface look like an antique. Features: blurred borders, worn edges.

decoupage shabby chic
The master is recommended to make prints with roses and angels on the item.
  • Victorianism.

To decorate in this style, you need to have a number of skills. Characteristic features: the combination of gold, blue, green paint. Themes - still lifes, hunting, bouquets of flowers, the animal world.

decoupage victorian
This style combined old English traditions and the luxury of the south-eastern English colonies.

Recommendations for surface preparation

  1. Glass products are degreased. To do this, the glass is washed well, dried and wiped with a lint-free cloth. After that, it is degreased with a dishwashing detergent without dyes.
  2. Before decorating tin surfaces, they should be treated with a solution based on water and vinegar. To do this, the ingredients are diluted in a 1 to 1 ratio. After washing in vinegar water, it is brushed with a metal brush. After removing dirt with a brush, the top layer is removed.
  3. Before working with wood or chipboard, they are sanded with fine-grain sandpaper to smooth out any unevenness.
preparation for decoupage
Before decorating the surface, it should be treated.

Restoring a table with colored wallpaper

We decorate the table in two monochrome colors, so it will easily fit into a modern style. For work we will need a white primer, black and gray paint for exterior decoration, sandpaper with medium grain, brushes, a paint roller, wallpaper with black and white ornament of 2 types, dark wax, glue.

  1. We prepare the table: we wash it, repair defects, tighten the fittings (replace if necessary).

    table decoupage
    Let the table dry and start decorating.
  2. We cover the entire area of ​​the table with white primer.

    table primer
    We apply one layer of primer to the prepared surface, which will ensure good adhesion and prevent the paint from peeling off.
  3. We sand, especially carefully going over the edges of the furniture, and cover the table with grey graphite paint.

    painting the table
    We also “treat” the boxes with primer and paint them well with gray paint.
  4. We take measurements of the boxes along the side of the facades, cut rectangles to the size of the box from thick vinyl wallpaper.

    decoupage table drawers
    We glue the wallpaper onto the facades, smoothing it out thoroughly with a roller, sponge or cloth.
  5. After drying, we cover the surface of the pasted facades with varnish.

    DIY table decoupage
    Thus, decoupage of furniture made by yourself will last longer.

Decorating an old coffee table

First, you need to prepare the surface of the furniture for work. The plastic is degreased. The wooden table is disassembled and sanded with fine-grained sandpaper to remove the layer of paint and varnish.

coffee table decoupage
The table is reassembled, all cracks and defects are filled, and its entire area is primed.

After the primer has dried well, apply several layers of paint.For an additional cracking effect, a craquelure varnish is used. It is applied, then, while it is still wet, it is painted with white acrylic.After the acrylic has dried, glue the motif (if we don’t use craquelure) and cover it with clear varnish. You can varnish it with a spray varnish. This way the application will be more even.

decoupage table with your own hands
Each layer of paint must dry well so that the paint does not crack and stains do not form on the surface.

After the varnish has dried, it is necessary to "go over" with fine-grained sandpaper. This ensures stronger adhesion to the surface.Prepare the napkins for gluing: cut out the desired image with manicure scissors, soak in water for 15 minutes, place on a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

decoupage table with napkins

Decoupage is done in one of three ways: hot (a motif cut from a napkin is glued and ironed with a hot iron without steam), dry (the motif is glued and the remaining glue is removed with a cotton swab), wet (the motif is soaked in diluted glue or varnish, placed on a multi-fora and carefully re-glued from it to the surface).

coffee table decoupage

After gluing the image from the napkin, we bring it to its logical conclusion (finish drawing, add shadow, tone, etc.) and leave it to dry.

ready table

Varnish in two layers. To obtain a smoother texture after varnishing, pour water into the container and smooth out the brush bristles with a wet finger while the varnish is still wet.

Decoupage of a chest of drawers

Shades of pink, blue, gray, and green are used to decorate furniture in the shabby chic style. This technique does not process polished surfaces or removes them with sandpaper (grinding) machine. They "go over" with an acrylic-based primer or primer.

decoupage chest of drawers
It is recommended to use chalk paint as it adheres better to the surface.
  1. We prepare the furniture by removing the coating with sandpaper, removing all dust, priming or painting with acrylic.

    decoupage chest of drawers with your own hands
    In those places where we will have abrasions, we paint with black paint.
  2. We are preparing pictures for pasting the chest of drawers.

    decoupage chest of drawers
    We cut out along the contour and apply it to the furniture to visually form a pattern.
  3. We spread glue on the motif and attach it to the chest of drawers.
  4. Dilute the glue in water in a ratio of 2 to 3.

    We coat the top of the image with adhesive solution.
  5. We coat the edges with white acrylic. The drawing should smoothly transition into the background color.
  6. We “cover” the entire chest of drawers with a transparent varnish in several layers.

    ready chest of drawers
    The varnish can be any, at your discretion.

Decoupage of interior door

  1. Prepare the surface: sand the wood with fine-grain sandpaper and prime it. You can work on MDF without preparation.

    door primer
    We prime our door with dark paint.
  2. Create a background. The best option: acrylic painting in 2 layers of white or dark paint.

    painting the door
    We go over it with fine-grain sandpaper after the paint layer has dried.
  3. Place the drawing, mark it with a pencil. Cut the drawings along the contours, remove the old top layer.
  4. Apply the chosen motif, dip the brush into the glue and glue the image from the center to the edges, squeezing out the bubbles. If the glue is too thick, dilute it slightly with water.

    decoupage door photo
    Carefully glue the drawing, smoothing it out thoroughly so that there are no folds or air bubbles.
  5. When pasting a panel or other large area, glue from top to bottom, starting from the top left corner.
  6. After gluing and when the glue dries, cover the product with water-based varnish. This will make it easier to wash the doors later.

    DIY door decoupage
    The door is made in the style of the 30-40s of the last century.

How to decoupage a nightstand?

  1. We prepare the nightstand for decoration: wash it well, sand it, remove all the dust, let the material dry and paint it white with acrylic.

    primer for nightstand
    If the old color of the cabinet shows through, then you need to paint it again, if necessary, prime the defects and chips.
  2. After drying, we cover it with paint and nLet's start decorating. You need to prepare napkins with a pattern you like, glue, varnish, brushes.

    painting a nightstand
    We choose a suitable floral pattern for napkins.
  3. We decorate the recesses with decoupage. Prints can be combined with other shades of the room's interior.
  4. We need to remove the top colored layer of napkins and mark the furniture.

    decoupage nightstand
    We apply glue to the designated areas, press the cut-out images, carefully smoothing them out as we go.
  5. The insides and drawers can be made bright, decorated with the paint color you like. The cabinet inside will now be easier to clean.
  6. The glued napkins must dry for 24 hours.

    decoupage nightstand
    The old cabinet is covered with water-based varnish on top to prevent moisture from damaging the decorated furniture.

Decoupage of kitchen furniture

To decorate old furniture, you can cover it with scraps of newspapers, magazines, special or your own kitchen napkins, or wallpaper.

decoupage kitchen furniture
For a smooth surface, almost any materials with pictures or original texture are used. They easily lay on the surface without creases or folds.

The reverse technique is well suited for working with glass. Smoky design can easily replace artistic painting, but it lends itself better to the hand of a master. Materials with fruits, vegetables, and dishes are perfect for decorating old furniture in the kitchen. Decorating with rice, mulberry, and banana textured paper looks good.

decoupage furniture
For vertical surfaces, a good choice is the volumetric method.

PVA is good for gluing, acrylic paints, bitumen and paste with metal effects are used for artificial “aging”.

VIDEO: Furniture decoupage: a second life for old things.

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