Creative Gran Gives Old Oak Furniture A Modern Teal Twist For Just £25
- Alison Reardon, 57, decided to transform her old oak furniture instead of buying new
- She spent just £25 on paints, mixing two shades together to create the perfect teal
- It took Alison just a weekend to transform her living room
If you’re bored with your old wooden furniture, you may have been saving up to buy some new items.
But one creative gran has shown that using some £25 paint and a bit of creativity, you can totally transform the look of your living room on a budget.
Alison Reardon, a 57-year-old mum and grandma from Northants, mixed two types of paints together to create her dream dark teal shade and got to work painting her old oak TV unit and chest of drawers.
Alison, who works in finance, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: "Although still working full time, while we were in lockdown I worked from home so there was no travelling and with the recent nice weather, I took advantage of no travel in the evenings.
"I follow an online forum for Frenchic paint. People put on there what they have painted and ask for advice.
"My fiancé suggested that I paint the oak furniture in the lounge. After looking at colours, we decided on a dark colour - black or green but not blue - and it had to go well with my new Joules sofa and cushions.
"I had a tin of Frenchic Al Fresco in Victory Lane, a dark green, and bought a tin of After Midnight, a dark teal shade online.
“It wasn’t quite the green in the flowered cushion and so I mixed a little of the green into the teal to get the shade I needed.
"The paint can be bought online or through a local supplier who are much more than that as they have tutorials and there are YouTube demonstrations.
"I love being practical whether it is cooking, gardening, crafting or DIY.
“The project cost around £25 and my time over a weekend to complete both pieces, including cleaning, sanding and three coats of paint.”
Alison thoroughly enjoyed the project and is now planning which parts of her house to transform next.
"I love encouraging others to do their own projects and would love to have a workshop or larger shed to do more pieces for others too as I have lots of ideas," she adds.
“My top tips would be to look for something old that can be brought back to life but keep some of the history or even just update it in a modern way.
"I have also done an old painter's ladder, old drawers as a garden feature, a 1956 sewing box, and I'm looking at an Art Deco glass cabinet at the moment.
“I enjoy refurbishing as it teaches you the the value of things: I won’t throw things away or replace them just because they're not fashionable.
"I have completed a few more pieces and have my bedroom furniture and kitchen in mind next.
"I have the paint, I just need the time. I find it non-stressful and very therapeutic!”
Tom Church, co-founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, comments: “We’re constantly bombarded on social media, TV and in newspapers with amazing furniture and it’s so tempting to want to get rid of ours and buy everything new.
“However, as Alison shows, you can take old pieces of furniture and breathe new life into them for a fraction of what buying new would cost.
“I love the teal look and it matches perfectly with her on-trend yellow sofas!"
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Painting oak is a sin. The furniture will become worthless. The oak has twice the beauty of any paint and will go with any decor. Get real. You have not upcycled at all. You have ruined pieces of what was useful furniture. When you upcycled you take worthless and make it into something with worth. This is the opposite. In 10 years you'll hate this colour.