Upcycling is a great way to bring new life into old furniture. Our scheme in Loughborough has been working hard on upcycling projects recently, using furniture donated to them by the public and local businesses and reusing leftover paint to give them a brand new look.
Upcycling is a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to buying new furniture. You can take the opportunity to upcycle the 10 million household items that are sent to landfill every year, reusing paint from the 50 million litres wasted every year in the UK, to give items a new breath of life.
The Exario Reuse Project, who host our Loughborough RePaint scheme, collect paint locally from the nearby Household Waste and Recycling Centre, traders, retailers and manufacturers. They sell on this paint, but also use it for their own upcycling projects.
You can follow their ’20 Days of Upcycling’ on their Facebook page. You can also keep up to date on their inspiring projects on their Instagram page.
Here are a few of our favourite upcycling projects from Exario Reuse Project – maybe you can take some inspiration and start your own upcycling project by picking up some reusable paint from one of our 65+ schemes!
They have transformed this vintage chest of draws into a statement piece, using a bold shade of pink paint.
They’ve simply given this drawer a new breath of life by painting the draws a gorgeous dark blue and varnishing the wood work.
Framing key parts of the furniture with a complimentary colour can really make it stand out! These two shades of grey are contrasting each other beautifully.
Beautifully upcycled and reupholstered these table and chairs, also swapping the tabletop for a gorgeous solid wood top – it’s really been transformed.
The Exario Reuse Project provide temporary supported accommodation and holistic service to single adults that are homeless. Their reuse project, including their Community RePaint scheme, provides work-based training to all of their residents, helping them to become economically independent in the future.
