DIY repair of an old Soviet wall

Soviet furniture is often of good enough quality to serve its owners for years. You can only throw it away because the interior has become old-fashioned or tired. Many items are made of natural wood, and could continue to function for a long time, but this design! Tweak the look of your grandma's dresser or mom's wall for something really cool.

There are several effective tricks that will completely change the appearance of the Soviet headset and allow it to last longer. Choose one thing, or combine them all.

Repair and preparation for alteration

If the table or chest of drawers you inherited was not particularly popular, its design can be left unchanged. After all, it will not necessarily be furniture that has set the teeth on edge, and in combination with modern furnishings it will be quite appropriate to look. But it will hardly be possible to do without repair work. Over time, the furniture dries up, and some parts will have to be re-fitted to each other.

Be sure to pay attention to the following operations:

• Cleaning furniture from dirt, dust and soot (pay special attention to the corners);
• preventive lubrication of locks;
• fitting of parts (if the furniture is dry or warped during transportation);
• grinding and puttying of damaged surfaces;
• change of furniture fittings

In some cases, restoration of damaged surfaces and thorough repairs will be sufficient. If you decide to completely change the appearance of a particular item, this stage will be preparatory.

Repairing damaged coatings or applying new varnish

The least radical way of alteration, which borders on restoration. You can update the damaged coating a little, or completely change the look of the furniture. It all depends on the type of varnish and processing methods.

It is most appropriate to use it in cases when furniture made of good types of wood gets under restoration. A classic design that will fit into any interior needs delicacy.

Some helpful tips:

• The easiest way is to use an oil-based varnish, it was with it that old furniture was processed. In some cases, you can do without removing the old layers.
• Apply the varnish with a sponge, not a brush, to prevent streaks and lint from forming on the surface.
• Dry each layer for at least 12 hours.
• If you want to completely change the look of your furniture, use a two-component craquelure varnish. It will create a cracking effect on the surface, and will make the furniture look like an antique.

Some pieces of furniture should not be overhauled. It is enough to restore the old layer of varnish and restore the fittings a little.

Craquelure varnish goes well with painting, decorative painting and decoupage.

Painting old furniture

Choose this trick if you're looking to completely redesign your design. Be that as it may, but natural wood furniture can look slightly bulky and heavy. And if for a spacious office this can be a plus, then in a small apartment you want lightness and air. Repainting will help to make the design more democratic.

Some helpful tips:

• Use this type of rework also where the wood is badly damaged, or we are talking about inexpensive types of wood.
• Be sure to remove the old coating from the surface.
• Sand the wood well, then apply putty and a coat of primer. This will significantly reduce paint consumption and achieve better results.
• After applying the first coat of paint, dry the furniture and go over it with a sander and sandpaper. This process may seem ineffective, as a significant portion of the paint will be removed. But with re-coloring, you will achieve the perfect result.
• It is easier to work with matte paints, they better hide surface defects.
• Use art painting or ready-made templates to create interesting designs.
• Combine painted details with natural wood.

Light shades and laconic fittings will make the furniture more democratic.

White color and weightless hardware completely transformed the old chest of drawers.

Monochromatic paint that hides the texture of the wood looks light and modern.

In some cases, a light background in combination with contrasting hardware works great.

It is good to apply bright accents with masking tape.

As a stencil for applying paint, you can use an old curtain with an ornament.

Another version of the "lace" painting.

Master the decoupage technique

This type of finish has long been adopted by needlewomen. But why not apply it on a larger scale? Use ready-made images and apply them to a painted or sanded surface.

Some helpful tips:

• Be sure to prime the surface before sticking images on it.
• As a material, use any drawings printed on thin paper, napkins, or even newspaper clippings.
• Thick paper must be soaked in water or decoupage solution before gluing;
• Do not limit yourself to surface treatment with glue. After the decoupage coating has dried, cover the furniture with a durable varnish.

Decoupage works great in combination with matte paint.

A large drawing can be printed on thin paper.

Decoupage combined with craquelure varnish and painting.

Replace individual parts with more modern ones

Re-upholster your old chairs with a new, more technologically advanced fabric. Change the hardware completely, or even add panels with modern materials. Finally, cover the surface of the furniture with plastic wrap. When you have nothing to lose, the result can be a pleasant surprise!

Mirrored surfaces transform any furniture.

Film combined with metallized paint.

When choosing a film for processing, give preference to high-quality material. It will last longer and give the furniture a decent look.

To update a boring furniture wall with your own hands -

so that the Soviet furniture wall looks stylish and modern

is it possible?

Do-it-yourself furniture wall update At first glance, it may seem like a completely unrealistic task, but if you know about the existence of self-adhesive paper, then everything will be very simple.

Over time, a lot of scratches appear on such a wall, which spoil the appearance. In order to hide these scratches, you can buy self-adhesive paper with the same texture as your wall and stick it on the places where there are scratches. For symmetry, you can add pieces of self-adhesive wallpaper to the other doors in the same places in the same way.

In order to make the furniture wall more modern, for example, you can buy silver self-adhesive paper specifically on this wall, cut out squares and rectangles, and then glue them along the contour on the doors of the wall. This innovation will give the wall a novelty and will perfectly match the TV.

In my opinion, using self-adhesive paper to renovate a furniture wall is the easiest and cheapest way.

Here's a good example of how you can update your kitchen furniture set.

How to restore a Soviet wall?

Several variantswhich I will offer you, I personally find the most interesting.

Of course, there are a lot of different furniture in stores now, so some will think - a why renovate and remodel old furnitureif you can buy a new one.Those who think so can not waste time and not read this answer, let them go to the store.

I would not put at home old converted wall or bedside table, if she looked “handicraft”, untidy and it was immediately obvious that it was from a series - "Do it yourself", and the one who did it, hands do not grow from there.

So the most beautiful option for updating a furniture wall, you can improve and make it even better, or you can ruin everything.

Let's imagine wall, Soviet times, and then - what can be done from it, how to do it, with a photo and a detailed description.

This is how the updated Soviet polished wall looks like.

You already guessed that the wall will need to be painted.

Choose an expensive paint, matte, acrylic, and the color can be snow-white, or ivory or light gray, this is already to your taste. Also buy wood putty and fine sandpaper.

Disassemble the old wall. Select the necessary parts and reassemble the cabinets, according to the new selected wall style.

Before painting - be sure to sand all surfaces with “fine” sandpaper and wipe so that no sawdust or dust remains. Then you need to putty and sand again well.

On the doors of the bedside tables, you can stick a pattern (cut by you or ready-made from the store). It is necessary to paint the doors with a pattern already glued (as in the photo below).

Paint all parts with a thin layer, let dry well. Repeat two more times. Sometimes three coats of paint are enough, but sometimes you need to cover it four times.

The better the wall was sanded, the smoother you covered it with paint, the better the paint dried between the coating of a new layer - the more beautiful your updated wall will look at the end of the work.

When all the details of the wall are painted and dry, you can hang the doors on cabinets and bedside tables, screw on new handles.

Please note that the glass on the wall was simple (transparent), but this is not always convenient. You can buy a matte self-adhesive film and stick the film on the back of the glass before inserting it.

Now you can see what happened in the end.

You noticed that not all cabinets and parts went to the new wall, but only the lower cabinets and cabinets with glass doors that were turned upside down - doors down - shelves up.

How to update an old wardrobe, bedside table and chest of drawers.

The remaining parts from the wall are a wardrobe, drawers for a chest of drawers, can be used for furniture in the bedroom or in the hallway.

Here is such old furniture design you can think of.

As in the first option, you need to paint all the parts with paint and assemble new ones from them - a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

Then decorate all doors with mirror inserts. To do this, you need to order thin mirrors exactly in size and glue them with a special glue for mirrors, another glue corrodes the mirror coating and black spots will appear on the mirror.

You can update old bedside tables and cabinets with the help of drawings or decoupage, the main thing is to show your imagination. Or buy ready-made applications, now there is a large selection of them in specialized stores.

There are a lot of options posted on YouTube, you can watch them there.

To transform the old wall in the living room, you can use several methods:

1) Painting. At one time, I also updated the dresser in my bedroom in the same way. This method can completely transform your old wall and room, because you can paint it in absolutely any color that you like and matches the interior. Before painting, it is imperative to sand the old surface, so to speak, remove the top layer of varnish. In order for the new surface to be even and smooth, you need to take wood putty (sold in hardware stores), level the surface and sand again. Next, you need to paint with the selected paint. I painted with acrylic. After painting, it is advisable to varnish the surface to make it easier to wipe the surface when cleaning.

2) Paste over the old wall with photo wallpaper.The main thing here is not to rush so that bubbles do not remain. For me it will look very original.

3) Another way is to decorate the already painted wall in the first way with the decoupage technique. Glue paper ornamental patterns onto the painted surface and then varnish.

On the painted surface, before varnishing, draw pictures using a stencil:

Furniture will find a “second life” if it is pasted over with a special film (self-adhesive), which can have a pattern of different textures (wood, solid color, stone, vintage, etc.). For restoration, the film will become the most suitable and sufficiently durable material.

Most importantly, the surface must be thoroughly cleaned before gluing. Also, when gluing, you must ensure that there are as few air bubbles as possible.

Possible transformation options are presented below.

Also, instead of a film, furniture can be covered with wallpaper.

You can also give special attention to locks, handles and door closers (lubricate somewhere, tint somewhere, replace somewhere, and install somewhere).

Below I suggest that you watch a video master class, which shows how you can paint furniture, which will also help in its restoration.

Ways to renovate a furniture wall that is outdated know no bounds. The first stage of any stage should begin with the fact that you take out all the things from the cabinets and gradually update the headset, work with each cabinet separately. Next, remove all handles, all decorative slats to make it easier to get to the front surface. Then, using a knife, remove all glossy surfaces, the headset will become an ordinary faded chipboard. Next, we begin to update it to our liking. Either you glue self-adhesive tape on it, or a mirror, or a piece of new plywood in the color and pattern that you have in mind. As a result, you can get such masterpieces as:

I want to tell you about a very easy way to update a furniture wall. Thanks to him, you can make the color brighter, more saturated, or (if you want) completely change it.

So, we need 2 cans of Minwax PolySh of the desired shade.

The surface of our wall needs to be slightly sanded with fine sandpaper. Now we mix the paint, getting the desired shade and carefully apply it to the surface. Use a very soft brush for an even, transparent and neat color. The photo shows the difference between what was and what came out as a result.

If you just want to refresh, one layer of paint is enough, if you need to eliminate irregularities, small cracks, scratches, you will have to apply several layers.

To renovate an old furniture wall on our own, we need some tools and some furniture fittings.

First you need to tighten all the screws and ties on the furniture wall.

Chips or scratches on the furniture body are repaired with a putty. It is advisable to choose the right color for the putty.

You can change the color scheme of the furniture using a special wood spray.

It is advisable to use colors that are darker than the "source".

Self-adhesive film will help you quickly and efficiently change the look of your furniture wall.

You can paste over any part of the furniture wall with self-adhesive film, at your discretion, as in the picture below:

It is quite possible to renew the old wall, and it can be done at low cost. I can offer two options for these purposes:

2) Paste the wall with special self-adhesive paper, now there are a great many choices of this paper.

Recommendations for renovating old furniture: