Somewhere near you, a chest of drawers is sitting outside a charity shop with a hand-written sticker on it, and it is better made than most of what you can buy new. The frame is solid, the joints are tight, the handles are actual metal. It just looks tired. Give it a weekend and a bit of patience and it will look like something you chose on purpose.

Upcycling is not complicated, but it is unforgiving about shortcuts. Almost every disappointment — flaking paint, visible brush marks, a waxy smear that never dries — traces back to prep rather than to the paint itself. Here is the whole process, in order.

What you need before you start

You can buy kit as you go, but a first project runs far more smoothly with everything to hand.

• Sandpaper in 80, 120, 180 and 240 grit, plus a sanding block
• Fine-grade wire wool or a sanding sponge for awkward mouldings
• Sugar soap or a mild degreaser, and clean cloths
• Wood filler and a flexible filling knife
• Primer — more on which type below
• Paint, a decent 40–50mm synthetic brush and a small foam roller
• Clear wax or a water-based varnish for the finish
• Dust sheets, nitrile gloves, a mask and a couple of screwdrivers

Old jam jars are genuinely useful, both for keeping screws in one place and for propping a piece off the floor while it dries.

Choosing a piece that rewards the work

Not every bargain is worth your time. Solid wood — oak, pine, mahogany, teak — takes paint and wax beautifully and can be sanded back if you change your mind later. Look at the joints: dovetails at the corners of drawers, or a mortise-and-tenon frame, suggest something built to last. Lift the drawers out and check the runners are not split.

Walk away from anything with a strong smell of damp, smoke or pets, because it will seep back through paint. So will woodworm: tiny holes with fine dust beneath them mean live beetles, and that becomes a problem for the rest of your home, not just the furniture. Lifting veneer can be glued and pressed flat, but only if you fancy fiddly work. Chipboard swollen by water damage never goes back.

Charity shops, car boot sales, online marketplace listings, house clearance auctions and Freecycle are all good hunting grounds. Ask family first — the pieces with history tend to be the ones you keep.

Prep: the part that decides the finish

1. Take off handles, hinges and knobs. Bag the screws and label the bag if there is more than one size.
2. Clean the whole piece with sugar soap and warm water, then let it dry. Grease and old furniture polish are the two main reasons paint refuses to stick.
3. Fill dents and old screw holes with wood filler, slightly proud of the surface, and sand flush once dry.
4. Sand with the grain, starting at 120 grit on rough or varnished surfaces, then 180. Finish at 240. You are not stripping the old finish off — just dulling it and flattening the grain.
5. Wipe away every trace of dust with a tack cloth or a cloth dampened with white spirit.

On veneered pieces, sand lightly and by hand. It takes very little pressure to cut through a thin veneer, and there is no repairing that.

A note on old paint: furniture painted before the 1960s may contain lead. Do not dry-sand it or burn it off. Use a testing kit, work wet where you can, and if you are unsure, take advice from your local council or a qualified decorator before starting.

Priming

Primer stops the wood's colour and knots bleeding through, and gives the topcoat something to grip. On bare or previously varnished wood, a shellac-based primer seals knots, tannins and lingering smells in one coat. Water-based primers are easier to clean up and fine for most jobs; oil-based is worth the hassle on pieces that will take knocks, such as a hall bench.

Apply thin coats with a brush, working into corners and mouldings, then roll the flat panels. Two thin coats beat one thick one every time. Let it dry fully — usually longer than the tin suggests in a cold garage — and sand very lightly with 240 grit between coats.

Painting

Chalk paint is forgiving and needs little prep, but it marks easily unless sealed. Water-based eggshell and satin give a harder, wipeable finish and are a sensible default for kitchens and children's rooms. Whatever you choose, two or three thin coats will always look better than two thick ones.

A few technique notes

• Paint in the direction of the grain, and keep a wet edge to avoid lap marks.
• Use the brush for edges and detail, a small foam roller for large flat panels, then lay off the rolled areas with a dry brush to kill the bubbles.
• Check for drips along the bottom edge and under drawer fronts before they set.
• Leave drawer runners and the inside of drawers unpainted, or the drawers will stick. Line them with paper instead.
• Sand lightly between coats once the paint is properly dry.

Waxing and sealing

Wax gives a soft, low-sheen finish that suits period pieces and painted furniture. Apply it thinly with a wax brush or lint-free cloth, working in circles, leave for fifteen to twenty minutes, then buff with a clean cloth. Two thin coats are plenty. Clear wax keeps the colour as painted; dark wax settles into grain and mouldings and ages the piece, which is lovely on pine and heavy-handed on anything pale.

Wax is not the toughest finish. For a coffee table, a desk or anything that will meet mugs and keys, use a water-based varnish instead, applied in thin coats with a light sand between each. Whichever you use, let the piece cure somewhere warm and dust-free before loading it up — a day or two for varnish, closer to a week for wax. Resist putting the drawers back early.

Your first project

Start small. A bedside table, a stool or a picture frame takes you through the whole process — sanding, priming, two coats, wax — in an afternoon, and mistakes cost far less than they would on a wardrobe. Photograph the piece before you begin; you will want the comparison. Keep any original handles, brass especially, and clean them rather than replacing them. And if the first attempt is not perfect, a slightly uneven brush mark on a piece you saved is a fair trade for something made of real wood, built the way furniture used to be.

Photo: MemoryCatcher / Pixabay