DIY novice upcycles stunning black sideboard – saving herself £530 in the process

Upcycling and DIY novice Alexandra Carton, transformed a secondhand piece of furniture into a sleek black sideboard of dreams. Her brilliant upcycled sideboard cost her just £130. Not a bad price, considering the black and gold style sideboard she had been coveting online would have cost her £699!

Doing it herself she's got the look for less. And despite being new to upcycling, Alexandra's efforts are very impressive.

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With a lick of black paint, gold hardware and a textured front made with decorative moulding she has totally transformed a piece of unloved furniture – elevating it from dull to dazzling.

Alexandra's stunning upcycled sideboard

'I have recently been decorating our dining room and we needed a sideboard to finish it off,' Alexandra told LatestDeals.co.uk. 'The black and gold sideboard I fell in love with online was priced at £699. Usually, I wouldn’t think twice about spending that much on a sideboard but, given the year we’ve had, I couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money at the moment.' So instead she decided to upcycle instead.

The project began with her hunting for a sideboard on Facebook Marketplace. 'I was lucky to find one close by for £40,' she explains.

To transform the dated sideboard she decided to go with on-trend black and gold. Finding the perfect shade of paint in the Frenchic Al Fresco collection, called Blackjack (£17.95 for 750ml). 'One tin was all I needed – there’s even some paint leftover' Alexandra says.

Buy now: Al Fresco Paint in Blackjack, £17.75, Frenchic

She began by prepping the unit, following the instructions on the Frenchic website. She says. 'I cleaned it with hot soapy water and, once it was dry, I sanded it down. I then cleaned it once more to make sure all the dust was gone.'

Adding decorative moulding to the front

Alexandra removed the drawers and cupboard doors ready for painting,  building up the colour in light coats of the black paint.

While the unit was drying, she popped to Wickes to pick up the decorative moulding to create the textured effect on the front. Using a table saw she cut the moulding strips for the doors and drawers to size. She stuck them onto the front using a PVA wood glue, which she already had at home.

Buy now: Pine Ogee Moulding, £3.81 for 2.4m, Wickes

Painting the sideboard black

'The final step was adding the handles, which I found on Amazon,' she explains. 'This was the most challenging part of the project. As I was repositioning the handles, I needed to sand down bits of the drawers to make room for them.'

The DIY novice shared her handiwork in a home makeover group on social media, where it attracted 3.8k reactions and over 375 comments praising the “gorgeous” piece.

'I’m so proud of what I have created,' she says. 'I didn’t expect it to look as good as it looks. It has completed our dining room and I can’t wait to have a go at another project.'