Transforming and personalising old furniture: ‘If things go wrong, it can be easily rectified'

Irish Times

4 days ago

In homes across Ireland in 2025, there is an appetite for more personalised eclectic styles where comfort and character mingle with sleek modern design. There's a growing appreciation for vintage and restored furniture – including old counters and cabinets from closed shops used in domestic settings – either bought second hand or revamped after years of neglect.
Waterford-based artist and interior designer Marianne Heaphy, aka the
Revamp Tramp
, is one of the leaders of this band of upcycling enthusiasts. In her workshops she gives people the know-how and confidence to bring new life to tables, chests of drawers, chairs, lampshades and bookcases.
At a Saturday workshop in Waterford city, she is explaining her techniques and sharing a range of materials – from paints and primers to wood stains, stencils, gold leaf and wallpaper – with the six participants who have each brought along one piece of furniture to revamp.
Mary Kennedy and Olive Hanlon at the workshop
Olive Hanlon from Kilmacthomas in Co Waterford has a glossy pine bedside locker, which she wants to spruce up for use in her 16-year-old son Syd's bedroom. She has painted skirting boards, airing cupboards and tables in the past.
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'I see now how I did things wrong by putting on too much primer, followed by an undercoat and paint. I would have saved myself hours of work if I had come to this workshop first,' she says.
Edel Kiely
Edel Kiely from Pilltown, Co Kilkenny, is also upcycling a bedside locker for her son, Finn (13). Originally a light pink colour, she repaints it a subtle dark blue. 'I'm very happy with it. It looks expensive,' says Kiely.
Kathleen O'Hanlon, from Kilmacow, Co Kilkenny, is here to bring some new life into a green table she bought second hand, which has been sitting on her upstairs landing for years. Although not an expensive piece, it has attractive splayed legs and after a bit of work, it looks much smarter.
She has also brought along a plant stand she bought at auction for €5. 'I enjoy painting and seeing how the pieces transform. I did a rocking chair in one of these courses before,' she says. An oval table and a television stand are other pieces she has worked on.
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Deirdre Clooney has been renovating her 1920s home in Waterford for the last seven years. She's here with a small green chest of drawers which she paints an aubergine colour, in-setting small strips of patterned wallpaper into the front panels of the drawers and on the top of the piece, using a technique called decoupage.
'I've always been interested in upcycling. I've done a mosaic with broken pieces of glass on my garden wall and another mosaic with tiles on the base of my courtyard,' she says, showing pictures of her work.
Mary Kennedy
Mary Kennedy from Joanstown, Co Waterford, has brought along two vintage foot stools with woven cord seats. The stools, which came from her deceased mother-in-law's home, have sentimental value. 'My husband used to sit on one of these stools for his dinner as a child, so he's very attached to them,' she says.
She repaints one to put in her 10-year-old daughter Beatrice's playhouse. The second, which she meticulously sands and rubs beeswax into, will be used as a plant stand in her kitchen.
Many of her friends go to antique fairs, seeking out older pieces for their homes. 'People don't appreciate the full modern look any more. We pick out one or two individual statement pieces to mix in with modern furniture,' she says.
Noreen Taberlin from Mullinavat in Co Kilkenny has a flat-pack matt grey small table which she transforms with gold paint. She creates a point of interest by pasting on colourful patterned paper to the top surface of the table, using the same material for the front panel of the table's drawer.
At the workshop, the mood is jovial and lighthearted – a few women joke about how it gets them away from their husbands for the day. But while there is plenty of banter, there are also moments of quiet industriousness.
The restoration workshop
Most of Heaphy's workshop participants are women – although when she runs them at the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun, some couples come along together. (Her next Furniture Revamping workshops at the Rediscovery Centre are on June 28th, August 23rd and September 27th and cost €120. See
rediscoverycentre.ie
.)
The Rediscover Furniture social enterprise at the Rediscovery Centre also runs long-term training programmes in furniture restoration and repair, wood working and contemporary and traditional upholstery. 'The aim of the course is that people will go into full-time employment or set up their own businesses afterwards,' says Nessa Doran O'Reilly, the programme manager.
A cabinet maker, Doran O'Reilly studied conservation and restoration of furniture and decorative arts at High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire in England. She also runs public workshops in furniture reupholstery at the Rediscovery Centre (the next one is on August 30th).
The Rediscovery Centre also sells second hand furniture in their Second Life shop on Ballymun's Main Street, which is a great place to pick up an old piece to upcycle. But if you're not interested in doing the work yourself, the Ecostore on the first floor of the Rediscovery Centre has some stylish pieces that have already been upcycled.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Nessa Doran O'Reilly, the furniture programme manager at the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun, at Bloom festival in May. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Alongside the one-off workshops that she runs around the country, Heaphy is project manager for the Loved Back to Life social enterprise in Waterford city. There, she runs back-to-work courses for men and women recovering from addiction at the Aiséirí residential centres.
One of her partners in this work is Finline Furniture, a high-end sofa factory that started a take-back scheme for old sofas last year.
'We've always offered a re-covering service but in 2024, we decided to work with a social enterprise to get these returned pieces stripped back to their foam,' says Vanessa O'Rourke. Customers who return a Finline furniture sofa are given a €100 voucher to spend in store.
The company, which has retail outlets in Emo in Co Laois, Dublin, Galway and Cork, then takes back the sofas from Aiséirí and reupholsters them in their own factory for sale in their Revive range.
'We use sample or end-of-life rolls of fabric to cut out wastage and keep the costs down, so we can sell these pieces for 20-50 per cent of the equivalent new sofa,' says O'Rourke.
'It's about extending the life of something well made, reducing environmental waste and supporting individuals as they rebuild their lives through skilled work,' says Ciarán Finane, director of Finline Furniture.
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Back at the Waterford workshop, Heaphy is on hand with advice on everything from spreading a thin coat of primer before painting the surface to looking after paintbrushes (top tip: leave brushes in a jar of water rather than wrapped up in a plastic bag after using water-based paint). 'Stay away from the pound shops and buy decent brands of brushes at your local hardware shop,' she says.
Relaxed yet attentive, she has an unflappable manner that accommodates everyone. 'In all my years doing these workshops, I've never had a fail yet,' she says. If things go wrong, it can be easily rectified. 'The main thing to remember is that we're not surgeons here. It's about not taking it too seriously, and enjoying yourself.'
Many of the participants talk about the meditative quality of working on their pieces of furniture. 'It's very mindful, says Taberlin. 'You don't think of anything else when you're doing this,' adds Kennedy.