How do you restore or upcycle a pre-loved item?
Upcycling is taking something that was headed for the tip and making it good again — usually better than good. The six guides in this section cover a bedside table, a timber bench, a coffee table, a mid-century chair, a tallboy and a dog kennel, and although the finished pieces look nothing alike, the method underneath them is the same every time.
Clean, repair, prepare, bond, finish — in that order. Almost every upcycling project that disappoints has skipped or reordered one of those five, and the most commonly skipped one is the first.
The five stages, and why the order is fixed
1. Clean
Every one of these projects starts with Selleys Sugar Soap, mixed at ½ cup into ½ a bucket — 5 litres — of water. Old furniture carries years of wax, polish, cooking grease and hand oils, and no adhesive, filler or paint will bond through that film. Sanding first just drives the contamination into the timber.
Note that the dilution depends on which sugar soap you have. The ½ cup into 5 litres figure is for the standard Original Sugar Soap; the Super Concentrate is mixed at ½ cup into a full 10 litre bucket. For floors, baths and shower recesses, rinse well after use; if you are about to repaint, rinsing is not strictly necessary, though wiping over with clean water is good practice.
2. Repair
Fill holes, dents and gaps before anything else goes on, because a defect that is invisible on tired timber becomes obvious next to a fresh paint or vinyl surface. Which filler depends on the job:
- Plastic Wood — a fast-acting solvent-based wood filling cement for repairing all types of interior woodwork. Stir the can thoroughly and slightly overfill deep holes to allow for sanding.
- No More Cracks Interior Wood Filler — water-based, easy to sand, paintable and stainable. Dries in 1–2 hours at 1mm and 2–3 hours at 2mm at 25°C, longer in humidity and substantially longer above 2mm.
- Knead It Multipurpose — a hand-kneadable epoxy putty for gaps that need rebuilding rather than filling. Working time 3–5 minutes at 25°C, sandable at 60 minutes, full cure 24 hours. It cures extremely hard and is not recommended for joints subject to movement.
3. Prepare
Sand, then clean again with sugar soap to remove the dust. This second clean is the one people question and it is genuinely necessary — sanding dust is a release layer that stops paint and adhesive keying to the surface.
4. Bond
This is where the projects diverge, because each type of bond has its own product:
| What you are joining | Product | Key timings |
|---|---|---|
| Wallpaper or vinyl to a broad flat surface | Kwik Grip Horizontal | Coat both, keep apart 20 min (max 40), roller, full strength 24 hrs |
| The same, on a vertical face | Kwik Grip Vertical | As above; the gel does not run while flashing off |
| Handles and hardware, without screws | Araldite 5 Minute | 2–3 min working time, 30 min initial, 16 hrs maximum strength |
| Loose or broken chair joints | Araldite Super Strength | Max bond 16 hrs, full cure ~24 hrs, up to 150 kg/cm² |
| Outdoor timber repairs | Aquadhere Exterior | Clamp 30 min softwood / 1 hr hardwood, 24 hrs unstressed |
| Plaques and small fittings | Power Grip | Sets in 3 min, practical strength 12 hrs on porous surfaces |
| Panels into a rebate | Liquid Nails Heavy Duty | Beads at 40cm, repositionable 20 min, full cure 7 days |
Figures are from the products' technical data sheets and are indicative results rather than a basis for preparing specifications.
5. Finish
Paint, varnish or wax goes on last. Wax in particular has to be last, because it acts as a release layer — anything you still intend to glue must be done before it.
The one technique worth learning properly
Contact adhesive behaves differently from every other glue in the range, and three of these projects depend on it. You coat both surfaces, keep them apart for about 20 minutes while the solvent flashes off, and then bring them together — at which point they are bonded instantly with no repositioning. The usable window is 20 to 40 minutes: join too early and the trapped solvent leaves a soft bond, too late and the film will not grab.
Because there is no second chance, use dowels or pencils. Lay them across the surface, rest the sheet on them, get the alignment exactly right, then pull them out one at a time from the centre outwards so the sheet lands progressively. Then roller the whole area — contact adhesives need pressure to complete the bond and to push out air.
The six projects
- How to restore a bedside table — sugar soap, Kwik Grip Vertical and Horizontal for wallpapered drawer fronts and linings, Araldite 5 Minute for the handles.
- How to upcycle a timber bench — the most involved: routing a rebate, bonding fibre cement with Liquid Nails Heavy Duty, then tiling, grouting and sealing with the White For Life system.
- How to restore a coffee table — Plastic Wood for the nicks, Kwik Grip Horizontal for a vinyl top, stain and varnish on the legs.
- How to restore a mid-century chair — Knead It Multipurpose for gaps in the timber and Araldite Super Strength for the leg joints, with 24 hours before the chair is moved.
- How to restore a tallboy — wallpapered drawer fronts with a non-solvent adhesive, glued handles, and a wax finish.
- How to transform a kennel into a pooch palace — Aquadhere Exterior for weatherproof timber repairs, Kwik Grip Horizontal for a vinyl floor, Power Grip for the name plaque.
Several of these appear as episodes of Selleys Suburban Gold, which also carries suggestions on where to find preloved furniture worth rescuing.
Safety: the two stages where the products bite
The five-stage method above is sound, but two of the five stages use products carrying the signal word Danger, and the hazard in each case attaches to a specific moment rather than to the stage as a whole.
| Product | Classification | The moment that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar Soap Original and the Super Concentrate | Danger — H318, causes serious eye damage (Category 1) | Decanting and diluting, not washing down |
| Kwik Grip Horizontal | Danger — H225, highly flammable liquid and vapour; also H336, may cause drowsiness or dizziness | The 20–40 minute flash-off, not the moment of application |
| Liquid Nails Heavy Duty | Danger — H225, plus H336 | Bonding panels into a rebate in a closed shed |
| Power Grip | Danger — H318, plus H317, may cause an allergic skin reaction (Category 1A) | A hand-squeezed tube used at close range on a plaque |
Stage 1 and stage 3 are where eye protection is skipped. Sugar soap has an old-fashioned, mild reputation, and the diluted bucket largely earns it. The concentrate does not. H318 Category 1 is permanent damage, and the product is alkaline at roughly pH 11 — alkali burns keep penetrating the eye rather than self-limiting the way an acid burn does. Put the glasses on for the pour and the mix, which is the part everyone does bare-faced, and take them off for the wipe-down if you like.
Stage 4 is a ventilation problem, and the open time is the reason. Contact adhesive is not dangerous for the thirty seconds you are spreading it — it is releasing solvent for the whole 20 to 40 minutes it sits open while you wait. That is a long, steady release into whatever room you are standing in, and upcycling happens in sheds and garages with the roller door down. H225 vapour is heavier than air and pools at floor level, so a bar heater, a fridge compressor or a hot water pilot across the shed is still an ignition source. Open the door, and do not run a heater.
Two lower-hazard swaps exist in the range where the job allows them. Instant Sugar Soap is ready to use, so there is no concentrate to decant, and it carries Warning with H319 (serious eye irritation, which resolves) rather than H318. For panel bonding, Liquid Nails Fast Grab carries Warning and a single classification, H317, with no flammability classification at all.
Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand. A splash in the eye from the concentrate or from Power Grip needs a 15-minute flush and that call, not a rinse.
Common questions about upcycling furniture
Where do I start with a piece I have just picked up?
Clean it. Sugar soap at ½ cup into 5 litres, top to bottom, before you sand or repair anything.
Why clean twice?
The first wash removes grease and grime so you do not sand it into the timber. The second removes sanding dust so paint and adhesive can key to the surface.
Which filler should I use?
Plastic Wood for interior woodwork, No More Cracks Interior Wood Filler if you want a water-based product that sands and stains easily, and Knead It Multipurpose where a shape has to be rebuilt rather than a hole filled.
Can I glue handles on instead of screwing them?
Yes, with Araldite 5 Minute — leave it 16 hours before using the drawer. For anything carrying real weight, use mechanical fixings.
Why does contact adhesive need drying time before joining?
Because it bonds on contact rather than while drying. The 20 minutes lets the solvent flash off; the usable window is 20 to 40 minutes.
How long before the finished piece can be used?
Generally 24 hours for contact-adhesive work and 16 hours for epoxied hardware. Aquadhere Exterior joints want 24 hours unstressed after clamping.
What if the piece will live outdoors?
Use exterior-grade products. Aquadhere Interior is not waterproof and Plastic Wood is specified for interior conditions.
Does cold weather change the timings?
Yes — cold, damp conditions extend curing and clamping times across the adhesive and filler range. Treat the published figures as minimums.
What is the topic of the Selleys 'Upcycling' page?
The page is about upcycling, focused on restoring or upcycling a pre-loved item in your home, part of Selleys' home improvement section.
What is the URL of the Selleys Upcycling page?
https://www.selleys.com.au/home-improvement/upcycling/
What company publishes the Upcycling page, and who founded it?
The page is published by Selleys, an Australian adhesives, sealants and fillers brand founded by Martin Selley.
When was Selleys founded and where?
Selleys was founded in 1939 in Sydney, Australia.
What larger organization is Selleys part of?
Selleys is a division of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd, which is its parent organization.
Which Selleys product is suitable for cabinet and furniture making, useful in upcycling furniture?
Aquadhere Exterior, an industrial-grade polyaliphatic cross-linking PVA adhesive developed for professional woodworkers, is ideal for cabinet and furniture making, produces bonds stronger than most woods, is weatherproof, and can be routed after bonding.
What Selleys product can be used to repair household items as part of restoring a pre-loved object?
Selleys Knead It Multipurpose is a hand-kneadable, fast-setting epoxy repair system used for rebuilding, reshaping, or repairing objects such as toys, appliances, lawn mowers, and sports equipment; once cured it can be drilled, sawed, and painted.
What Selleys product helps fill gaps or cavities during home improvement work?
No More Big Gaps Expanding Foam fills large or irregular holes or cavities, such as around pipes, behind skirting boards and architraves, and around windows and door frames, and can be cut, sanded, plastered, or painted once cured.
What guidance does Selleys give about disposing of leftover materials and containers from home improvement projects?
Material and its container should be recycled if possible; if they cannot be recycled, disposal must be carried out responsibly.