Course overview

Learn how to upcycle your furniture with expert upholsterer and upcycling professional Juliette Goggin.

This furniture upcycling course will include using decoupage to transform anything from an old jewellery box to a chest of drawers into beautiful new pieces of furniture for your house.

Plus you'll discover how to recover a drop-in seat chair to transform a piece of second hand furniture. Lastly you will learn how to create designer vintage cushions.

Juliette will teach you how to look out for furniture at auctions, second hand shops, car boots fairs and street markets. And how to transform inexpensive second-hand (or pre-loved) furniture

You'll learn:

how to find furniture to upcycle - from auctions, markets or your own home
decoupage techniques to cover old furniture
where to find upcycling inspiration
repairing old furniture

The course includes:

1 on-demand video lesson - presented by Juliette Goggin
lifetime access to the videos, notes and interactive class
flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
downloadable lesson notes
practical furniture upcycling projects (with tutor feedback available)
access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
small interactive online classroom - chat online to students from around the world and share your creative ideas

Time to complete the furniture upcycling course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 3 hours 20 minutes to complete including:

Video lesson: 20 minutes in total
Course notes: 30 minutes per lesson
Your furniture upcycling projects: at least 2 hours
Interactive classroom time: 15 minutes per lesson
Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson

Ready to get started?

Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from Juliette on your furniture upcycling project and questions.

Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.

Watch course trailer

Lesson summary

Upcycling Furniture

Project 1 Decoupage is a fun and creative way to transform anything from an old jewellery box, or toy trunk to an entire cupboard. The item can be themed by the choice of paper, such as vintage children’s comics, or story book illustrations for a toy box. Ordnance survey maps, or postage stamps work well for an old trunk. Botanical illustrations from second hand books work extremely well on drawer fronts or any kind of storage box. The course begins with some general advice on simple repairs which can be carried out to fix damaged furniture, following on with a guide to stripping varnish and paint before either repainting, or adding wax to protect the surface and enhance the grain of the wood. Tips are offered for getting an authentic antiqued and weathered look for your chosen piece and advice on individual, creative touches such as unusual handles and drawer pulls. The technique of decoupage is illustrated in several options, adding decoration to some wooden drawer fronts, papering an old filing drawer and recovering a folding card table. Project 2 Drop-in seat chairs are very easy to come by, and the seat covers can be made in less than 30 minutes with just a few simple tools, transforming the most unpromising charity shop, auction or car boot find. Furthermore, the chairs can be reupholstered with a different fabric whenever you fancy a change of look. Juliette will inspire you with a variety of options so that you can choose a modern, woven wool textile for a contemporary Scandinavian look, a vintage linen tea towel, ideal for a kitchen chair, or even an old oil painting for something really different.Juliette takes us through the process of selecting fabric through to completed chair. Project 3 The original chesterfield sofa used for this project is a perfect example of a piece of furniture that has become rather sad and down-at-heel through years of use. However, its traditional solid construction means that it still has plenty of life left. All that is needed to restore the sofa to its former glory is a revamp with new cushion covers - this final project takes you through how to create designer vintage cushions. With a choice of textiles from tweedy patchwork, to repurposed vintage grain sacks, accented with a blue piped edging, the finished result is both eye catching and entirely rewarding. Furthermore this technique is adaptable to many other projects within the home

Choose how you want to learn

Expert-level

Develop your learning further with marked assignments and personal tuition:

Start the course whenever you like
Tutor access for personalised assignment feedback & coaching
Certificate of completion and CPD learning hours
Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
Lessons with expert videos & notes
Group chat & direct message with tutor & classmates
Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

Peer-level

Get the most from shared knowledge and community study:

Start course whenever you like
Practise what you learn with your peers
Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
Lessons with videos & notes
Course assignments
Group chat & direct message classmates
Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom

meet the expert

Juliette Goggin

Crafting expert, designer, and author known for upcycled creations and designs with recycled and vintage materials.

Why choose Learning with Experts?

Start whenever it suits you, and immerse yourself in motivational lesson tutorials with expert guidance.

Enhance your learning and personal growth with lesson assignments. Each course includes an optional assignment at the end of every lesson.

Drop a friendly message or respond to your assignment feedback. Our world-class experts are just a click away, ready to help you!

Stay informed about your own progress and those of your peers, and take joy in celebrating achievements along the way.

Chat and share ideas with passionate communities of learners from around the world.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the difference between PEER and EXPERT options?

At Peer and Expert level, you get access to the same core content and features:

Video lesson tutorials led by your expert tutor
Downloadable lesson notes
Option to practise what you learn with lesson assignments
Group learning within an online interactive classroom of up to 20 classmates
Lifetime access to videos, notes and classroom

If you choose Expert level, you get all of the above plus the following:

Personalised assignment feedback and coaching from your expert tutor
Opportunity to interact with your expert tutor through a private messaging system
Certificate of completion.

What is an online classroom?

Our online classroom has been developed to allow you to learn from our experts in a sociable environment alongside up to 20 other students. After each video tutorial led by your expert, you will be encouraged to practice what you have learned with optional assignments - these can be seen by the other students in your class, who are free to share their own thoughts and questions with you.

You will be encouraged to take part in an ongoing class discussion where you can discuss ideas, post images or work, and comment on each other’s assignments. It’s a great way to learn from other like-minded people who share your passion from all over the world.

This means not only do you benefit from people who are outstanding in their field, but also from a close-knit group of like-minded people whom you can learn alongside. Group learning has shown to greatly improve not just the experience of studying, but also how well you retain the knowledge, and we have built our classroom experience around this fact.

When can I start my course and how long will it take?

You can start your course any time within 12 months after receipt of your purchase confirmation email. Once you start, you’ll have lifetime access — meaning you can revisit the lesson videos and notes whenever you want.

Our courses are designed so that you can study at your own pace, some prefer to binge learn while others like to spread their studying over a longer period of time - it’s completely up to you. To give you a rough time frame, each lesson video is approximately 30-40 minutes long, and we recommend that you spend around an hour on each assignment.

How often can I speak with the Expert?

If you opt for the Expert version of your course, the time you have to interact with your tutor is limited to course length. You will have one week per lesson to chat to your tutor and to have your assignments marked, and during this period you can ask them as many questions as you would like.

To find out the length of each course, head to the product page and look at the Course outline to see how many lessons it contains. e.g. a four lesson course assumes that you will have completed the assignments within four weeks.

Your tutor interaction period will start as soon as you enter the classroom. If you find that you are struggling to complete the assignments in the allocated time or you wish to put this function on hold, just get in contact with one of the team via the support button and we will help you out.

Support and full FAQs

If you need any help with a course, be it one you’ve started already, or one you are looking to purchase, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support email address.

You can also use the orange speech bubble on your page to start a conversation with us.

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