Whenever I organise a space, there are three main things I do - sort and declutter, purge, and problem-solve. Although I'm pretty ruthless when it comes to getting rid of things, I always try to look differently at furniture, and if I'm deciding whether to keep or get rid of it, I try to solve the problem it poses. Could it be saved and improved with a coat of paint, sanding it back, applying a new wood-stain or being covered with a new fabric? If a piece of furniture in your house is looking tired and you're wanting to just get rid of it, think seriously about whether a bit of sprucing up could give it a new lease of life.

This week I was looking at some of the kids' furniture pieces and decided that a coat of paint and some fun colours were just what this black/whiteboard needed. Here she lies in all her beauty on our very messy deck, which also received some sprucing up this weekend.

This blackboard is a well-loved hand-me-down from my aunty, and as you can see it was also beautifully decorated by my cousin! My kids have added their own touches here and there too. Nothing a coat of paint couldn't fix!

First up, I taped off the edge of the board on both sides, which just makes things quicker and easier when painting the inner pieces so you avoid getting paint everywhere.

I went with the same paint colour as our deck posts - Pearl Lustre by Dulux. This took 2 coats.

To add a bit of fun and colour, I decided to add some pattern with blue and pink paint. I wanted to do spots, but couldn't get the shape cut out right with a cardboard template, so went with stripes instead. I randomly taped off different sections like this:

I then filled them in the gaps, alternating colours. This actually took 3 coats, because it was just craft paint, so it took a little longer than I originally planned! But when I peeled off the tape, there was hardly any paint-bleeding so I was happy with it...looks like I'm doing a little prayer here that it all works!

All in all, a fun improvement on the original, and the my son told me he loved the 'beautiful colours' I had chosen. So glad I decided to refresh rather than getting rid of this piece. The kids are already getting busy with the chalk and magnetic letters outside... hopefully they don't destroy the new paint job too soon!

Now I'd love to hear from you...

1. Do you like to refurbish old pieces?

2. Do you have any old pieces lying around that could use a bit of love?