Woman’s ‘stunning’ $270 Bunnings sofa transformation
A Sydney mum has clocked thousands of likes and comments after sharing snaps of her transformed “drab” area into an “oasis of beauty”.
One stroll through Mischelle McWatters’ home and you would think you’re in a Bunnings store — well as far as using their products go.
The Sydney mum has transformed most of her spacious Blue Mountains property using materials from the popular hardware store with her latest project a DIY outdoor area.
After nabbing three second-hand Jacobean sofas for free online, the 47-year-old turned her “drab” outdoor living space into a relaxing “oasis of beauty”.
“We have an upstairs uncovered outdoor area that leads down to an undercover area,” Ms McWatters told news.com.au
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“The upstairs area was not used and was a drab area, that is in full view of the kitchen windows — I wanted to create a look that made the two areas more cohesive, vibrant, inviting and more reflective of my personal style and the interior home decor.”
After collecting the sofas and four chairs, Ms McWatters then spent $270 at Bunnings to give the furniture a fresh, new look.
While the chairs and rattan sections were in fairly good condition, Ms McWatters said the classic Jacobean timber varnished look didn’t match other pieces she had previously done up — and it would have cost her too much to restore.
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Instead she opted for Bunnings Rustoleum satin black paint ($12) saying the job needed just two coats, without any sanding.
“I tested a chair with the rustoleum spray, without sanding to see if the paint would adhere and decided to also attempt to spray paint the fabric base, to see how the paint would react on the fabric. Thankfully it worked, so I basically raised all the furniture to a workable height and spray painted all the timber/rattan sections using the Rustoleum Satin Black,” Ms McWatters said.
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“I used a water spray bottle with some fabric softener to pre-wet the fabric before I spray painted, in an attempt to ‘soften’ the feel of the paint.”
The mum said she was “horrified” it would cost hundreds of dollars to source fabric, and pay someone to fit the cushion covers.
So instead she opted for 18 “affordable” covers from the hardware store to complete the look.
“I already had the Mojo 45cm size cushion covers and was delighted to find that the range also now included 60x60cm covers at $9 each,” she said.
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“The project took about two coats of paint, it dries fairly quickly, so I was able to re-coat after only a short time. Due to the size of the sofas, it took probably more than 10 tins of the paint though, so there may have been a more economical solution.”
Since sharing images of her transformation to the popular Facebook group Bunnings Mum’s Australia, Ms McWatters’ posts have gone on to attract more than 5000 likes and comments from impressed followers.
“Omg an oasis of beauty,” one woman wrote.
“Oh my gosh lady this is amazing. Love what you did with the chairs. I never pictured them in black. Just beautiful,” wrote another.
“Awesome! Love everything about it, the colours, the lounge everything it’s definitely a happy space and very stylish happy place well done,” a third wrote, while others branded it “absolutely stunning”.
Ms McWatters said she was blown away by the positive feedback and didn’t expect such a huge response.
“A lot of the gorgeous ladies on the site have followed the progress the whole way and cheered me on, as I do with their projects,” the mum said.
“I’m sure some people would find my style hideous and others think I ‘ruined’ an antique sofa,” she joked, “But I think that maybe the bright colours and that it’s not an ‘off the shelf’ look definitely appealed to some and upcycling is certainly gaining popularity.”
Ms McWatters who admittedly said she “Bunnings’d the heck out of it”, also painted her fences, floor and added pots and plants from the hardware store to complete her “happy place”, saying all up, including the $270 spent on the sofa, it cost her roughly $500.
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