Hi everyone!

Please see below a step-by-step guide of how I upcycled (with the help of my dad lol) four surround sound standing speakers, that my dad no longer wanted… Hope you like 🙂 …

 

I purchased some plywood from a local business. As seen above, my dad cut the plywood for me, to the same size as some vinyl records I bought from a second-hand furniture shop. I sanded down the sawed circular plywood with sandpaper..

 

After this, I glued the circular sawed plywood and the actual vinyl records together with contact adhesive…

 

This is what the stereo speakers looked like before I began upcycling them (see top photo above). The next step was to wash the speakers down really good with some sugar soap, and cover the area where sound is supposed to come out with black tape, in preparation for priming and spraying (as those areas I didn’t want to prime/spray)…

 

I used a few white finish surface primers purchased from Wilko to prime all four speakers…

 

Also purchased from Wilko, I sprayed all four of the speakers with a few metallic gold sprays, and a gold glitter spray afterwards for added effect. Both the primers and sprays I used are fast drying, so it’s not too time consuming to wait then spray another couple of layers (as I did, to get the best possible finish)…

 

I returned then to the vinyls… it was a good idea to sand and file, as well as sugar soap again to ensure the vinyls looked as neat and tidy as possible…

 

I sprayed the back of the vinyls (i.e. the attached plywood) with a black spray paint, also from Wilko, and touched up areas a little with some black acrylic paint…

 

I then asked for my dad’s assistance to measure correctly and saw into the speakers, also using a craft knife for precision, to make little slots for the vinyl records to be slotted in…

 

I gave the speakers another sugar soap to remove any dirt. My dad then used a strong Unibond ‘no more nails’ glue to stick and slot in the vinyl records. Another sugar soap was necessary to get rid of any excess glue and dirt…

 

I bought some really cool retro music note stickers off of Amazon, I thought these would finish of the speakers perfectly, to create a desired ‘vintage vibe’ and of course definitely in keeping with the whole music theme…

 

And the final touches – I used a strong Unibond ‘no more nails’ glue to stick some gold sparkly ribbon (from Boyes) around the areas where the vinyl records were already slotted into the stereo speakers… finishing off the project very nicely I think 🙂 …

The end result:

 

And here are a few photographs showing the end result of my surround sound standing speakers upcycling project; illustrated as natural photographs, and also using a couple of camera effects! … A fully functional unique piece of art, hehe!… They are supposed to act as a quirky shelving units, in case you were wondering, haha 😛

This was only my second upcycling attempt. I think I may donate both these upcycled speakers and my previous upcycling project ,the upcycled drinks trolley, to a second-hand furniture charity shop such as the British Heart Foundation.

If I have learnt anything from my two upcycling projects, it is probably that I shouldn’t go too ‘individual’. By that I mean, I should try and achieve a look which is more likely to be more universally liked.. still vintage / shabby-chic inspired, but more similar to current renovated furniture on the market… I’m going to move away from priming / spraying, and have a go at chalk painting, distressing and decoupage next I think…

So please do keep a lookout for my future upcycling projects!

Nice comments / advice always welcome, hehe!

Thank you 🙂

 

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© 2017 Lauren Parr / http://www.unicornpostbox.wordpress.com