<p>We have an attic full of old furniture - for years (ever since I met my H) we have refinished the furniture - stripped the paint or stain, repaired, polished and resold or used pieces that we restored to “original” state. </p>
<p>The last couple of years, doesn’t seem to be much of a market for furniture refinished original, BUT lately around her there is a craze of taking old furniture and repurposing it for different uses or actually repainting it in fun colors. My H thinks I’m crazy when I tell him that we should be now refinishing but rePAINTING all that furniture in the attic!!</p>
<p>So much of it I love - some of it in my home, but much of it is adorable for our lake cottage. </p>
<p>Wondering if you are seeing this trend too and if you have seen any interesting “repurposed” pieces. </p>
<p>One of the neatest things I saw recently was an old (like from the 50’s?) sewing machine/cabinets (with the flip to the left top and sewing machine inside, turned into a beverage center! I so wanted to buy the red one I saw - only $65 completely done but just didn’t know that I would use it enough.</p>
<p>The one I saw was even more practical - they cut the inside opening into a circle and inserted a metal tub (for ice or for ice and drinks). They put 3 hooks in the front for dish towels and attached a bottle opener on the left. It also had a small rounded shelf on the side that probably held thread and such, but now could be used to hold glasses - it was painted red - SO cute! Would have really been cute in a college grads first apartment!</p>
<p>I am definitely seeing this trend in my area. I recently bought a wooden sewing table (not a sewing machine table but a little cabinet with a top that flips open on two sides and two drawers) for 30 dollars at a thrift shop.<br>
I sanded the top down to bare wood and varnished it. The rest of it I painted a charcoal black and put new knobs on the drawers. It makes a great night stand!</p>
<p>My D was at a salvage place and bought an old wooden palette that has metal triangular “legs” for 4 dollars. It’s in my garden with planters on it but she plans to use it as a coffee table when she moves next month. She told me that people are buying them up, painting or staning them, restoring the metal and selling them for hundreds of dollars. I’ve seen them on King’s Lane.</p>
<p>I have noticed that too. Lara Spencer always does these kind of projects on GMA. She has done some really clever changes.</p>
<p>I always worry that the second I paint our real wood anything (furniture, molding, chair rails etc.) the look will go back to “natural wood” as soon as I clean the paintbrushes.</p>
<p>This is huge business in Florida. Old, reclaimed wood tables, benches, and clocks are very popular. Old, wire baskets, metal desks, lockers, file cabinets, tables, etc. are being repainted and sold for crazy amounts of money. The top half of china cabinets are popular, the doors are taken off, the inside is decoupaged. Everything is sanded, painted and resanded and sold as shabby chic.</p>
<p>My friend just turned a three-drawer dresser into a bar. Here’s what she did, from ground level, up:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>replaced the dresser’s original bun feet with scroll legs from an old back yard fire pit.</p></li>
<li><p>uses the bottom drawer for storage.</p></li>
<li><p>removed the top drawer. </p></li>
<li><p>The vacant top drawer allows the middle drawer to serve as an “open view” storage of liquor bottles.</p></li>
<li><p>The “missing” top drawer was mounted to the wall above the dresser at eye-level. It’s mounted so the bottom of the drawer is against the wall. This allows the “drawer” to become a shelf that holds misc. glasses. It’s supported by pretty braces. </p></li>
<li><p>lastly, the entire project is painted black. yes, black, and it looks gorgeous.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank HGTV. They run shows about repurposing furniture. One current show is Flea Market Flip with Lara Spencer - who wrote a book about flea markets. Two person teams buy specific kind of items that are remade and resold at another flea market. Like take a desk, add shelves underneath, repaint, add some touches and it’s a liquor cabinet.</p>
<p>Am about to tackle this in our MBR once the wedding hoopla is done…</p>
<p>For the wedding, I bought old plantation shutters and repainted to use for hanging place cards. Also got two pallets from a neighbor and have painted them with directional signs reflecting S & DIL’s story. Came out really cute!</p>
<p>I have a gorgeous Hooker entertainment center that I can hardly bear to part with but it’s useless right now since we changed to the bigscreen TV that doesn’t fit. I keep telling dh we should keep it. Put shelves in it and use it for storage. He’s not buying it. It wants it out of here. We moved it into the living room “temporarily” and now the l.r. is overrun with furniture.</p>
<p>Our old TV Armoire went up to the master bedroom many years ago when we purchased a large TV. But then we hired a home decorator service via a school fundraiser silent auction. During her tour of the house, she encouraged us to put it in the living room. It’s now our stereo cabinet.</p>
<p>We are hooked on Flea Market Flip! Although the prices at their flea markets are OUTRAGEOUS (compared to here at least!) And we checked out Lara Spencer’s book at the library last week and having been fighting over “flipping” through that!!</p>
<p>Love the idea of the entertainment center turned kids play center!!</p>
<p>I’m guessing that Pinterest is partially responsible for this trend. I actually have an email into someone locally who has a three drawer wicker dresser and two wicker tall bookshelves for sale - all would need to be repainted (spray) but she wants $60 for all of it - if I could get her down to $50 this would be the complete kitchen storage area my daughter is looking for for her apartment - with the dresser in the middle and a bookshelf flanking each side - maybe a mirror above the dresser?? The dresser could also be a bar!</p>
<p>I looked at my old singer sewing machine table in a whole new way this morning. We have been talking about trying to sell it but I have seen a few of them on yard sale facebook sites and they never sell. I wonder if I made it into a beverage center, if I could get rid of it.</p>
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