I think she really liked it. It was definitely her style!

Here it is... the lamp...

Love the lamp, and the entertainment centre is gorgeous. What colour did you use on the backs of the bookshelves?

I also have repurposed my DR to a playroom, and the smallest bedroom in my house to the cat room this year. Such a big impact on our lives!

I have a very tiny walk though laundry hall from garage to the house and having litter boxes in there, and cat food in the living room and cat beds in the DR. was just a mess. Now it is all nicely containted in one room and the cats seem happy too.

My older DS (3.5) never wants to leave his playroom. The DR was basically a dumping ground for stuff, with the DR table being filled with things that needed to be put away, and we never used the room to eat in.

I cant' wait to see more great ideas. :)

This was an awful phony-colonial china cabinet with a sort of shaded walnut finish, an out-of-scale broken pediment, and really bad ornate gold metal pulls.

Took off the pediment, changed the pulls for fat nickel knobs, and painted everything.

Now it houses office supplies and things in my workroom/office.

such good ideas pommygirl and bronwynsmom.

Love the painted EC too.

Foyer has a church pew.

Old Table Talk Pie display shelf.

Antique sideboard, now vanity.

Another table w/ sewing machine base.

One more sewing machine base (coffee table!). This pic and the one above are from our beach cottage.

We use this Jacobean sideboard as a TV console. I got this baby for $150. a few years ago. Excuse the lamp cord, haven't plugged it in yet.

Yes, that's my vulture on top of the TV, his name is Buzz, and he has real feathers. I had him up there for Halloween, and decided he should stay. I tried to find a little Santa hat for Christmas. He makes first time guests here laugh. :-D

One re purposed thing that works well for us is I used an ikea billy bookcase for our microwave and cookbooks when we redid our kitchen.

The pear tree:

Made this wreath using some of the pears, "berries," leaves and added small tangerines and pine cones.

More pears used here as well:

Lit up:

So now, it's our entertainment stand, and the dvd player is inside, instead of garbage cans.

Browny- I too used a sideboard as a bathroom cabinet.

Here is a on my island for the dishtowel:

Here are two more repurposed wooden boxes for cooking utensils and the second one for napkins, salt/pepper at the breakfast room table.

Many of my lamps were made at a locally owned lighting store out of things they found, or I found and took to them. Two of my favorites are a lamp made from a wooden candlestick:

and another from a TV dog lamp (from the 50s):

I use a vintage wooden water bucket to hold dog toys. A vintage wooden rice bucket for the trash in powder room. I have a large wooden grape harvesting basket from Belgian I used as a side table in the great room. I'm not home, so I can't take pictures.

I almost forgot one of my favorite things (I have many! lol ). A wooden shutter I found and had repurposed into a door to conceal the TV equipments and DVD storage. Here is the before:

and the after:

But I need something that fits the tivo box, ps, center speaker, cd player, receiver, a dvd/vhs player, and a blu ray...plus dh wants to find a vintage record player and make a slide out for it! I am debating if maybe I could get some sort of tower stand for components and have the tv on the sideboard, but our room isn't that large so swinging that might be iffy. But I will drool over yours!

Noellabelle, I totally understand. My fiance installed speakers in the ceiling (I was biting my fingernails the whole time, paranoid at how they'd look, but they're very unobtrusive, whew!). :-D

I love re-purposed things cause they are totally original. We've made a lot of things out of other things.

Two items in this pic - the chalkboard used to be the mirrored back to an antique sideboard which was damaged and needed more work than I wanted to give it so DH put MDF where the mirror was and painted it w/chalkboard paint. The headboard is made from old closet door shutters. I also have a corner shelf and a small cabinet made from shutters.

Recently posted this head/footboard bench on another thread. Still needs more work. I also have another one that's similar but painted.

Very old pic of my blacksmith GF's tool box, which is well over 100 years old. We've used it for a coffee table for 40 years, it's taken all the abuse 3 teens could dish out and looks better than ever. Occasionally gets some stain and wax. I guess the zinc washtub is also re-purposed. The man who sold it to me for $2 said it was a gold pan but it's too big and heavy for that I think. On research I found similar tubs called French washtubs so not sure of it's provenance but it makes a good container for things.

This is part of an old dilapidated wrought iron gate that DH found for free at a yard sale. He took it all apart, reconnected the 2 pieces and painted it. Black stovepipe in the background.

I've posted this before many times but it's one of my fav things. I had bought an original oil painting for $2 with this frame but it was an awful yellow color and I had a better frame for the painting so DH made a box with shelves, attached this frame to the box, and painted the whole thing antique white. At various times it's had bone china teacups as here, a collection of small handmade pottery items, or my collection of glass fishing floats.

and a treadle sewing machine cabinet into a stereo cabinet/tv stand. Excuse the glare in the picture.

Now here's one for you creative people. I want to turn this old floor radio into a bar cab. Have to figure out how hinge the chassis on the left side to swing open to access shelves that will hold liquor. Have to make the insides, find the hinge and add a base to raise the chassis up to clear the floor when it opens. At least that's what I *think* I need to do. Oh, the only tools I own are a drill driver, a small jig saw, pliers, hammer, chisel. A challenge for sure, but ideas are welcome!

I have also made old furniture into vanities. Here are a couple. Sorry, my photos are terrible.

My latest re-purposing were with these silver punch cups (actually silver baby cups that my grandmother re-purposed into punch cups), silver demitasse spoons, and silver cordial cups. I made Italian tiramisu and served it in the punch cups for Christmas dinner and the cordials for a luncheon along with a peppermint pie.

I took a photo of the puch cups with spoons, but not the cordials.

The base of the island in my kitchen was made from two chests that I found several years ago at an antique shop. My husband got a friend to make the top for us.

This "wreath" that hangs in my kitchen is actually the rim from a cotton basket that my Grandfather used when he picked cotton in the early half of the 1900's. It's sort of in rough shape, but I love it.

Months later I decided I wanted to frame the large powder room mirror, and went out to the garage looking for anything I could possibly use, and saw the cardboard 'molding'. I painted it, and used velcro to stick it on, and no one ever guessed it was nothing more than cardboard.

I keep thinking I should go to my big box stores and go thru their dumpster to find enough to do a room!

At the famous La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, the dining room is closed off from the lobby by multi-paned window walls, painted with primitive, fanciful Southwestern images. The effect is charming and much loved by us all. I took a very old window with a wood frame and painted similar images on it to use in my own Spanish kitchen. I have it propped above one of my kitchen cabs. I have a French pocket door between the kitchen and living room and am toying with the idea of painting it someday, as well.

I use an antique ammunition's box on my living room hearth to hold firewood. It has rope handles.

This old oak washstand was originally made to hold a washbowl and pitcher in ones bedroom . . . or perhaps even a chamber pot. I use it in our foyer as a display stand for one of our statues:

We found these beautiful dressers/chests of drawers at an antique & consignment shop. Instead of putting them in our bedroom, we use them in our dining room. They hold placemats, napkin rings, tablecloths, candles, candleholders, etc. The low one acts as a sideboard when we have company for dinner. It has glass covering the top of it.

I've since lowered the Peruvian Madonna painting:

Lynn

Annie I love the wine cork backspash -- very clever, and great texture!

Baby steps people, baby steps.

Repurposing here is pretty limited, like an old silverplated pitcher I'm planning to use to hold kitchen spoons. We do have a glass fronted cabinet that was probably originally used to hold books, and which holds glasses. I'd like to take credit for the idea, but it had aleady been repurposed when we bought it by having had glass shelves installed. The only other thing I can think of are a couple of old wooden apple crates that I use as additional filing cabinets. That's not working too well, so I'll probably use then in the laundry room to hold detergent bottles.

That is a great idea. Every time i see those, i always think --- i wish I could think of a good use. So far I only think spice cabinet...

I just remembered I had temporarily used an old chandy over my kitchen island, then decided it was a great place to hang utensils. I didn't use it for long as finally found a new light fixture. This chandy cost $5. and DH gave it a quick spray of black paint. It was very handy for utensils tho.

And if you are NOT watching the show on HGTV called Flea Market Flip, you need to do so. I love seeing how these people transform things into really cool stuff. Well, maybe I should say "usually" transform things into really cool stuff!

Imagine my surprise when a couple of years later I saw the identical table in a home decor magazine in an apartment in NYC! What are the chances of that!

I did that. I bought an old hotel silver one on ebay.

ljwrar-where did you find the green & white tile and matching pear green wall tiles in your bathroom?! I love the blue commode with the green tile. It looks so fresh and new! It makes my heart glad when someone steps outside the box and makes such a permanent statement. So many play it safe and end up with meh.

My best repurposed item to date is using an old Kohler CI sink as a garden sink. I built a frame and it works wonderfully for rinsing garden produce before it comes to the house.

I am battling the sin of envy this Sunday...
(Usually it's Sloth, which is my favorite of the seven...)

Below is one of my kitchen favorites. This is a vintage candy dish (divided) sitting on a silver holder. On the left is my hand soap, but on the right is a vintage sugar dish filled with water, 24/7.

Why water? Now you all who don't approve of cats on the counters, don't faint. lol It's because my Lizzie cat refuses to drink water out of a bowl and prefers the faucet. I got tired of that so I keep her own "bowl" of water next to the sink and that's where she goes to drink!

A child's pine nightstand was extended to become a vanity in a guest bath.

This vanity (below) is a repurposed dresser that was part of a bedroom set we bought as a temporary measure 18 years ago! The furniture has all been re-stained. The headboard is in one bedroom along with the armoire. The nightstands are in another bedroom along with this dresser in the bath. The tall chest of drawers was cut down and is now a nightstand in another bedroom and the cabinet containing the TV lift in the master bedroom.

This is part of the tall chest of drawers, split in two to provide the cabinet for the TV lift in the master bedroom.

mtnr, that's a very pretty pitcher. More graceful than ours. And shinier, too. ;)

"I am battling the sin of envy this Sunday...
(Usually it's Sloth, which is my favorite of the seven...)" bronwynsmom, that's one of the funnier things I've read anywhere on this website.

The tile is original to this 1931 house. The PO replaced the original green toilet with a white one. I found this green one on Craigslist. It matches the original pedestal sink and tub. The original fixtures do not match the wall tile - very common in this neighborhood!

You can even repurpose Tin foil! Crunch it into shapes, spray with primer and paint. When dry mount it onto a canvas.

sis3...great job on those broom handles....love it!

Not sure this qualifies as repurposing, but certainly recycling...I helped GF remodel her kitchen and I got her old kitchen cabs which we used to make DH's workshop.

DH found a rustic gun cabinet for the family room. He didn't store guns in it, so I added some plexiglass shelves to the inside and we use it as a curio for his western themed things.

When we redid the main bathroom, the vanity had an optional shelf, but I couldn't use it due to the plumbing. Instead, I cut it down to 8" depth. I found two candle sconces that I painted brushed nickle and used them as shelf brackets, and added the vanity board to it. Now it holds candlesticks and a basket with DH's contact lens stuff. Matches perfectly with the vanity!

I wanted a little garden gate, but couldn't find one suitable, so I turned a fireplace screen into the gate. Framed out the gate with 2x4's to fit the size of the screen, then screwed the screen into that frame and hung it on a trellis to enter into my garden.

Use a stack of old suitcases as storage & an end table in family room.

Put an old mirror in my unused living room fireplace, then placed candles inside. The candlelight reflects back from the mirror when they're lit. It's gorgeous. Also use a long, unframed rectangular mirror as a runner on my antique buffet that displays my fleur de lis collection.

Turned an antique 5 drawer dresser into my jewelry armoire, by adding ice cube trays for earrings, silverware dividers for necklaces and little boxes from IKEA for bracelets, etc. In the bottom drawer I have my heirloom keepsakes & holiday themed things.

I know there are a ton of other things, but my cold-addled brain is still too foggy to recall. Love the brilliant items shown here by all you wonderfully creative people!

My latest has been a round table. I found a pillow that was actually shaped like a large flower(Garden Ridge)and covered it in a leopard print fabric, and used feathers, braiding, and fringe to embellish. Since the legs were showing, I decided to paint them white and then use a dark brown glaze which gave an antique look. It's perfect for a little girls room!

No pic, but like old library card catalogs re-used as buffets.

mustangs, The wall is still empty over my great-nephew's crib.
What a beautiful art piece with so much sentiment.
I just forwarded the link to this post to my niece so that she could see your creation.

PO's built a tiny bathroom out of the existing tiny closet in the master bedroom.
When the shower base leaked and we found water had wicked up the closet walls, we knew we were going to go ahead and do a complete re-do of the master bathroom.
Finding a vanity that was small enough, but still had storage was an exercise in frustration.

I finally put to good use the small microwave cart we had used as a temp. fix until we got the cabs in the previous year.

Turned the microwave cart upside down, turned the drawer upside down, removed the plastic casters and added legs and now, it's the perfect fitting vanity, high enough for my husband, for our tiny bathroom.

Apologies....it's been a couple years since I've been here and I'm afraid I've forgotten how to post a picture.

It was cost prohibitive to make it a working organ again, so I had granite installed in place of the keyboard. The restorer did some research from the gold markings and determined it was made in Chicago in 1848. The organ has moved with us to four homes since then, serving either in a dining room or foyer.

In this home the organ resides across from the powder room, usually with a silver or crystal dish of mints or chocolates on it.

The print and frame was also from her house--a friend "painted over it" with oil paints, although it is behind glass.

My son had this base from a lighted table that got destroyed. I turned a copper vase upside down, pounded holes in it and husband reassembled.

My planter was purchased from a shop that sold fountains. They broke the upper part where the water cascaded, and were selling the slate water basin portion at the crazily discounted price of $12.50. It was a clearance/overstock store, and their price for this fountain in complete condition was more than $500.
It is quite heavy, and as they were helping me load it into my car, the store owner asked what I was going to do with it. When I explained that it would make a beautiful, waterproof planter for my house, I could see he was thinking "Why didn't I think of that?" The store sold live plants, too. lol

I found an inexpensive window frame mirror on sale at HL. I threw away the mirror, bought a cheery poster for it, added glass and this poster cut to fit it. It achieved my goal for a window looking out onto some port scene in the south of France ( it's actually a scene from California) . But it still needed something more IMO. So, I took a pair of old shutters and painted them purple to work with the new room colors. Repainted an old shelf also and hung the whole grouping together on her wall. DD loved it and I got the look I was going for, for only about $35.

I'd wanted to have a window seat built in her room and have it flanked by bookshelves. We used 2 stock upper kitchen cabs , because I wanted the easy access of doors into the storage areas rather than a window seat with the tops that lift up for access. We bolted them together and had a solid surface countertop made for it. I made the seat cushions for the top of it, making them extra thick to use as an extra bed for sleepovers. We also used stock cabs to build her a dresser/hutch combination on one side of the new window seat and a bookcase on the other side of it.

Just an FYI, instead of a regular end table to hold a cup of tea and her book, etc. while sitting on her window seat, I used an small, old wrought iron cafe table and chair, like you might find outside at a Paris cafe. I have no recollection as to why the chair but not the table is in this pic, because it's been there ever since (LOL)!
Lynn

and from old sweaters; just cut and sew.

Too much watching Antiques Roadshow ("this Tiffany vase used to be worth $60,000 until someone drilled a hole in it and made it a lamp, now it's $10") makes me a bit nervous but honestly I just don't have anything too nice to be repurposed!