New Life for an Old Piece

A worn farm table serves a new function as two nightstands.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but sentiment is definitely a close cousin.

The old farm table in my house was a hand-me-down from my mother, who had received it from her parents. Even my grandparents didn't purchase it new. They found it on a goat farm they owned three decades ago. Its history before then remains a mystery, but its future in the Mercer home was clear: It had come to the end of its life as a kitchen table. In my family, though, you don't throw something away that has been passed down. Emotional attachments beat practicality any day of the week.

I decided the table could still be useful if its function changed. We transformed it into two night tables for a bedroom. Because the piece was extendable, the job was simple. We just removed the two leaves, and, taking a cue from a previous Southern Living project, my husband cut the table in half.

Next, I sanded and painted the two halves a dark shade of brown to closely match the finish on the headboard in our room. Using 3-inch-long L-brackets, we attached the tables to the wall on either side of the bed. A level helped us to position the tables properly, and the screws are secured in the wall by anchors.

One of the table leaves, painted off-white and mounted on inexpensive brackets above the bed, makes a perfect shelf for displaying art, books, and other accessories.

The project was budget friendly because the only purchases were paint, brackets, and screws. But better than the price was how quickly it came together-it took only a weekend to finish. And best of all, the nightstands have history. They may not be heirlooms or expensive antiques, but the original table once served a purpose in the lives of my beloved grandparents, and that makes these pieces priceless.

AMY BICKERS MERCER

TEACH OLD FURNITURE NEWTRICKS

The secret to great design is looking at things in a new way. Don't pigeonhole your furniture in one place when it could easily play a starring role in another room. Here are a few ideas.

* Take a baker's rack out of the kitchen, and put it between two twin beds. Fill the shelves with books, framed pictures, or baskets.

* Turn a set of bookshelves on its side, and attach locking casters to the bottom. Place baskets inside each shelf to act as cubbies, and locate the unit near a back door. The top can serve as display space, or place a cushion on it for extra seating.

* Top two nightstands with a piece of plywood to create a desk. Leave enough space between the nightstands for a chair to fit. Paint the plywood to match the nightstands. For extra display space, have glass cut to fit the plywood, and arrange photographs, fabric, or wallpaper underneath.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Sep 2004
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