Make New Things, but keep the Old

I got a call from my good friend Michelle the other day.

She said, "Kirsten, I was out jogging and my neighbor is throwing away an old table. You should come by and check it out. It looks like something you would fix up and keep."

I was on my way home from a soccer game and decided "what the heck?".

When I arrived at the house, it was dark but I could see potential in this dilapidated thing. It was missing the center board and quite wobbly. It definitely needed some love.

Nothing a few nails, wood and some paint couldn't cure ~ so home with me it went!

Wow, Vince was surprised when he came back from his business trip and found he couldn't park in the garage because a 'piece of junk' was occupying his parking space. Nothing like a little incentive to get him to "help" me restore this more quickly! I had wood already cut and ready for hammering. I even had poison to treat the wood for any critters that I didn't want to take residence in my home. He sprayed and hammered. I cleaned and painted.

Here are a couple photos of the table BEFORE:

Here are a couple photos of the table AFTER:

I painted it a lovely shade of robin egg blue (not the official paint color by the way) and purposely went light to allow the old wood grain to show through. I wanted to keep the rustic character of the table so I painted in a flat finish and rubbed off a few areas. I painted the legs and base in a creamy ivory. I then used a light coat of polyurethane satin finish over the entire thing.

I am moving into my "art studio" to enjoy!

Creating Something New from Something Old

I love old "junk" and finding a new purpose for it! Of course, this means my basement is full of treasures I haven't quite figured out how to use yet! :) Last summer I fell in love with these tattered old windows that my friend Shawn was selling at her silo sale. Loved them! At first I envisioned them being used in my garden some how - perhaps a screen? some amazing ivy creeping through the broken panes? But I could never quite "find a fit" within my yard.

So they sat in my basement.

I pondered the idea of using them with photographs too but couldn't quite figure out how since the glass was murky, some panes completely broken and cracked. And placing a photo in each square was a little too "matchy matchy" for my tastes.

So they sat in my basement a bit longer.

After months of waiting, I finally got my hubby to move a piece of furniture that was on this wall to another room --- and voila! I developed my new vision for these windows! I am not quite finished ~ the rest will come with time. I have a couple of cool architectural pieces I want to intersperse between the photos and I really want to find the initial R in a funky (preferrably antique) finish. I will post some pictures as it develops into the "final" piece!

If you have any cool suggestions or links, please leave me a comment!