Re-purposing antiques within your home

I want to share a fun experience with all of you that makes me smile everytime I think about it. About a year or so ago I met this young man and visited his home that I was in at the time of the construction stage. But all furniture and accents within his home were new and from trendy name stores. He had no idea about decorating with antiques or about using one thing for another purpose.

 Let's get one thing straight before I go on. He had good taste in new decorative merchandise so it wasn't to hard to sway him our way.  Now after talking with him about different ideas, he agreed OK  “go at it and show me what I can do instead”. 

 We first started with replacing his dinning room table with a 8ft dough box in original red paint form the 1800's and covering it with a 10ft sheet of glass so the inside could be exposed. (We have done this kind of table before with lots of fun things.)

 We kept the trendy chairs and just re covered them with grains sack to bring them down to the level of the bin. Then added a green country bench for one side  Great fit with this modern and old combination I must say. We added a few more antique accents to the room. He put his own touch in the center of the box with wine bottles and corks. I loved it ... Young thoughts in older pieces!

 Without boring you by going on and on I wanted to show you some pictures that will explain themselves. This transformation  was with the help of antique bins, ladders, signs, etc.. all of which make his home now unique. We also did some fun re-purposing of things to create the decorative accents through out the house.

 If your wondering the cost for all this ? It wasn't any different than going to the trendy stores and buying decorative items and in most cases a lot less. You can re-uses items even withing your home now to re- decorate. Example: Take an old ladder and use it in the bathroom for towels and maybe a basket? What I am trying to say is use your imagination!

 I want to share one last thing with you. After about a couple of months he already wanted to change certain items. At that point we bought things back from him and he did. The point is that when you decorate with antiques and collectibles there is always a secondary market for them. It's like decorating with an investment benefit.

 I want to thank B.R. for letting us into his home and sharing it with you.

 As you all probably know by now I in my own home do some over the top decorating. Some things work and some things don't but I never let it stop me from trying to use one old thing for another new purpose. And look it can happen to you too.

 Donna

 Final note I swear! We took the old dinning room table and cut it down to coffee table size and because it to had a piece of glass on it. It's now serves as a coffee table with a memory board on top. Everything can re used.