Could that dresser become a kitchen cabinet? The art of upcycling old furniture

By KIM COOK

Maybe it’s a scratched-up old sideboard found at a yard sale and turned into a snazzy media console. Or a couple of well-traveled vintage trunks given a new home as bedside tables.

Designers and DIYers are breathing new life into old furniture, not just restoring but reimagining and giving hardworking pieces fresh purpose.

Sustainability, cost, aesthetics and sentimentality are all driving the trend.

The craftsmanship seen in many old pieces — solid woods, dovetail joints, paintwork perhaps — means you’re giving a second life to something already good. And there’s the satisfaction of having a decorative and/or functional piece that nobody else does.

“I think the patina and age of these pieces would be hard to replicate with newer pieces, and they make each of these feel special,” says designer Debbie Mathews Leroy in Nashville, Tennessee, who put a stone sink top on a rustic French table for a client’s powder room. She placed a marble top on a French bamboo cabinet in her own home’s guest bathroom.

Jessie Tristan Read, an artist and up-cycler in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, combines contrasting styles.

“I like to see an antique or vintage chest of drawers used in a chic kitchen,” says. “You immediately add warmth and charm while gaining great storage for utensils, linens, even pots and pans.”

How to buy vintage

Noel Fahden is a vice president at Chairish, an online marketplace for vintage art and home furnishings that has featured items like frames from the wooden wheels of old carts transformed into benches, architectural columns turned into candle holders, and lamp bases made from brass fire extinguishers and old railroad lights.

Fahden has some tips for buying vintage:

“Don’t skip the measuring tape — measure twice, then measure again. That dreamy vintage armoire loses all its charm if it won’t fit through your front door,” he says.

Ask questions and do research. Learning about a piece’s backstory might help you decide how — or how much — you want to transform it.

“And don’t overlook the finish,” Fahden cautions. “Sun fading, water rings or smoke damage can be costly -– or impossible -– to fix, even if the piece looks charming in photos.”

Courtney Batten of Paige Studio in Dallas says, “I generally steer clear of pieces made with MDF (medium-density fiberboard) or laminate or pieces that have clearly been in a smoker’s home.”

Make big changes, or hardly any

You can go big on the upcycling, removing interior shelves on a cabinet, say, or changing legs on a table, but you can also do just a tiny tweak.

“Swap out hardware” like knobs, says Read. “This easy trick creates a fresh look while keeping the piece intact. Or add a top. A butcher block or piece of marble atop that dresser-made-kitchen-island creates functionality.”

There was one common conversion many designers mentioned, but Batten’s cautious.

“Contrary to popular belief, repurposing a dresser into a bathroom vanity, while beautiful, isn’t actually very budget-friendly,” she says. “The plumbing modifications required often drive the cost up more than buying a new prefab vanity. So if you have your heart set on a vintage vanity, keep in mind that it’s for style, not savings.”

More repurposing ideas

Old general store, post office or watchmaker cabinets with lots of cubbies and drawers make great storage for stationery, toys, and craft and pet supplies. And if you come upon pieces with interesting advertising or stamping on them –- wooden soda pop crates, cheese boxes and sugar molds are often at vintage sales — you’ve got some art as a bonus.

You might turn old hat boxes into an artful wall of storage circles for accessories.

“Dressers can be turned into custom bar carts,” suggests Lisbeth Parada at Minwax in Westlake, Ohio, and hutches can be repurposed as drinks centers.

Parada has turned CD towers into jewelry organizers, and magazine racks into blanket holders.

“Old TV cabinets can now be found for free almost everywhere,” says Stacy Verdick Case, a furniture restorer and owner of Peony Lane Designs in Lindstrom, Minnesota. “They can be turned into coffee stations, craft closets or even mudroom storage. Old doors with detailed panels are perfect for headboards.”

If your piece seems too low for the purpose, Case suggests adding some chunky wooden feet to elevate it.

Short on closets? Consider turning an antique glass-door cabinet –- the kind where grandparents might put the good china on display — into a linens cupboard. Fold bedding and comforters to show off the nicest patterns.

Rugs and textiles

“If a rug is damaged, we’ll often salvage a portion and have it framed, turning it into affordable, one-of-a-kind art while preserving a piece of history,” Batten says.

Finally, artist Colleen Kelly has come up with a clever way to repurpose vintage textiles. Fully framed quilts and fabric yardage have been around for a while; they make interesting wall art. But this Palm Springs-based artist, who sells her work as HippieWild on Etsy.com, puts swatches of antique kantha quilts and 1960s textiles in various-size embroidery hoops. The slim profile wood circles showcase the piecework and patterns.

“It’s like painting,” says Kelly. “Each piece is unique.”