Don't Throw Out That Table, Transform It!

It's Transformation Tuesday!

This weeks transformation is a simple project I did a while back.  I have a sofa table that was being used as a television stand in my living room.  Although it worked great, there was not enough storage to hold the cable box, DVD player and it was a little to tall.  So, as I was looking at it one day a light bulb went off in my head!

Now, I love to repurpose things, mainly because it's cheaper than buying new but also because I never seam to find exactly what I'm looking for when sourcing products, and when I do it's usually costs way more than I'm willing to spend!  Any item, weather a piece of furniture or an accessory, can be altered and repurposed to fit the intended need.  In the case of the sofa table all it needed was to be shorter in height and have a shelf for storage, easy fix!

So here is my sofa table before the transformation. It was about thirty inches tall and had an open Cabriolet,  (Queen Anne) leg design that I liked. The simple design and distressed finish is elegant but also casual, so it worked well in my very "lived in" living room.  Our TV gave out, so we had to buy a new one. Of course, it ended up being a bit larger than the old one, so there was no room for the equipment on top as I previously had it.  I also wanted to hang a display of five botanical pictures on the long wall above the TV, however the height of the TV and table made it difficult to place the pictures so they wouldn't be hidden behind the TV.  After the light bulb went off,  decided to cut the legs of the table down and add a shelf for storage.

Sofa table before transformation

I figured out how high I need the table to be and proceeded to cut out about a twelve inch portion of the  legs making sure to save the feet.  I would use these later, under the new shelf.

Funny looking now, but just wait!

As I was figuring out how to add the shelf and feet my wonderful hubby entered the room! He just shook his head, "What are you doing now?" It really shouldn't surprise him to find me knee deep in a project….and he seams to always have a much better, and easier, way to accomplish what I start out to do!

His ingeneous method was to add the shelf first, making it the same size as the top of the table, and fastening the leg to the top of the shelf, then adding the feet to the underside of the shelf. All attached with wood screws. That idea got him a special dinner!

Since this shelf was not original to the table, I had to match the distressed finish from the rest of the table.  This was not very difficult. I just used some left over cream paint, added some distressing with my putty knife and some gold accent paint and called it a day!

I am very happy with the result.  All the issues were addressed and the gallery wall above the TV really makes a focal point.  If I was to even find a table like this in the right size, it would cost a small fortune.

This project cost me nothing but an hour of cooking!

I hope you got some inspiration here to find something you can repurpose or refinish from what you already have.  So don't throw out that old thing…find it a new home!  If you think you could use a piece you already have but not quite sure what to do or how to use it, send me a photo, I'd love to help!

What are you going to transform today!

Tina