"Re-purposed" Drop Leaf Table

I was so impressed by this project that I wanted to share it on the forum.

Yesterday, a truly talented woodworker friend told me about an old 1930-40's solid mahogany drop leaf table that belonged to her in-laws. They had no further use for the table but she just could not part with it. She was looking for twin beds at the time and decided to use the table sides for the headboards. She added legs to raise the headboard height and then attached metal bed frames. The leaves were exactly the right width for the twin beds and she loves the patina on the wood. Naturally, the solid mahogany headboards are better than anything she could have purchased.

What projects have you refinished or "re-purposed"? Ideas for re-purposing?

In 1987 I had just become the very first of J.L. Treharn & Co.'s dealers and needed a table for my new bride and mine's home. Like all newlyweds, we didn't have much money. Jerry had brought a load of furniture out to me and in that mix was a 72" x 36" Tiger Maple Stretcher Base table with a black painted base for floor stock. Well, they slipped on the back of the truck when unloading it and the table hit the concrete and cracked the top, end-to-end right down the middle. The top was basically ruined at that point, and the base had chatter marks. I said to Jerry - "Sell me that table!" Jerry said "Its toast - what are you going to do with it?" I said "I'll make it work, I just need it cheap." So he did at roughly 1/3 the price of a first quality unit.

I took the table home and removed the top, as well as the breadboard ends. Using proper Woodworkers glue I ran a channel of glue all along the seam and clamped the table top hard using (4) bar clamps. Let it dry a day, then put the top on my workbench and using a Stanley Model 50 bullnose plane, scraped the top to bare wood. Then, using Aniline dyes, shellac and toner coats, I put a custom finish on the top, and touched up the base where it had gravel bumps in the black paint. Put it all back together and put it in our dining room.

About three months later Jerry Treharn comes over with another load of furniture and I ask him to come over to my house, I had something I wanted to show him. (I was ALWAYS cranking on them for their lousy oil-based tiger maple stains they put on their pieces.) Jerry comes into my home and sees the dining room table and he says "Wow - that's a beauty, I've never seen tiger maple like that...who's the maker of the table?" When I told him that HE was the maker of the table he about flipped out - then remembered I had bought the damaged one. That day was the end of his old finish....we went into my garage and I fixed him up with all the dyes and toners I had used to take back with him to Ohio and that became the J.L. Treharn finish you see on the pieces today (Jerry did modify some aspects of it to speed up drying time, but its essentially the same).

And 24 years later, we still eat dinner on that same table, every day. The finish is a bit worn now on the top, but it still looks pretty good.

Duane, I am SO envious. Can you post a picture?

Throughout our long-married life, our home furnishing philosophy has been to "buy the best quality we can afford even if we have to do without something else for awhile". This has served us ever so well because our furniture lasts and has taken the abuse of over 20 moves.

I made it my mission to work on the "something else". Soon after my husband and I returned from our first Army tour in Germany with babe in crib, we needed furniture desperately. (See our philosophy above.) Although I had never refinished furniture, I bought several how-to books and began looking for furniture to fix up or refinish. Of the many pieces I refinished over the years, I am still using some almost 40 years later. Our children also have some of these now that they have families of their own.

I restored a beautiful mahogany veneered chifferobe in the mid-80s. Last year, no longer needing this and the children not wanting it, I traded to have part of my house painted in exchange for the chifferobe. (Keith still "owes" me 5 hours of painting:D.)

Just before Christmas, I visited our local Habitat for Humanity Resale Store and found a table that came from the local Hilton hotel. It is 30" x 60" with a solid 1 1/2" mystery wood top and beautifully turned 4"x4" post legs. I have no idea what the top wood is but it must weigh 50 lbs!!! The legs are very very heavy also. I have just refinished it as a dining table for my daughter and her husband and will be delivering it to their new apartment this weekend. The amazing thing is that this table only cost $10.00!

I cannot wait to find my next project.

I'd love to see a photo of both of your re-purposed pieces!

When my daughter was born in 1991, I thought all the baby changing tables in the stores were junk (they were). No way my brand new baby girl was going to be placed atop a flimsy $ 59 changing table from China! I had to make my own. So I spent many nights in the garage while my wife was in her third trimester making The Mother Of All Changing Tables.

I got a little carried away.

It was made of Solid Mahogany, Solid Cherry, and Solid Maple. I put turnings on it instead of straight cut spindles. It had drawers in it. I hand-carved my daughters name and date of birth in it. All made from scratch, on the fly. At the end of the project, it was so heavy that I could not get it the house by myself. A 150 lb changing table. For a baby. New Dad's tend to go a bit over the top, yes? But it sure was stable.

It had a short usage life, just two years for her and two years for my son (born in '93). By '95, it was sent to the basement, collecting dust. One of my store customers whom I liked a lot became pregnant and mentioned that she needed to set up a nursery so I gave it to her to use. She laughed when she saw it.....no idea how over the top it was. It has been passed around to so many homes now with new babies I have no idea who has it now...it never broke, never wobbled and everyone down the line wanted it. It just keeps getting forwarded to a new baby household.

I should have taken a photo of it...