Old made New

Old made New

There's a new arrival in the corner of my lounge. It's been a labour of love to make, and it's all made from recycled abandoned materials. I can be a bit handy with things like that.

I've had the table top for a while, when I scored two single bed heads from a local pub that was being demolished. They're solid rimu, which is a lovely native New Zealand timber, and I stripped the lacquer, removed the bedhead legs and joined them together to make a table top. While waiting for the right table legs to make themselves known, it got plenty of use as the most ridiculous cheeseboard ever.  

May I present the Over Achieving Housewife's Cheeseboard. I know, right? 
A Very Special Girlfriend was having her baby shower. I don't go to this much effort for just anyone.

Then, last week, after a visit to our local dump shop, the legs I was waiting for made themselves known!  I scored this old sewing machine frame (with original wooden top but sans the Singer machine), for just $3! I knew I was onto a winner, and I could see it fitting perfectly with a simple oiled wooden top, of which I just happened to have handy.

Fast forward a week, and it's done!  I removed the original wood top (which although lovely, was in poor repair with the oak veneer peeling and cracking), cleaned and repainted the frame a classic matt black. Last night I screwed the table top on the sewing machine legs, wrestled it upstairs to make a funky and compact workspace where I can get creative in the corner of the living room while the boys play. 

It's a tidy little corner, mostly because it's new.  I already have a sewing table, but we have a large house and it's away from our living area and I find it hard to keep an eye and ear on the preschoolers when I'm working on something. An added bonus is the Autumn afternoon sunshine streaming over my shoulder and warming my back. 

The very best part about my new table though, is how it reminds me of my Grandmothers. Before she married my Grandfather, (and eventually became a mother of eight), my Grandma was a seamstress in Ballentynes, a well known department store in Christchurch. She was 18 years old in 1947 when the building caught fire in what remains the deadliest fire in New Zealand history, however she and her workmates escaped unharmed, and I remember her telling me as a child that her manager calmly lead her and her fellow seamstresses to safety. 

My Nana was the original upcycler and Freegan, before it was cool. (In summer she would always carry a set of secateurs in the glove box of her car so she could clip her way into any blackberry thickets she might happen across.)  She had a big family too - six kids - and was an expert at making something out of nothing. My sewing machine was a gift from her, which makes it extra special. They've both passed on now, but whenever I sit at my sewing machine, I think of them both, so my new work table is a special place for lots of reasons.

I can't wait to see what I make here. Today I replaced the elastic in some chain-store trackpants so they fit my skinny hipped little boys better.  I'll be more inspired tomorrow.