One man's trash became these designers' serious treasures.
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1
Door as a Headboard
Media Platforms Design Team
In the master bedroom of a
Southern house, an antique door is the headboard, a trick designer Kay Douglass often uses to add interest while taking up less space in the room. "I'm so inspired by the Belgian antiques dealer Axel Vervoordt," Douglass says. "He is a master at taking old objects and turning them into art. An example of that kind of repurposing is the way we used those old doors. One was made into the master bedroom headboard, and the other we hung on a wall in the kitchen."
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2
Antique Bookcase as a Bar
Media Platforms Design Team
An antique bookcase doubles as a bar in this Manhattan apartment designed by Phoebe and Jim Howard. Glassware by William Yeoward Crystal.
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3
Suitcases as a Nightstand
Media Platforms Design Team
In the master bedroom of a Napa Valley ranch house designed by Ken Fulk, vintage Louis Vuitton suitcases are propped on wooden blocks to serve as a night table.
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4
Side Tables as Stools
Media Platforms Design Team
Designer Lindsey Coral Harper turned wire side tables from ABC Carpet & Home into stools in the kitchen of a Charlotte, North Carolina, house. "I sat on one and it held me, so I just whipped up some cushions for them," she says. "They're fun, like ghost stools – you see right through them."
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5
Vintage Chest as an Island
Media Platforms Design Team
Designer Annie Brahler upgraded a vintage demilune chest by adding rear cabinets and a marble top to create the central island in the kitchen of her Jacksonville, Illinois, Victorian. Stainless-stell range and hood by Thermador.
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6
Wedding Chest as a Washstand
Media Platforms Design Team
In a New Jersey cottage designed by Michael Aiduss, Farrow & Ball's Hague Blue is a background for the powder room's black washstand, adapted from an antique wedding chest and stand.
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7
Easel as a TV Stand
Media Platforms Design Team
To bring "lightness and ease" to this 1970s Palm Beach condo, designer Vicente Wolf took down interior walls and created a flexible loft-like living area. A Magasin Sennelier French oak easel on casters serves as a movable TV stand.
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8
Secretary as a Linen Closet
Media Platforms Design Team
In the bedroom of a 500-square-foot Georgetown row house designed by Mary Drysdale, an antique mahogany secretary is repurposed as a linen press. The sisal rug was painted in broad stripes to add a graphic counterpoint to the walls. Antique quilt from Fisher Heritage.
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9
Chest as a Coffee Table
Media Platforms Design Team
A chest is used as a coffee table in a New England farmhouse designed by architect Nate McBride and and Kari McCabe. It adds a vintage feel and provides some extra storage.
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10
Outdoor Planters as Tables
Media Platforms Design Team
In the study of an Atlanta, Georgia, house, the coffee table came from the garden. "I like to repurpose things," designer Kay Douglass says. "Those cubic coffee tables in the living room and the study are old outdoor planters, flipped upside down. They have a great chalky finish that's elegant in an old-world way. These are the things that give the house a twist."
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11
Antique Sideboard as a Bathroom Vanity
Media Platforms Design Team
In the powder room of Liza Pulitzer Calhoun's Palm Beach, Florida, house, an antique sideboard became a vanity. Walls are covered in Phillip Jeffries's Seagrass grass cloth.
I’m a web editor at ELLEDECOR.com, Housebeautiful.com, and Veranda.com. Show me something that’s metallic, lacquered, or textured and I’ll probably be obsessed with it. One day I hope to master the perfect gallery wall, mix prints effortlessly, and become the owner of a chic bar cart (I’m getting there!).