As a designer, I begin with what exists, considering its possibilities before proceeding to buying new. When an initial inventory is taken of my client’s furnishings: the sizes, the functions, the various uses, I expand on ideas. Often new clients want to replace what they have. They are tired of the look they have. But they haven’t really studied the possibilities. The end result of a finished home (and commercial space) is usually a combination of new and ‘adjusted’ original furniture.

Furniture doesn’t have to fit into a particular room it is known for. Take a bed side cabinet for instance. It’s not only good in a bedroom. Small cabinets are good in bathrooms, in children’s rooms, the base for a large plant behind a big chair in the corner, in nooks where you can’t add a large piece of furniture, even inside closets. A small cabinet can house garden tools on the back porch, if given a good coat of sealer to protect it. By taking a cabinet out of the bedroom, and seeing it as box on legs, other possibilities bloom. This is true of almost all furniture.

Once a piece works in size and function for a space, then I imagine the various finishes suitable for the planned interior. I take out drawers and put shelves into dressers. I open up the back of a bookshelf and use it as a room divider. Or I upholster a chair with quilted checks, painting one leg a different color. I have fun.

The more ways I consider, the more possibilities exist in furniture re-use. Sure we can go out and buy something new, yet we can’t buy back history or the skill of previous craftsmen!