Trash To Treasure
 

I'm really interested in hearing if any of you are like me, I love to repurpose and reuse garage sale or flea market items in my sewing room. Would love to hear your ideas!

i needed to raise a thrift store table to make a cutting table. Instead of running out to the store to get bed elevator things or whatever they are - I went out in the garage and got 4 paint cans. Lol worked great!!!

I got a mauve kitchen counter "thingy" that spins and has lots of holes in it for utensils from a yard sale. It now sits on my sewing table holding all my pens, pencils, scissors, etc. I also got a wooden shadow box that had plexiglass on it. It now is on my wall, minus the plexiglass, and holds my mid-arm threads and pins. I have 2 lawyers bookcases (1 from an estate sale and 1 from Craigslist) that hold most of my fabrics. Oh and DH brought home 2 plexiglass storage cabinets from the store he works at. They have locks on them. I put pretty paper on the shelves and store my extra rotary cutters and scissors in them on my sewing table (keeps the grandkids safe).

Diannia

Diannia

I got a library table (extremely study) at an auction for $65. We cut a hole in it, and recessed my machine. Hadn't sewn with a "built in" for 25 years, and forgot how GREAT it is!

the whole sewing room...lol

Lol love these answers, thank you!!

I have a cutting table from Hancock fabrics. The whole huge cutting table that they used in the store. When they closed the store they had it sitting outside marked 25 bucks, they told me just to take it no charge. Awesome!! However the thing weighed a TON thought hubby and my boys were going to lose it taking it to my sewing area in the basement.

Alas when I gave up that area for the Steeler man cave they refused to carry it up two flights of steps, Imagine that. :) We use it now in the bar area it has two huge deep shelves - great for storage!

Everyone in my family knows to ask me if they can throw something in the trash. "It ain't garbage, until Mama says it's garbage!":D

Hehehe I'm a thrift store junkie. I made curtains for my daughters bedroom out of a hot pink and zebra sheet I picked up at Goodwill! Plus I have leftover I'm going to use for applique pillows!

I have orphaned treadle drawers on my table and they hold my scissors, rotary cutters, marking pens and pencils and another one that just seems to be a catch all for lots of things. I have a rolling kitchen cart from IKEA that holds all the supplies for whatever I am currently working on.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30216536/

My sewing table is a 40"x60" mahogany executive desk, that I found at a thrift store for $75. My husband cut a hole for my machine, built a recessed shelf for my machine, and then cut an inset piece to fit around my machine. My cutting table is the sideboard that came from my husbands family, which we used as a buffet for many years, then a changing table when our youngest was born. Now it serves as my cutting table. A place where I used to work had a pressed wood (covered with Formica type stuff) that the legs broke off of. I asked for the top as they were throwing it away. Brought it home, put a piece of the non-skid stuff that you put under rugs on top of the sideboard, then the conference table top, then another piece of non-skid, then my cutting mat....perfect height, perfect depth....lots of storage.

Talk about reusing. These are actual pics from my sewing room. LOL

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OK Bella Boo - you win!!!!

When I was young and rather broke, our town had one night a year for each section when people could put out anything they wanted to dispose of. I got a large kitchen worth of cabinets with which I transformed my basement into a fine sewing area. Other people put out carpet, light fixtures, etc. to make it a lovely work area. My Dad and I were regular raiders on those nights.

Lol I agree!!!!

QM, when I was as nanny in Chicago area there were neighborhoods that did the same thing. when I finally left my family (nanny family) to go out on my own I furnished my whole apartment from alley days!! It was such fun. My hubby and I are still scavengers at our ripe old age!!!

Ok lol I confess. I try not to but sometimes at recycling I go dumpster diving. People throw out great books in the hardback book dumpster -- and if its a quilting book -- forget about it!! I'm there

I got the bottom of a kitchen cabinet (2 door), used the top of junked entertainment center, covered that with a mattress pad and then teflon fabric from Joanns (the only purchased part) and made the most wonderful quilting iron table. It is large on the top so can hold a lot of pieces or iron large pieces easily. Plus, lots of good storage below!

I do have an advantage because my DH is very creative and imaginative. I have many items that are "reused" for a different purpose.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about this. I am getting ready to do up a sewing room and a shop for my repairs. I have mainly found cool stuff at the thrift store or stuff we have had around. I picked the trash last week - there was an ironing board with legs that had gone pretzel. I took off the legs and the cover. Then I hung the ironing board on the wall. I haven't figured out if pegs will go in the holes or not but magnets sure do stick. I should paint it up cool some time. For now it is gray. I also found a wood medicine cabinet at a thrift store - it holds tons of stuff. The towel holder holds stuff, too. I use an old sewing table with a Formica sink cut out for my work bench. I look forward to more ideas here!

My favorite find is a long dresser without a mirror from Salvation Army. There are drawers on either end. The middle section has two small doors. When the doors are opened, there are three pull out drawers, PERFECT for holding spools of thread. I cleaned it up with furniture polish and new drawer pulls, etc. Then I painted the back of the dresser with the same color paint as the walls, and used 3M hooks for storing rulers, mats and so on. On top of the dresser is the Big Board for ironing. There's lots of storage, and it looks great, too.

HAY!! sideways: Go to the paint store and ask them for new ones{ let them know your are a crafter and they may gave them to you } and put some rock in them. the ones with paint in them will at some point leak and you don't have time to stop and remover paint [will take up to much quilitng time.]. the cans are great idea. my was 4x4's

You can slide plastic pipe over table legs to raise them, too. Much more sturdy than setting the legs on something else.

If you like the repurpose idea..ya' gotta' watch Flea Market Flip, on HGTV, I believe it's on Friday nights @ 9:00. Check your local TV Guide. It is SEW much fun to watch, & you get good ideas! They make tables, cabinets, etc out of all kinds of neat items!

miriam: try curtin hock [some of the bigger ones that you can binded you kind pull them out and make thread holds ] in your ironing borad.

My sewing table is a 40"x60" mahogany executive desk, that I found at a thrift store for $50 it is L shaped and hubby intends to recess my machine too! wow

I have some hooks like you are thinking but they don't go in the holes - the end is too long. I'm thinking they might have to be bent.

Trash to treasure repurposed..
 

This thread rack, was an old CD casette cabinet, quite narrow and not very useful..EXCEPT.. for my thread! A friend put pegs in a thin board & placed in the back..together we figured the spacing & tilt of the peg.
That round thing is the turntable from an old TV,a new top & I have a cutting mat that spins! for almost free, and those things are expensive. Repurpose is good!

My DH is very handy also. I bought 2 night stands a Salvation Army and he made me a sewing table like on the Sew Many Ways blog. I used antique wood thread spools that were his grandmothers to make the drawer pulls. My ironing board is on my grandparents dresser from when they got married in '36...I could go on:)

I went to the Salvation Army and got a computer desk with a huge top and shelves underneath. Cut a hole in the top and recessed my machine. All for a grand total of $25!

I didnt have anywhere to store my rulers. I was hanging them from a metal shower curtain ring on the wall. We have a rental property and when we evicted the tenats they left most of their belongings. In their stuff I found the perfect ruler holder. Dont have a clue what its really for, but it works great for my rulers. I do know its meatn for babies or baby related activites.

please do go on!!!!

picture???

My sewing table is my family's kitchen table from the 1950-1960's. It has enough history that I couldn't stand just getting rid of it or giving it away. Hubby built and attached a taller cutting station to it, using leftover throwaway wood from a job project.

My LQS uses long skinny fold-up tables as ironing boards. They are raised to an ironing board level by cutting PVC pipe that has a large enough hole to fit the legs into. This could be done to any table, just get the pipe the correct size to fit the legs into.

A little off subject, but I traded my small sewing room for a bigger room in the house. The small room is now a
Steeler man cave too. Go Steelers

We were in a Lowe's Hardware store and they were selling their base kitchen cabinets for 75% off because of some minor damage. We bought 3 sets and went to a Habitat for Humanity and bought a counter top for $19 to cover them, about 8' long. My son wanted to get rid of his desk in the same wood as the cabinets so I use that for my thinking desk, all the drawers have utensil dividers and they hold my cutters, scissors etc. I use baskets on top of the desk to hold current projects and fabric. The curtains are from a thrift store. Went to a hardware store and they were selling their wood cabinets and I painted it white and it holds about 500+ FQ's. Quilt tops go on top and in the cabinets below are batting and extra fabric. I have 3 of those white plastic roll cabinets with several size drawers and each one holds something like ribbon, elastic, thread, small scrapes etc. I repurpose everything. Our trash is just one small bag a week while our recycling can is filled to the brim.

Ellageo - your thread cabinet is beautiful. I love wood furniture that no one has destroyed by painting.

I use old coffee cups and other cups to store pens, pencils, scissors, and other sewing stuff.

My cutting table was once a changing table too. I added a wider top and use the drawers to store all my "stuff" required for cutting out quilt blocks.

I bought 2 legal size/2 drawer filing cabinets (oak, but someone had painted them!!!) at a garage sale for $10.00!!! DH built a frame to sit on each one, then we laid a sliding closet door on them.........My cutting table.....Total cost - $25.00!!!!!!!! I LOVE to "trash to treasure" --- DH doesn't like it -- said he lived poor all his life and refuses to let me do our living room with finds. :( :(

My sewing table consists of 4 lower Kitchen cabinets with a plywood top, re-purposing is the best!