Everything Old Is New Again

Now you’re going to have that song on your mind all day, right?  I like the Anne Murray and The Muppets version!

“Don't throw the past away
You might need it some rainy day...”

Not only is it fun to reuse some groovy object for something other than its original intent, it’s a great way to “recycle” or participate in “adaptive reuse.”

I bet if you look around your house, dig through that pile of junk in your garage, or, better yet, go over to Grandaddy’s barn, you are going to find something just FABULOUS that has been sitting around gathering dust. When you look at it in a new light, it will be something you  just can’t live without for another second.  It will be a EUREKA moment for sure!

My first experience with this came, like it does with many, with my very first house.  It was a rental over on Hodgson Drive in Athens and it was so cute and tiny. My roommate, Missy, and I didn’t have a stick of furniture to our names and we started sweet-talking our families out of bits and pieces of their excesses.

The first piece I actually bought was this rickety old wardrobe from the 1920s.  I found it in a back hall of the Alpha Gamma Rho house and bought it from a brother for beer money!  For a hefty $25 bucks we loaded it up in my ‘78 Impala and dragged it to the house to store our tiny television and VCR and loads of tapes.  We thought we were so very chic with our “entertainment center."  Ha! 

I’m not telling you how many years later it now sits in my foyer, painted with Cumberland Island scenes by my talented friend Bryn Adamson. It stores a whole lot of craft supplies that I have accumulated, but mostly just looks pretty in my foyer.

“Get out your white suit, your tap shoes and tails
Put it on backwards when forward fails…”

The really fun part about this kind of endeavor is the hunt, and the flowing of your creative juices in looking at something in a different way.

My friend Sarah went looking for a side table, preferably square, for her beach house TV room.  Her beach/rustic theme called for something antique.  She had several enjoyable hours poking around St. Simons' antique shops and little back alley “junk” stores around the Brunswick area, when suddenly she stumbled upon a stack of antique post office mailboxes.  Not only was the size and shape perfect, but the brass patina was fantastic and the open cubbies in the back allow for storage of games and other small items.

I fell in love with it the moment I saw it!  It reminded me of outings to town with my Pop to get the mail and stop off for some groceries and a Yoo-Hoo at Mr. John Goolsby’s grocery store in beautiful downtown Woodland, Georgia.

“Dreams can come true again
When everything old is new again…”

Ok,  I hereby issue you a fun challenge.  Oconee Patch readers would love to hear how you’ve used some object in your home or office or yard for something other than its original intent.  If you don't have anything, well heck, go find something!  Treasure hunting is fun!

Have a good time, and be creative!