Restoring and repurposing furniture is a popular trend. You're at a garage sale, and buy a $10 dresser because you see it’s potential. Inspired by HGTV or Pinterest, you know you can transform it to a thing of beauty. Months later the dresser is still in the garage.
It's not easy deciding what furniture stays, and what goes. Recently we finished our lower level and some furniture decisions needed to be made. For the past few years we saved furniture we thought we could use. One of the pieces was an old Singer sewing table (minus the sewing machine.)
Many years ago, my husbands’ father owned a furniture restoration shop called “Nick the Stripper.” Yes, I'm serious. He refinished some great pieces in his time, but after he passed away and the shop was cleared out, this table came home with us. We used it to hold a lamp or family photo. It had room for 4 drawers but 2 were missing. I still found it charming and knew one day I could fix it up, although I hadn't yet, and now I didn't have a spot for it.
Unsure if my husband would part with it, I addressed the issue with him, and we agreed we would let go of it. After all, it was not a family heirloom, just a table his dad never got the chance to fix up. The next day the table was posted and sold for $30. What happened next, I couldn't believe.
My husband drove to St. Paul to deliver the table. The buyer stepped out of his truck. He was an older gentleman wearing a Veterans hat. Instantly Nick, my husband, thought of his dad, also a Veteran. Nick introduced himself and soon learned the guy purchased old sewing tables and fixed them up as a hobby in his retirement. He proceeded to show Nick pictures of tables he had restored. Obviously he had a passion for this, and his work was beautiful. Forty-five minutes flew by as the two of them found other common things to talk about.
When Nick returned home to share this story he explained to me it was almost as if he had spent a few minutes with his dad again. I could tell he felt completely satisfied with the experience of letting go of the table. It wasn’t about the $30 either. A week later he received a photo of our table completely redone. It was beautiful. We both felt great about our decision to let go of the table.
I encourage you to consider what you might be storing for "one day". Perhaps you would be better served to give it new life by letting it go.