I have a hard time throwing anything away and am always trying to repurpose and redo any random piece of furniture I can find. This vintage singer sewing machine table was gifted to me and instantly I knew I wanted to make myself a makeup vanity. Being the first piece of furniture I attempted at repurposing there definitely was a learning curve! Hopefully these photos and semi-instructions can inspire and help anyone else looking to start on a repurposing DIY.
To start the table didn’t look like much, the drawers were full and the top veneer was peeling off, the base was rusty and the sewing machine was still inside. Don’t let a little rust and dirt stop you from seeing the true potential in these old pieces of furniture! A little elbow grease goes a long way.
To start, just assess how you need to get the piece down to its bare bones. Does veneer need to be taken off? Sanding? Major pieces removed? I began by simply disassembling and cleaning the piece.
After taking the machine out, drawers out and figuring out how to take the top off from the base I used a chisel to remove the veneer, some of which I did heat up with a iron to help remove easier. Luckily, underneath the veneer was a wood and grain that I liked even more! From one DIY’er to another, keep all of the screws in a plastic bag or jar, and if you really need to, draw a diagram of what pieces go where for when you go to put the piece bag together.
The easiest part was refinishing the base. After scrubbing it with a kitchen sponge, I used rust oleum hammered finish spray paint to redo the base.
The biggest problem I had to face was creating a storage area for makeup where the sewing machine used to fold in. I ended up removing enough screws (which sometimes when trying to figure out how these older pieces are put together takes a lot of trial and error!) and was able to completely remove the rounded base.
After removing the base for the sewing machine, I finished removing the veneer and sanded and filled in any dents or imperfections in the top with wood filler and used wood glue to fix any loose pieces coming away from the main body.
At this point I focused on finishing the drawers, which were simple enough. I removed the older wooden handles, patched the holes, sanded and painted. I did eventually find different handles that I liked at Hobby lobby which has been my number one choice for finding knobs and handles, especially when they are running a 50% off deal.
In order to refinish the top part of the soon to be vanity, I placed it back onto the stand which allowed me to get a 360 degree access to the piece without having to worry about moving or touching it directly. After sanding and washing the body I painted it with a flat white paint, and stained the top with rust-oleum stain in the color Kona. After the stain was dry I put on a couple layers of clear coat, the smoother the surface the easier it will be to clean all of the powdered and pigments! At this point I also had to decide how I wanted to create a base for the main area under the top lid to store makeup. I used 1×2’s and created a frame that I attached a piece of ply wood to in order to create a box. I then attached this box to the bottom of the sewing machine, as can be seen in the picture below. To tie it in to the rest of the piece and give it a more finished look I added some trim to the bottom of the box and stained it in the same color as the top.
As finishing touches I also added decorative appliqués that can be found at any menards, Home Depot or Lowe’s, I’ll post some links below. Using wood glue and clamps I added these decorative pieces on prior to painting the final coats of white.
For another finishing touch I added the knobs that I purchased at hobby lobby and added a mirror to inside of the top drawer. The mirror that I found was on sale at meijer, but mirror is fairly cheap and can be found at most glass shops and hardware stores and cut to size. To finish off the edge of the mirror I added some decorative ribbon, small trim could also work if the mirror was the right size. Chain or a elbow bracket could be used to ensure that the top of the vanity doesn’t open up all of the way and hit the wall, causing any scuffs or scrapes.
For wooden appliques, look at these sites:
https://www.homedepot.com/s/wood+applique?NCNI-5
https://www.menards.com/main/search.html?search=wood+applique
Designer Deputy 