I've always loved creating things from other people's trash.
Not necessarily trash such as milk jugs and packing peanuts, although that has happened - But more like items that people are planning to take to the Goodwill or broken pieces that people are trying to offload in their yard sales for $1. Growing up, my dad and granddad were always into thrifting/bargain hunting/picking, so naturally, I became rather fond of it all and begin doing it on my own as a sort of hobby.
A while back I came across a moving sale on the local ad listing site. I got there a bit late, as I had a few other things to do that morning, but lucky for me, there were a few things left - One being this awesome vintage Samsonite type suitcase! It was all wood with minimal damage and the interior was not only intact, but also didn't smell like moth balls! Double prizes! It was marked for $2, so I gave the guy the money and with a smile I turned and ran for the car.
Why did I run? Well, vintage suitcases are all the rage right now, so something like this could easily be flipped for $20...But I had other plans. This suitcase was about to be reborn into a super eclectic side table - a side table that any travel lover could geek out over!
A few months earlier, I had stumbled across an odd yard sale that had a box of 7 wooden table legs. The box was marked "$0.25 each" - but there were seven. So if we take a second and do a bit of math here, I would've bought 4 and left the guy to sell an odd number of table legs...no normal person was gonna come along and buy 3 matching table legs when they most likely need 4.
I knew that.
He was about to realize it.
So, being the obnoxious bargaining type that I am, I did what any other obnoxious bargaining type would do - I brought the odd number to his attention and offered him $1 for all of them. He gave the "ok kid, you got me" chuckle and agreed. I walked away from that yard sale feeling a bit richer, but I had no idea that I would come across such an incredible suitcase months later!
Once I acquired the materials I needed, I got to work!
I stripped the old fugly orange finish from the wooden legs, took a propane torch to the tops and bottoms of each leg and re-stained them a black Cherry. Later, I got to work on a paper template for the inside of the suitcase and used it to cut out a piece of 3/8" plywood, which I also torched and stained to match the legs. I drilled holes for the bolts in the legs to slip into and sandwiched the bottom of the suitcase between the plywood and the legs - this created the perfect sturdiness that every side table should have. I fastened a large diameter washer, lock washer and nut to each leg, snugged them up, step back and admired my work. It was beautiful. I used some Goo Gone on the outside of the suitcase to clean up what few marks were on the surface and to give it that nice "freshly oiled" look.
Now onto the fun part - Listing it for sale!
Amount of money invested: ~$4.50
Total amount sold for: $70
