The steel component of this compact table was salvaged from inside a cabinet on a production line in the now-shuttered General Electric Light Bulb Plant in Mattoon, IL. It was clearly fabricated for a very specific purpose in the factory’s in-house metal shop, but that purpose has been lost to the ages. I scrubbed off a couple decades of grease and factory funk, wire brushed away the scale, and added the old-growth hardwood slats to form the bottom shelf. This material was salvaged from a small machine shed on an old farmstead outside of Greenup, IL, now home to Hazel Anne Farm. (They’re doing cool work. Check them out on Facebook.)It measures 12.25” W x 18.25” L x 18” H. Picture it holding your current read and drink of choice next to your bathtub or your favorite chair. This would even function well as a small-scale coffee table in a scaled-down living space. Contact for purchasing info!

The top of this table is built from what was an 8’ Longleaf Pine beam, salvaged from a farm building somewhere near Maroa, IL. It was part of a collection of mixed reclaimed lumber that I purchased as a bundle. This beam was so ugly and seemingly dry-rotted that it almost went to the burn pile. However, on a whim, I sent it through the planer, taking approximately 1/8” off each side, and revealed some of the prettiest reclaimed woodgrain that I have found. The beam had a clearance cut on each end to allow it to fit up under the slop of a roof. These cuts have a slight convex to them, indicating that they were finished off with a compass plane. Somebody went to a great deal of trouble to make this beam pretty. In order to preserve those cuts, I chopped the beam in half and created a 4’ coffee table top with one curved angle on opposite corners. The modified trestle-style base, built from old-growth maple, salvaged from the structure of a small machine shed on a farmstead outside Greenup, IL, is angled to complement the layout of the top. This table is 16” tall and takes up a footprint of 2’ x 4’. Contact for me photos and purchasing details.

First off, while this piece could be useful in many applications, it is designed for the storage and enjoyment of a medium-sized vinyl record collection. The lower shelf will hold approximately 200 LPs, and the upper box is designed to hold most standard stereo receivers inside with room for a turntable up top. At 20”x36”, there’s plenty of room to also display the jacket of your “now playing” selection. The steel base of this table spent its past life supporting a Milwaukee/Delta combination table saw/jointer. The old-growth longleaf pine components were built using shelf boards salvaged from a storage area in a early 20th century commercial building in downtown Sullivan, IL. At 37” high, this is just an inch higher than a standard kitchen cabinet, the perfect height for dropping the needle on your favorite album. Again, this piece could be used for any number of other applications, but if you are going to buy it, you should probably just go ahead and start your record collection. Contact for purchasing information.

This table top is made from air-dried, “rustic” grade black walnut, with lots of wild grain figuring and a fair amount of lighter-colored sap wood blended in for character. It is 1.25” thick and features a mid/mod-appropriate thumbnail edge. It sits on vintage, mid-century steel and aluminum legs, salvaged from the now-defunct General Electric Light Bulb Factory in Mattoon, IL. At 7’ x 37.5”, it will comfortable seat 8, but it’s lack of bulk will keep your dining room feeling spacious and open. Contact for purchasing information.

I do have a few sets of these vintage legs, so if you like this style but are interested in a different specie of wood for the top, I can build to suit.