apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Ah, I'm a librarian and even we can't find them.

I love the coffee table idea!!!

Great idea, but the legs don't work for me at all. They don't fit the lines of the rest of the piece.

agreed, fabframes - those legs are not appropriate for that piece. look at the house tour posted about two posts after this one to see more modern legs matched well with card catalogs.

I LOVE card catalogs and antique chinese medicial herb/spice cabinets.
If I ever stumble upon one at a flea market, I'm buying it.

I was wondering to those who already own one, do you keep anything in them? If so, what?

It's a great refinish job and use of the piece - but I have to agree that the legs just aren't appropriate.

I have one that I found on eBay. I had a search out for MONTHS before one came up in driving distance. I do keep stuff in it. It's the organized approach to a junk drawer, kind of. I have (labeled) drawers for pens and pencils, stationery, receipts, small tools, batteries, chargers, camera stuff, and a graduate degree, among other things. Handy as hell.

I'd love to hear how the drawers are being used when it's a coffee table. I have two, one used as my desk (and hence storage is along the lines of what mollywtx does) and the other is legless and currently stores pants/misc.

WANT.
i'd stack two legless ones on top of the other at window sill height. they'd store my art supplies (the top of the upper one serving as a table for potted plants or as an extra work surface).

I rather like the looks of this, I guess it all depends on what it looks like in context of her place.

Map files/old blueprint cabinets are a good DIY coffee table too. I just have to get around to DIY-ing it :)

I just bought one from an industrial auction my university had (my dad bought one too), and while I'm not sure what mine will be used for (it's not even in my apartment -- my parents graciously agreed to hold onto it for the day I don't live in a shoebox), but my dad wants to use his in his shop -- shops have lots of different little things, so it's v. useful there.

The legs are wrong. Refinish came out nice.