Give Old Furnishings a New Purpose

By Susan Kleinman

Raji Radhakrishnan (www.rajirm.com) drove hundreds of miles in search of a classic round center hall table for her Brambleton, Virginia, manor house. From antique shop to antique shop she traveled, willing to spend top-dollar for a piece that would make just the right style statement in her home. On her way back from the fruitless trip, she popped into a church flea market — and spotted this Queen Anne dining table.

"Somebody was selling it dirt cheap," Radhakrishnan recalls, "and although the top needed some refinishing, the legs were in great shape. I thought I might as well take it home. It would actually be pretty boring in a dining room," says the designer. "And if I left the leaves in, it would look like I had put a dining table in the middle of the hallway. But with the leaves out, and the light hitting it just right, it’s magic." A dining table could also be used as a library table (and vice versa), says Radhakrishnan. And if the table is small enough and the room large enough, a breakfast table could work quite nicely next to a bed.

"To me," says Radhakrishnan, "it absolutely does not matter how much one paid, or what a piece of furniture is really intended for. All that matters is whether it works well in the space."

Photograph by Raji Radhakrishnan.