Jessica Ackerman - Cottage furniture is beautifully rustic and typically features many warm, wooden tones or may be distressed, have a crackled finish, or a white-washed look.  The furniture found in cottage style is many times repurposed for something altogether different than what the furniture was originally intended for.  The ideas that follow will help you to outfit your home in cottage style while reusing items that you might otherwise discard:                         

• A discarded dining room chair can quickly be fashioned into a cottage style planter when you cut a hole in the seat and fashion a terra cotta pot inside. 
• An old armoire can be used to hold a TV, computer, or even your collection of china or other type of collection.  As space permits, allow the doors of the armoire to remain open to display your collection, or better yet, use glass to replace the door inserts. 
• An old potting bench can be repurposed to handily become a bathroom storage unit, a hutch for the dining room, a cottage chic bedroom bench, or as a baker’s rack in your cottage style kitchen. 
• An old, weathered kitchen step stool can quickly become a cottage style plant stand, or it can be used as a place to display a particular item that you are fond of. 
• Create the perfect desk for your home office or teenager’s bedroom by reusing an old kitchen table.  Beneath the table (or even on top of it) you can stack wicker baskets, vintage suitcases, hat boxes, and wire baskets to store various items.