From Obsolete To Something Neat | uttenreitherdesign

An artful industrial repurpose.

John Uttenreither

Designer, builder, husband, father...

But what do you do with an object like this. Once the embodiment of usefulness in action, now stilled by generations of advancement.

My son Ben and I thought it would be fun to focus our attention on giving this beautiful artifact a more timeless use. The remnants of a 1930's water pump, certainly not a sexy contraption by name. But the artful industrial form does have an attraction.

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It may be sitting, collecting dust in your basement or barn, or forgotten as yard art, smothered in weeds out back. Machine age artifacts are too interesting to just throw away, and echoes of historic romance won't let you toss them either.

Industrial decor has gained status as a classic design style, so giving the old pump

new life as an accent table, just may render it nearly immortal as an eye catching decor piece.

The design came to me from memories of working at a boat manufacturer when I was a teenager. The large motors came in bolted to an oak stand, painted right along with the motors. You could start one up and run it just sitting on it's temporary stand. So my inspiration was the simple, functional, industrial design I remembered.

I wanted to keep the impression of age so we used a deep distressed, aged finish.

And so not to distract from the wonderful form of the industrial artifact we kept the finish monochrome.

The glass top is also designed to keep your focus on the industrial object. To learn my favorite place to order glass see the post about DIY Wagon Coffee Tables.