Tusks and All

I'm loving reading Brisbane based blogs Fun and VJ's & Make Mine Mid-Century.  I'm rediscovering through them architecture, furniture, fabrics, homewares, accessories & books from my childhood that I either thought were super cool or just plain old everyday that I never gave them a second glance.  These items have done a huge 360 and have gone from funky, where all the modern homes in the 70's had some pieces of cane furniture nestled in amongst some tribal accessories & green laminate, to ugly where these items have either been relegated to the tin shed, Vinnies or the hard rubbish collection pile.  Some items, like the ones pictured below, have been hiding out in my parents wardrobes awaiting their fate.  

Cane coffee table & ornate wooden elephant table lamp.

These coffee table used to sit out in the sunroom with the cane lounge whilst the lamp was in the lounge room, right next to the red glazed German pottery, which Mum tells me is long gone ... aaagh!!!

Coffee table?  Could it be cool again?  Spray painted perhaps?

When I was over at my parents recently the coffee table & lamp were out in preparation to be taken down to the local Salvos shop.  My parents are on first name basis with the ladies down at the Salvos as all of us kids and grandchildren use Mum & Dad as the intermediary in dropping off our charity donations & so they're dropping in a lot.  By doing this, we know that our items aren't festering away in some overcrowded smelly donation bin.  They're going straight to the shop.

As for the table & lamp, I told Mum to hold off sending them down to the Salvos.  I might just know some bloggy people who may be interested in giving them a new life ... or perhaps they might just have a big laugh at their expense.  Either way ... don't throw them out just yet.  What's another few weeks when they've have been hanging onto them for the past decade?

Salvos or salvage?  Can white paint fix this?  Or leave well alone?

So what do you think, oh stylish & interior design savvy bloggy friends?  Are the fates of these 70's cast offs sealed?  Is it to the Salvos?  Or could these items be incorporated into a modernised Queenslander with a few cosmetic changes?  Or should they be placed into the hands of more worthy people who will appreciate them for what they are, tusks and all?