c.1909 W.W. Putnam Organ Co. Walnut Writing Desk

This was one of my first antique pump organ transformations made from this c.1909 W.W. Putnam Organ Company (Staunton, VA).  It was a beautiful solid walnut piece with a wonderful carved hutch top that sat on top of the base desk. I used an antique dropside walnut table to make the desktop and was able to find a way to retain the original keyboard keys, organ pull stops and the foot pedals into the overall design of this fully functional writing desk. The customer was very pleased with the final product that looked great in her home alongside her other antique pieces of furniture.  She told me that she remembered watching her grandmother play on a pump organ when she was a small child and it brought back good memories.

c.1860 Richard Hornbacker Melodeon Pump Organ Repurposed Into A Writing Desk

This circa 1860 Richard Hownbacker Melodeon Pump Organ has been my most memorable transformation pump organ to writing desk projects thus far.  As the ‘before & after’ picture depicts this was a beautiful rosewood inoperative pump organ cabinet when I purchased it.  I was able to carefully disassemble the pump organ in order to retain the original ivory & ebony keyboard keys which I was able to incorporate back into the converted organ writing desk.  I moved the rosewood keyboard shelving to the rear of the desk to maximize the desk space while retaining the original scroll cut rosewood sheet music holder.  Lastly, I then began to restore & refinish this 150+ year old  piece of furniture with its hand carved solid rosewood curved legs.  This turned out to be an amazing stunning one-of-a-kind fully functional writing desk and will likely be around for another 100+ years.