I want to get old furniture to fix, repair and reupholster for my class, but i have only got a budget of 20 euro. 4 years ago

but it still falls into the “Collect old (cool!) furniture” catagory….

My latest acquistion: its called a “Bank of England” chair, approx 40 to 50 years old.

I’ve been looking for a good desk chair for at my “creative desk”. The chair i had there was very nice, but not really conducive for sitting / bending over projects for long hours. I’d been looking at various computer-type desk chairs for awhile now,,,but hadnt seen anything i liked / felt good / or fit the space well…But on my daily bus rides to the daycare job, i’d noticed an old-time office furniture store that i’d never heard of before. I could see some interesting items in the windows, so i made a point of getting off the bus there one day, when i had time to peruse the store. Some nice wood shelves, file cabinates,,,,then i spied this unique-looking chair. And when i sat down in it —AH!!! ~ perfect comfortable support !! It has the lovely convex curved back that bends in to support your lower back…..a feature sadly lacking in the majority of american-made chairs. Sold!

So as my way, i put enough down to hold it, then made small payments with each check, until, with my final check from childtime, i paid the balance & brought it home. I just love it, and love finding something more “one-of-a-kind” than a mass produced item. And i can completely check off my ten-year-old goal of ‘find unique, interesting chairs for the living room’...!6 years ago

This is the oak 5 drawer bureau, that i found sitting on the side walk for the trash,,,,,the refinishers told me it was made around 1910, and the “key holes” are original solid brass….

the ugly green paint has been stripped, now theyre going to refinish the the wood in a reddish mahogany with dark toning (Oak not being the most Absorbant of woods… :) ‘Cant wait to see it !!
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(and they call this Trash ??)6 years ago

The 4-drawer dresser with glass pull-knobs

this photo is before it has the paint stripped….6 years ago

(initial description:)

• a stylish 4 drawer night stand/ dresser, possibly mahogany wood, with glass, pull-knobs & authentic dove-tail joints in the drawers, needs stripped, restained, back panel re-built, one glass knob replaced

....i just took this one in to the Refinishers (i have an excellent, high quality, furniture refurbishing independant shop i deal with—they do stunning work !)(and now with the digital camera, i can capture lots of before and afters :)

they told me it was actually oak (when i was thinking mahogany) and that it was made circa 1910. Mind you, this was something someone PUT OUT FOR THE TRASH. It was headed for a landfill…(or worse) (And people wonder why i have no shame about stopping and grabbing things piled by garbage cans !) The front is what is called a serpentine styled front. I need one more good picture of it before,,,,can you believe someone would paint this lovely piece such an ugly green ?! (green mustve been all the rage in about 1950…)

Next Up: the stripped view !6 years ago

but its a good thang….!

Some are just recently acquired; but mostly i’m at the point where i can start actively working on this again.

Here’s my lovely to do listing:

• wooden rocker, with carved head-rest, needs refinished, and 1 rocker leg replaced / rebuilt

• one solid wood chair (not sure of the type, doesnt look more fancy than maybe pine) needs restained, and seat recovered

• one 5 drawer solid oak dresser, is being stripped of ugly green paint, depending on unfunished condition, will then be repainted or stained a suitable dark mahogany colour

• one ash wood chair, needing to be recovered, perpahs re-stained (depending on recovering options)

• one desk chair, needing repainting & a minor repair of a spindle-support

• one dark cherry dining room chair, solid, but could use alittle strengthening of joints

• a stylish 4 drawer night stand/ dresser, possibly mahogany wood, with glass, pull-knobs & authentic dove-tail joints in the drawers, needs stripped, restained, back panel re-built, one glass knob replaced

with the new digital camera, i can start posting some photos of these, so we can see the before’s and after’s…

_{(happy happy camper am i !)}

= ) 6 years ago

...i live within an University town, with a high turn-over of students in the surrounding area apartments. Its seems to be the std practice of many 19yr olds is to dump all their old furniture on the street, rather than pay to move it back their home town. For me, this makes the garbage day “sidewalk sales” a goldmine, with bonanzas at the end of the school year in June :) I have found so many interesting pieces to use over the years (including the solid wood carved desk i’m sitting at for my computer desk….)
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My favorite pieces i’ve restored are a cane desk chair (just the seat was busted out), a solid mahogany dining chair (with a broken leg, but easily repaired for far less than anything one could buy from an antique shop) and an ash and popular, “pie crust” coffeetable i bought for $8 at a flea market due to its bad finish, but once stripped & refinished, ‘tis totally gorgeous!). There’s something really satisfying about bring back a piece of furniture that has been put out for trash or junked—i not only wind up with far more interesting array of furniture than i could i ever find or afford from the average furniture sore, but also the appeal of “One-Less-Useful-Item-filling-up-the-Landfills”
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[ double :D ] 7 years ago