The Empty Room

Been livin' in Georgia for over three years now, and though we've furnished the house to our liking, except for new carpeting the guest room remains empty. Well, that's not quite true. There is a simple bed in the room, but only because I needed it to rehab following my knee replacement and recently the heart bypass. I didn't want to keep Maribel awake with my moaning and groaning. Anyway, we recently talked seriously about furnishing the room in the event that this Covid thing ever allows us to have overnight guests. We pretty much decided that if possible we'd like to furnish the room with vintage furniture, preferably from the 1940s or 50s.

Maribel and I have developed an affinity for vintage/antique things. I'm not talking about big ticket items. We look for things like paintings, decorative items and minor pieces of furniture that would enhance the decor of the house. Our goal is to find things that are hopefully unique, in reasonable condition and don't have a break-the-bank price tag. Two examples we purchased are a 50s telephone table and a hall mirror probably dating before that. They make a nice grouping and cost $45 total.

   

Another example is a painting we spotted in a small Ringgold, GA antique shop. The art work is not great but the arrangement of the objects plus the colors, the near mint condition of the frame and large size appealed to both of us. And it is a signed original that is now mounted above our sofa. 

 The artist has an unusual name so out of curiosity I did a search; located her in Chattanooga and phoned her. She is a 91 year old retired teacher and has authored two books. She said this is the only painting she ever completed and thought it was done in about 1985. She lost track of it years ago and was surprised to hear that it had found its way to an antique shop. She was happy to learn that it was hanging in our living room and was, "...giving someone else pleasure." She didn't ask and I didn't tell her that we paid $20 for it.

Okay...back to that empty guest room.

A couple of Sundays ago we were taking a drive on a scenic road atop Lookout Mountain when we passed a typical modest mountain home with an older couple sitting outside amidst a collection of various vintage items including furniture. I turned around and pulling into their driveway both of us spotted a matching pair of 3-drawer night stands. The exteriors had many scratches, some gouges and a few chips. A rear foot on one of them was broken off. These pieces had obviously been abused and had seen better days, but upon opening the drawers we were surprised to see that they looked unused. Inside the top drawer of each night stand was this tag:

The tag confirmed that the wood was mahogany, that they were manufactured sometime after 1984 and were initially quality pieces of furniture. In our experience in antique stores a pair of matching mahogany night stands, even in the condition these were in would sell for $80 - $120. As we were looking at them the man came over, pointed out the broken foot and said that he'd, "...take $5 for both of them." I couldn't reach for my wallet quickly enough. Just the 12 brass drawer pulls would sell for $2 each. 

After arriving home and removing all the spider webs and grime they didn't look like it would take too much effort to make them serviceable. And so, after building a new leg out of a piece of 2x4, some sanding and a coat of stain, the outcome exceeded our expectations.

The mirror was purchased at the same time. It was leaning on its side against a tree and was also covered with grime, but the mirror was unblemished and the oak frame had a few minor scratches. Maribel suggested that we could mount the mirror on one of the night stands to make sort of a mini dresser. When measured it turned out to be the exact width of the night stands. So who cares if the colors don't match?

I asked the woman what she wanted for the mirror, expecting to hear anywhere from $25 to $65. I was prepared to go $30. She thought for a second and then asked, "What would you say if I said........$3? So we drove home with two night stands and a mirror for a total of $8.

Here are the finished pieces in place.

The 'mini-dresser' is we think functional and attractive. The matching piece is in a corner next to the bed doing its night stand duty. To finish off the room we need to find a vintage queen size bed, or at least the headboard, and we want a lamp for the night stand. We were out today looking around. No luck on the headboard but there are a ton of vintage lamps out there. All we have to do is decide which one we want. We usually never buy anything, no matter how inexpensive without taking a day or two to think about it. The night stands and mirror were an exception.

Finding the right vintage items is for us entertaining, challenging and rewarding. We like the sense of history and the feeling that we've rescued something and given it new life and in turn have something that provides a service and will be with us for years. We occasionally watch American Pickers on television and are confounded when those guys pay $1000 for an oil can. I really believe that some day the nostalgia craze bubble will burst and those guys will wake up one morning to discover that their $1000 oil can is worthless. When that day arrives we'll just look at our $2.50 night stands and $3 mirror and smile.