New Old Furniture for our New Old House

March 5, 2016

antiqueKey
No photos to share here, so a placeholder will have to suffice. On Saturday, we made an impromptu trip down to Frankfort. I helped Bob with removing a few small things from the attic (which looks so much cleaner now, than it did last weekend). We also cleared out Bob’s truck, to make room for an old sink that had been sitting the basement (which will find a new, temporary home in our kitchen).

We also helped dismantle/remove a treadmill at a neighbor’s house. Their neighbor, Lisa, is moving soon… and in the process of both packing up her belongings and preparing some things for auction.

Lisa and her late husband collected a great many things, and her house is just full of amazing pieces. Liz had gone over to look at things last weekend, and we returned this weekend (she was back for another look, and I was helping Bob with the treadmill).

At the start of our visit, Liz pointed out various pieces that she was interested in – and wanted to gauge my interest in them as well. I listed some preferences, and we had a small list of things we agreed on.

Later in the afternoon, as Lisa started quoting prices… we quickly became overwhelmed. It is an incredible understatement to say that Lisa gave us incredible generous prices on several pieces.

Though I’m a fan of American Pickers and flea markets, I am no real expert on antiques and vintage furniture. That said, even I knew that the prices Lisa was quoting us were a third to a fourth their actual value.

We had several conversations during our time there, trying to figure out where we might place particular items. At a certain point, we stopped trying to answer that particular question and thought about the opportunity – when else might we be able to purchase something like this? It was a little dizzying.

We ended up getting six large items, along with a vase, and assorted McCoy Pottery. As an example, the vase that Liz purchased for $30 we feel is likely worth $150.

There are a lot of unknowns. The biggest being: where are we going to keep all this stuff while we work on the house? Moving some of the items will be a challenge (the stairs to the second floor are narrow and curve). I’m quite frankly going to be terrified to move some of this stuff because it’s not like a couch from my first apartment – this stuff is nice. I mean, it’s Nice nice.

I wonder if having these pieces at our place will become an encumbrance, or if they’ll be a motivation for us – to spur us on to get the house to a point where we can set up these items for good. To give us an extra push on those days when we might not want to work on the house.

We have a bit of time before we need to get these items out of Lisa’s house and into ours… these old objects that we are providing a new home for, in our old house that we are working to make new.

[CC photo via Michael Kappel]