Wednesday, August 5, 2009

VTT

Last week I missed Vintage Thingies Thursday, we got in from CO. Wednesday & the nine hour drive leaves me a little weary so Thursday I was trying to catch up with myself!
I have a couple of rescued items to show this week, then you can check out all the other vintage aficiandos at coloradolady.

The first is a small bureau that I discovered outside in the yard of the first house where we lived in VA. after we were married. I may not have paid much attention to it but I happened to see the back & could tell it was oak, the remainder of the surfaces were covered in many & various colored coats of paint! DH indicated that it had come from his mom's house in MA. but there the information ran out! It had some old pots & pans in it, not worth rescuing, but I could see the bureau was sturdy so I stripped & sanded & sealed it & replaced the hardware & it has been in use in our home ever since. Simple, bare of any special adornments, it's a treasure to me! I have no idea of it's age but it is well made & sturdy, dove tail carpentry rather than nails & screws & I would guess the first quarter of the 1900's?
The second item was also rescued- while we lived in Germany in the 70's we used to go "junking", picking up others discarded items from the sidewalk during the quarterly "un-contained" trash pick ups! We searched our surrounding villages for their assigned dates & then drove around at night looking for treasures-we never came home empty-handed & sometimes we found such jewels!
This little cabinet is one such "jewel', it looks like what we would call a bedside table. I guess it could have been a commode cabinet..........

It was in fairly good shape except that the top had a split that needed fixing where the wood had bowed. I sanded the finish lightly to clean it up & show off the grain & sealed it.

It too is dovetail construction and again simply bare of any but the necessities including wooden handles. It has one long hinge rather than a couple of shorter ones on the door, unusual in my experience.

It makes a handy little storage cabinet in the guest powder room for towels & TP etc & the linen scarf with the crochet edge is also a vintage find.
Don't you just love giving new life & purpose to old cast-offs?

12 comments:

Coloradolady said...

What beauties. I love the simplicity of both pieces. It would not do for me to live where you could drive looking through peoples cast offs, I would never rest...that sounds like the best of times for me!!

Have a great VTT!

Lisa said...

Thank you for visiting my blog..I love your furniture pieces!

fitty's pinky rose cottage said...

you got nice furniture.. simple lines and yet still a beauty! thanks for sharing

Unknown said...

Searching through other's trash in the middle of the night sounds like a blast!

CC said...

I love your furniture pieces..they're wonderful and you did some great restoration work. Happy VTT ..hope your weekend is a great one.

JEWELGIRL said...

What lovely furniture pieces! I do love your idea about fixing up old cast offs. Great finds!

Dena said...

These are two great finds. You did an awesome job of restoring the oak bureau. Personally, I prefer natural wood and stain to paint. Great job!

viridian said...

Thanks for sharing ... happy VTT.

Keetha Broyles said...

BOTH were AWESOME saves.

Anonymous said...

i love your vintage cabinets..i can't bear to see beautiful timber furniture painted!

Bea said...

That chest is beautiful. I too think things like that are best with "less".

Candace said...

Gorgeous pieces! I love oak furniture - and have spent my fair share of time stripping and restoring them as well!
Cheers!