Wednesday, October 7, 2015

A New-To-Us Piece!

Meet our new display cabinet for $595 - not your grannies hutch!  We have been looking for something to fill a space in our dining room bump-out for three and a half years. I was thinking a small buffet would work.  I prefer buying used furniture but unfortunately Vancouver Island has a quite tight resale market where it is difficult to find used pieces in good condition at a price we can live with.  Out of frustration when we moved here we ended up purchasing a table, six chairs and a bedroom suite new because there was just nothing on the used market that we liked.  Moving our old set was not an option, why pay thousands more to move old furniture way past its prime? Two of the six new chairs are now falling to pieces - this after only 3 years of light use (our furniture always looks like brand new because we take extremely good care of it).  Just last weekend we went and looked at a new dining room set including matching buffet.  Let's just say the buffet alone was twice as much as the purchase price of this cabinet.


We went to the farmers market this past Saturday and stopped by the antique store next door.  Hubby who really is not into antiques spotted this old mahogany display cabinet.  The feet and base are not original and come off.  The owner of the store was very frank with us, he thinks that the cabinet was likely a display piece for a store, somewhere around 1880.  The base feet were likely added in the 1940s,  but really match it nicely.  He found an old sale sticker on the back from the 1970s where it had sold for $750.  Antique furniture was reasonably priced in the 1970s, skyrocketed in the 1980s and 1990s and the bottom fell out after that.  I am very happy this is now affordable to us.

We are paying someone $65 to deliver it, as it weighs a ton and is old original glass (with air pockets and character) on all sides.  I would hate to wreck a beautiful new to me piece of furniture by trying to move it ourselves plus get a hernia in the process.  Hubby likes the shop so much he wants to keep our eye out for more furniture that would suit our more modern tastes.  I like anything funky, and have always loved antiques but want character more than anything.  I do not get attached to most furniture but already love this piece.

Another busy week ahead as I had Elections Canada training yesterday and begin working the advance voting polls on Friday.  Yes, advance polls are all over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.  As my family agreed to move up our turkey day, on Sunday we had our scrumptious 85 cent a pound utility turkey with all the trimmings and pumpkin pie.  All I can think about is getting the travel fund a little fatter with the wages from working the election.  I like to have more than enough in the account at travel time.  Then, if we wish to overspend, there is no bad credit card hangover when we get home.  If we don't overspend there is a small cushion of money to go towards our next travel adventures.

That is all I've got for this week - Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all my Canadian bloggy friends!

29 comments:

  1. I love old shop fittings and that is a beauty. They're one of the few items of brown furniture to have gone up in price since 9/11 when, apparently, everyone became aware of their mortality and stopped investing in antique furniture preferring throwaway flat pack nonsense.
    To a Brit a hutch is something you keep rabbits in and a buffet is a type of help yourself party food consisting of sandwiches and nibbles. Same language but so many inconsistencies! xxx

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    1. I also fell in love with an antique black Italian desk with huge drawers behind two doors - but it had sold already :(

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  2. Looks like a great piece of new to you furniture and I am sure it will last much better than what your fairly new table and chairs have.

    Gotta love those utility turkeys when they go on sale. We are always on the look out for them too. Glad you enjoyed your early Thanksgiving dinner with the family.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. The turkeys seem cheaper this year than last as last year I paid .95 cents a pound for utility. I am alright with that! At worst this turkey had a small tear in the breast skin. No one in my family cares the least.

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  3. Woo hoo, nice find! That is a very pretty piece.
    Thanks to some local facebook groups I was able to furnish the lake place (with the exceptions of mattresses) with used furniture. I love giving a new life to old pieces.

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    1. I just joined a facebook bidding group in my area but they don't seem to have hardly any furniture. Glad you were able to find some pieces!

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  4. It is beautiful and was obviously made to last!

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    1. Exactly, now we need to find more furniture to last our lifetimes :)

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  5. I can't recall last time I bought a new piece of furniture. I haven't been to many resale or thrift store this year. I have to many items and I need to a do a yard sale.
    Coffee is on

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    1. I have been to the thrift store but not found much at all..going through a bit of a dry patch there :)

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  6. I also try to buy our furniture pre-loved, but it is not always easy to find a good deal.

    The cheapest turkey I saw today was $1.49 a pound....I didn't buy any!

    Maybe I will have luck this weekend.

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    1. Holy cow, 1.49 a pound...do you have any loblaws near you?

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  7. I am so happy for you in finding this great piece of furniture! I prefer to buy 'used' as well.....they just don't make things like they used to!!!
    Happy Thanksgiving to you!!!! Y'all are just ahead of us! Our big election will be NEXT fall! Oh, the anxiety of a whole year!!!!

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    1. You are so right, they don't make them like they used to. This piece will be around long after we have departed from earth. A whole year of campaigning - way too long. Ours is only since Springtime..still too long :)

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  8. What a beautiful piece! It's in such wonderful condition. Most furniture today is junk. Our best pieces are from Ethan Allen that were purchased in the 1980s-90s. Pretty solid, all maple and have stood the test of (our) time so far.

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    1. If you get a really well made wood piece it will last, just so little of what is made today is like that.

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  9. A lovely piece of furniture. If only it could tell you all it has seen and held over the years.

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    1. Thanks - I love the fact that it was repurposed into furniture that could be used in someone's home rather than being tossed aside like so many other display pieces have been over time.

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  10. When we move north from Los Angeles I had to leave behind so much wonderful furniture, even pieces my father made. Then when we had to combine our condo with my Mom's, more things had to go. I tried selling them pieces on Craigslist, but after several month just ended giving it away for free. I sure hope the new owners enjoyed the custom made items and antiques as much as my mom did. - Margy

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    1. We have no family pieces either, my Mom's siblings have those in Colorado from my Grandparents so we have to buy our heritage pieces.

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  11. Isn't that a beautiful piece!! I think you are very wise to have it moved professionally. It's wonderful to have a shop you love.

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    1. It is pretty - and now tonight is safely tucked away in our house! It is not a tall piece so now I have to go shopping for something to put on top like an antique basket or something - another reason to go to the antique store/flea markets

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  12. Very nice - I'm also partial to used and antiques and I think you made an excellent choice! I voted today - and as usual I didn't make up my mind til I had the ballot in my hand. A lady beside me was squawking because she didn't bring any ID with her address on it so they wouldn't let her vote! So I guess it's a good thing I'll be handing out voter's guides tomorrow at the farmer's market!

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    1. First day down and lineups all day until 6pm. At the longest 1.5 hour wait to vote - wish the government would pay for more ballot boxes as our location only had one. Mostly nice people except for one grouchy old lady and one grouchy old man (later I found out our supervisor knows him and he is a bit off normally anyway). My feet are pretty sore as I greet voters and was on my feet all day but only 3 more to go woo hoo!!

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  13. That is a stunning piece. And I think that you got a good price on it and you know that it will last a long time.
    There have been a few times when we broke down and bought new just because after an extensive search we couldn't find what we wanted. Scrimp and save where we can and splurge when we need too. No guilt because of our frugal lives.

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    1. The resale is so active here it is dead hard to find nice things. It was much easier in Alberta where everyone was into buying new.

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  14. Love your new furniture - it's gorgeous!

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