The shabby, shabby thread

Gigervamp

Dustykitten wrote: »

When Grandma died at Easter I inherited the bottom of her dresser as a shoe cupboard and 2 chairs - DS2 uses one at the desk in his room and we have one in the living room, I love furniture with a meaning and history to it.

Me too. I have my grandparents bedroom suite- wardrobe, dressing table and large chest of drawers. I also inherited their sideboard, dining table and bureau. All lovely items of furniture and very sturdy and I love the continuity of using items that my grandparents used.

BitterAndTwisted

I belong in here, too. Almost every stick of furniture I own belonged to someone else before me except for my bed which I bought new over twenty years ago. The two sofas I got quite recentlywere Sofa Workshops ones won on ebay and I got them for a song and they're just beautiful and so comfy. That the covers don't actually match is irrelevant to me: they're both the same style and that's enough.

I have friends who have beautifully co-ordinated furnishings but I never see the beauty, just the massive price-tags and the debt probably incurred in acquiring them and that's not for me

OddjobKIA

fashinable stuff goes out fashion so quick............

and a lot of modern stuff is so badly put together...

fedupandskint

Love this thread!

When I moved house I only had 2 deckchairs to sit in. I splashed out on a setee from M+S and a new bed. Then bought 2 heavily reduced ex display chairs from M+S.

Then bought 2nd furniture for the rest of the house, wardrobes, drawers, desk, coffee table, sideboard. Nothing matches but I'm not bothered at all. I like it much better when it is solid and when it has a few marks on because I don't feel as gutted when I scratch or mark it which I inevitably do at some point!

I wish I had bought a 2nd hand kitchen table and chairs too but I bought this before I discovered real furniture that other people no longer wanted.

I bought 4 ercol chairs from ebay for 99p instead of buying a matching pair for my other 2 for £90 like I did before, live and learn eh? Need another 2 you see to make up 4 places, so either have 4 matching and sell 2 or sell 2 ercol and have 4 non matching!

All I need to do is tart them up a bit and sort the seat pads out somehow - not too sure how to do this. I wonder if just washing them by scrubbing them with washing up liquid or stardrops or persil liquid diluted might bring them up ok?

I wire wooled my garden bench the previous owners left behind - restained and varnished it and it looks great - a bit battered but that's ok and only cost the tin of varnish instead of buying a new hardwood one.

My favourite is my nan's old oak blanket box I inherited. Plus I don't intend to get rid of the setee and chairs for many many many years! I was never into this fashion furniture business and replace it every so often.

Off to finish reading the rest of the page now!

ocemeer

Think i had better join in, most of the limited furniture I have is all second hand , free or even better rescued. Have a beautiful nursing chair my mum rescued form a bonfire (it was not lit) and she recaned and made a cushion for it, have a little stool I rescued from the tip (much to my mothers embarrassment).
I also have a box full of fabric awaiting my next find/rescue/eBay bargain. It might looked mismatched, it might not fit in with modern living (and minamilism) but my oddbits and oddments make it my home and I love imagining some of their history as I sit in all the odd chairs.
I still can't decide whether or not I like my crockery (wedding presents the lot) or whether I would like some real old stuff - i suppose the doubt sort of answers it for me

nopot2pin

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I have friends who have beautifully co-ordinated furnishings but I never see the beauty, just the massive price-tags and the debt probably incurred in acquiring them and that's not for me

Exactly !!!
I don't really get, why people get into massive amounts of debt for a show home

To be honest, for me, there is no such thing as second hand furniture...
It's all pre-loved furniture :D
And I love the fact, that all pre-loved furniture, has a story to tell :T

fedupandskint

nopot2pin wrote: »

Exactly !!!
I don't really get, why people get into massive amounts of debt for a show home

To be honest, for me, there is no such thing as second hand furniture...
It's all pre-loved furniture :D

Too true!

It is pre loved furniture which is continued to be loved instead of being chucked out and destroyed for no reason except not fitting in with this seasons look in the shops

I love all my preloved furniture and I am happy to give it all a home which makes me house look like a home and a comfy relaxing place for me to be

BitterAndTwisted

I'm the same about the crockery although they were my sister's wedding present from over 30 years ago. I just can't justify chucking it all out when it's all still in perfect condition and has serving dishes to go with it as well. The only things that have been broken are two tea-plates. Sometimes I wish I was more clumsy but I hang onto them because it would cost me a fortune to replace it all and I really don't think I'd be able to afford to replace with the same or similar quality

mummysaver

Well I had to part with my old bed eventually, there was no more make do and mend left in it, was a huge cast iron base and springs with wooden head and footboards. But it was so ancient, we inherited it when we bought a house and it was too heavy for the owners to move, and I've slept in it for 20 years, and it was ancient before that! But sadly it was so creaky by the end that every time I moved it woke me up, and the springs had started to go mad and dig into the mattress! I really like my new bed, but I suspect that there is no way it'll last me as long!

Old stuff is great, and I have a great aversion to matching things, managed a row with oh over bathroom fittings the other day, though lord knows why, he thinks they should match, I don't care and as the towel rail is firmly stuck on to the wall I am gonna live with it!

WartimeScrapingofMarmite

My favourite peice of furniture must fall under the "shabby shabby" umbrella!
It is my grandparents old wartime utility dining table and chairs and I love them! The table extends so it can seat up to 10 people and my mother-in-law found four more matching chairs to go with it in a skip. None of it is pretty, the table top is scuffed and has marks all over it and my husband HATES it, but it's all solid, practical, and most importantly, built to last. And I love the fact that most of my huge extended family have eaten round it at some point.

Give me something with a bit of character and history any day!