Ugly Furniture!
Garth Johnson
[youtube 8tqJx86xQJQ]
I confess to not having set foot in a neighborhood furniture store for most of my adult life. From the outside, they look pretty scary, with their rows of overstuffed couches and expensive mattresses. I wasn't that interested because thrift stores and Craigslist yielded so many amazing finds.
All of this is pretty ironic since I grew up on a farm outside of a town dominated by one of Nebraska's largest furniture stores, Ernie's in Ceresco. The children of Ceresco always looked forward to a visit to Ernie's since they always offered free popcorn and soda (plus mattresses to bounce on and plenty of secret hiding places). I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Ernie's.
When we moved to Humboldt County, California, the amazing thrift store furniture dried up. Craigslist here is a fraction of what we were used to in Atlanta and Orange County. When we started looking for a couch after we moved into our new house, we quickly realized that we were going to have to broaden our search.
For kicks, we went into a couple of local furniture stores to see if there might be some neglected mid-century modern furniture, or at least something with "clean lines".
We were wrong.
As much as we like supporting our local businesses, we couldn't find anything in the store that wasn't overstuffed or that didn't have a hidden recliner that magically pops out. We beat a hasty retreat to the antique store, where we ultimately found a lovely vintage leather button-tufted model. We also bought some budget neo-Victorian furniture at the thrift store for upholstery projects. I submit to you the above video, "Ugly Furniture" because I had to do a double-take to make sure it wasn't filmed at the furniture store down the street from us.
Taste is subjective, of course. Stores like Ikea have brought affordable modern designs to the masses, so I was a little bit surprised that those designs haven't trickled down to the neighborhood furniture stores. A visit to our local store was all that it took to remind us that rescuing and restoring old furniture might not be the easiest path, but it certainly suits us best. Stay tuned for Claire's upcoming tutorial on couch upholstery.
LINK via BoingBoing
All of this is pretty ironic since I grew up on a farm outside of a town dominated by one of Nebraska's largest furniture stores, Ernie's in Ceresco. The children of Ceresco always looked forward to a visit to Ernie's since they always offered free popcorn and soda (plus mattresses to bounce on and plenty of secret hiding places). I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Ernie's.
When we moved to Humboldt County, California, the amazing thrift store furniture dried up. Craigslist here is a fraction of what we were used to in Atlanta and Orange County. When we started looking for a couch after we moved into our new house, we quickly realized that we were going to have to broaden our search.
For kicks, we went into a couple of local furniture stores to see if there might be some neglected mid-century modern furniture, or at least something with "clean lines".
We were wrong.
As much as we like supporting our local businesses, we couldn't find anything in the store that wasn't overstuffed or that didn't have a hidden recliner that magically pops out. We beat a hasty retreat to the antique store, where we ultimately found a lovely vintage leather button-tufted model. We also bought some budget neo-Victorian furniture at the thrift store for upholstery projects. I submit to you the above video, "Ugly Furniture" because I had to do a double-take to make sure it wasn't filmed at the furniture store down the street from us.
Taste is subjective, of course. Stores like Ikea have brought affordable modern designs to the masses, so I was a little bit surprised that those designs haven't trickled down to the neighborhood furniture stores. A visit to our local store was all that it took to remind us that rescuing and restoring old furniture might not be the easiest path, but it certainly suits us best. Stay tuned for Claire's upcoming tutorial on couch upholstery.
LINK via BoingBoing
