Old people and old furniture are comfortable companions. In the late '70's I worked as a school librarian in a building in which a co-worker was married to a furniture designer for Mastercraft, an Omaha company. During the holidays Mastercraft had a private sale for friends and employees.
The way this went, if you saw something you wanted you pulled the price tag off of it. HWMBO snagged the price label from this couch at first sight. It had been made for an individual in Omaha who decided she didn't want it. She would have paid $1,000, we got it for $300. Now 30 years later I am pushing, as women often will, to have it re-upholstered.
Today we looked at fabric samples and got an estimate from people that have done work for us before. The work was excellent and they would pick up and deliver. The quote was close to $2,000.
Then we went to the famous Nebraska Furniture Mart of Warren Buffett renoun. We looked at pull-out queen sized bed sofas, all under a thousand dollars. I asked to see one pulled out. The sales lady couldn't get it open. She called a fellow over who turned it upside down and gave it a couple of kicks. Her arm was in the mechanism when it flew open and I would n't be surprised if it is broken. I wish I hadn't asked.
I love my old couch. I have never broken anything so much as a fingernail opening it. Maybe I can clean it for a few more years. But new white velveteen fabric would be very nice.
2 comments:
Your couch has kept beautifully for thirty years ! You've done well to keep it so white for so long. Glad to read in your later post that you've found a way to save it. I bought, at a local place that buys from estates, a couch from the thirties that someone had clearly loved well enough to have had reupholstered (probably in the late seventies or early eighties). It is the best couch I've ever owned. When you get quality, hang onto it. Believe me, I'm never giving up mine !
Cordelia, what a nice comment. In many, many ways, old is good. Isn't it too bad we ourselves have to get old to appreciate old furniture, old houses, old recipes, old books to reread, old paintings, old dishes, and those treasured old friends, be they old or new ones!
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