I've shown plenty of fantastic finds on my blog, things I've picked up at auctions and estate sales, and things I've offered for sale in my antique mall booths, but when I stopped to think about it I realized I haven't shown you much in the way of furniture. I rent a lot of booth space. My rent alone totals over $1,300 per month, which is a lot of real estate! I can't really fill all of that space with just little stuff.
I think one reason I don't show off furniture is that it quickly gets covered with all of my other wares and it's hard to photograph. I'm a believer in using every square inch of the space I'm renting, and that even includes hanging things from the ceiling!
One of my specialties has been bedroom suites. I like "cottage style" painted wood sets. These were popular from the Victorian era through the 1920's. I've sold about seven or eight of them over the years. Recently, I acquired a nice example of a Victorian-era set with incredibly beautiful hand painted details, which I photographed before I goobered it up with accessories:
Sets like these were often painted by German or other European trained artisans who immigrated to the U.S. and began working for the furniture companies here. They also painted the beautiful scenes on old carousels and murals in expensive homes. I can sense the European influence in the painted embellishments, can you?
The drawers on the mirrored dresser:
Sorry about the awkward angle here, but this is the headboard:
A better view:
Painted detail on the top of the commode:
I had difficulty getting the pieces photographed because I had them crammed in my booth:
The commode is the only piece that I captured free and clear:
Painted furniture has really increased in popularity during the last several years, especially because do-it-yourselfers have found it's a great way to upcycle well made older furniture and give it a new look. I like to find old furniture with the original paint if possible, because it saves me a lot of work, and I think you'll agree there's no way the handpainted details on the bedroom set in this post could be easily replicated.
Mitzi
