Happy Free Items

[Willa]

Unless it's been re-covered, I'd say it's definitely 20th Century.

Very hard to know without scrutinizing the material and construction. The very rare thing survives without stains and holes.

The 1860's Empire style chaise I found on the street a couple of years ago had the original bolster pillow. When I took off the 1950's upholstery fabric there was indigo dyed striped ticking, and the hand stitching on part of the pillow was visible. I assume this to be original. I don't know what it is stuffed with but is is very dense, and firm. The bolster is meant to be sort of stuffed under the curve of the arm, so it had little compression from sitting or leaning. The chaise itself have been recovered at least twice since it was made, judging from the amount of tiny tack holes in the frame. Upholstered items can be some easy archaeology as often the original material was just covered right over. If you go down through the layers, there can be some surprising revelations.

Manalto - if there are any cracked stitches you can peak to see what is below the covering...

[Corsetière]

:text-worthless:

I'm going to have to get a forklift to get the giant platter down to photograph it! lol!

[Manalto]

With a stepladder, Mohammad can go to the mountain!

[pqtex]

Regarding the horsehair mattress...

Decades ago, we had a local mattress company that not only made mattresses, but they remade, recovered, and cleaned old ones as well. My family had a couple of mattresses rebuilt from that local company.

It's quite possible the horsehair mattress has received a facelift or two over the years.

[phil]

back in the day they could make furniture and things like this mattress all from natural materials. I was looking at the chair I am restoring, it has burlap, wood, the webbing, horsehair, covering made from silk or horsehair, some cotton. If you threw it in a landfill it would all break down , the nails and springs would rust away. some use wood shavings or hay for stuffing.
now we are troubled with all these mattresses and couches and they have a lot of plastic in them. Makes me think we should rethink what can be sold to the masses. natural materials could be used in manufacturing processes the only problem is synthetics are so cheap to make.

[awomanwithahammer]

I was going to buy a new storm door for the back door which leaks when the rain blows a certain way. I decided to see what was available used, so I found this door listed on FB for $30:

After I messaged the poster to set up a time to come look at it, she responded that she had talked to her mother, for whom she was selling the door, and her mother said I could have it for free if I wanted it. Duh! I think it will fit perfectly once I trim the bottoms of the frame legs about 1/4 inch. I love it, and I think it will look cute.

[Manalto]

That's like winning $30 in the lottery. Nice score.

[phil]

That's like winning $30 in the lottery. Nice score.

What a fun story. Bonnie must be a great negotiator you could look around for some little fun collectable object or cookies or something. I got a free chair then waited a long time for the cushion, the lady did come through so as I was on my way to meet her to get it my girlfriend handed me this wooden carved turtle.. It was real cute but of no practical use. Felt good to surprise her with a gift, even though it was of little value, it made the exchange fun.

[Manalto]

Felt good to surprise her with a gift, even though it was of little value, it made the exchange fun.

There's a statue of Lafayette on horseback in Hartford in front of the state capitol. At the horse's foot there is a turtle. It's said that the turtle represents the slow payment to the sculptor. I see an nice tie-in here with the woman's delay in producing the cushion though I suspect she won't.

I've made a couple of pleasant connections with Craigslist transactions. Recently I got some nice wooden Venetian blinds and the sellers came down in price a lot. I learned that they are native plant enthusiasts. As a thank you, I gave them some native columbine seed from my garden.

[phil]

James I keep thinking how fun it would be to replicate those wooden blinds you found. I figure I could cut a bunch of slats from fir and then I guess tie the strings similar to modern blinds. other than the slats and strings, are there any other important parts? modern blinds have that little roller lock thing, I was trying to remember if there was something similar to lock them if you pull them right up.