I managed to get myself blocked for being a little too bluntly honest in a local buy/sell/trade group on Facebook. I can still see posts and message sellers directly, but can't do public comments. Which is probably a good thing. Some people have watched far too many episodes of "Flea Market Flip" or perused the recycling photos on Pinterest because, holy wah, they're peddling some bad DIY. I'd managed to restrain myself most of the time, just scrolled past the most horrible examples, the pieces of beaver puke (aka MDF)(medium density fiberboard) someone actually wasted time refinishing, but a mutilated 1930's vanity triggered me the other day.
No doubt the original veneer had been shot long ago, gouged up beyond the hope of a decent repair, but that still didn't excuse the battleship (or possibly automobile primer) gray or the not original drawer pulls that were massively out of proportion for the piece. The seller referred to it as dresser, but it wasn't, which makes it no surprise she totally botched the repurposing. It was an art deco vanity. At one time it apparently had a mirror, which no longer existed, but there was a chunk of plywood with some oddly spaced shelves and a whole lot of clutter on them attached where the mirror once lived. It was weird. It was ugly. It was sad because it could have been cute. With a less weird color choice and better staging it would have been easily marketable as a fun piece for a kid's room.
But, nope, it was just crap.
Photo is of a vanity similar in style to the one that got mutilated. Now try picturing it in matte gray primer. I felt you all flinch, gentle readers. The thought is indeed painful.
In any case, asking the seller why she'd turned it into a giant gray fungus was probably a mistake. The comments section turned nasty. The seller apparently has a posse who are quite happy to heap praise on her for mediocre work. Either that, or they have as little aesthetic sensibility as the furniture mutilator does because they kept insisting it was "cute." Nope. It looked like an old piece of furniture someone had pulled out of their grandparents house and had been using for storage in the garage for 20 or 30 years. Solid, but not exactly something to hype.
The comments sections on various buy/sell/trade posts do have a tendency to turn into flame wars. I've seen some remarkably obscene comments about buyers, sellers, and products. I do not envy the admin. Then again, she can't even manage to get people to pay attention to the fact that group is supposed to be "no clothes," but every other post seems to be someone hawking their kids' slightly stained, torn, whatever garments.
The site also amuses me by the way folks under the age of 30 refer to anything that was sold before they graduated from high school as an "antique" or "rare." Right. You inherited a mass produced beaver puke Sauder bookcase your parents bought at Kmart in the early 80s. It's not an antique, and for sure it's not rare. But that's a subject for another time.
The quality of old things stands out to those of us that appreciate quality. The under thirty today don't look of quality because everything in their lives has been short time replicable with the newest and latest version. Even expensive new furniture is not quality built. I have posted about my grandfather's pocket watch that he received in 1939 when he retired from the Railroad. The workings are so precise that the second hand actually moves three times (clicks) per second. Now days most people throw away their watch when the battery runs out - ten dollars at Walmart. Even people with more expensive watches - the working mechanism is a three dollar chip made in China. What do people have, made today, that they can pass down through the generations?
ReplyDeletethe Ol'Buzzard
lol when will the chalk painting go away?!I commented on a fb page and got reprimanded In this case was someone with beautiful quartzite fireplace--wall to ceiling and they were asking the group how to paint. I suggested they sell their house to someone who would appreciate it. not received well at all. but if you are on mcm group shouldn't you expect to fid people who actually appreciate the style?
ReplyDeleteMost people who claim to like Mid Century Modern have no idea what it actually is.
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