July 30, 2009

Redeux in Color



The Redeux garage shop has had a nearly complete turnover of inventory this past week or so. Our customers seem to really appreciate the work we do in restoring our pieces of vintage furniture.

Replenishing our stock of vintage furniture was very difficult, especially when keeping within our stated goal of providing good, useable vintage furniture at fair prices. But, we would not compromise our purpose – and it paid off.
We now have perhaps our most interesting and eclectic collection of vintage furniture yet. And, we will be expanding our offerings.

We have in a very interestingly detailed cedar chest that would make a super coffee table, blanket chest or, come to think of it, a “hope chest”. It was made by the Stewart Furniture Company of Ohio which operated between 1900 and 1950. There is an art deco type of carving on the front.


A lovely, round table, painted with a beautiful floral design is new to the shop. It’s a great card or side accent table. It is about 20 inches in diameter and has legs that fold. This piece dates from 1942.

Also just in is a chiffarobe. Once a very popular furniture piece, the chiffarobe is enjoying a comeback as an accent piece, guest room closet, baby room organizer, etc. Less tall than a typical armoire, the chiffarobe has one side containing drawers and the other an area to hang clothes. This piece seems to date from the 1920’s to 1930’s and has some very nice detailing. This will be the first piece of vintage furniture that I will paint. The decision to do this was at the urging of several “advisors” and also due to the fact that it was always a utilitarian piece of furniture with less emphasis on the type of wood used than on it being sturdy and very functional. Painting will bring it to a new level of beauty. This project will start when the humidity drops a bit. Special thanks go to my friend and on-call historian, Rachel Casillo, Barbara Orner, of Local Color in downtown Fairfield and, of course, to my favorite Redhead for urging me to make the decision to paint and in advising in the color choices.

There are several other new pieces that just came in including a nice chest, a painted cupboard and a nice little Empire-style oak side table. And a very special piece was also obtained that will require proper dating. It’s a bed that seems to be quite old, possibly dating to the early 19th century or even late 18th. Redeux searches every nook and cranny for great pieces, but sometimes even we are surprised. This is a really much more than a vintage piece. I have it tucked away for now but it can be viewed if you are interested.

Coming soon to Redeux will be a limited number of quilts specially made for Redeux. Look for these sometime in late August or September.

Lastly, Redeux will be closed August 5 through 12. We will reopen the morning of August 13th.

Hope to see you soon. Stop by and visit…I really need that iced tea break!

Bill

No comments: