I paid $500 to ship my Dad’s Kling Mahogany dresser to me in Michigan. Totally worth it, the wood is gorgeous, and it was my Pops. A bit shorter than the ebay post. I shipped it UPS, came through without a scratch.
I have a lot of vintage wood furniture, most of it I’m still crazy about and it wears like iron.
I’d definitely get rid of the IKEA. Anything with cardboard drawer bottoms is good only for temporary use, IMHO.
Most of my furniture is used. I don’t buy from personals ads, though, as I get better deals at consignment shops and certain used furniture businesses. My favorite one offers delivery. The dresser you’re considering does seem overpriced, but that may be because the sellers expect to dicker. Look carefully for any defects and use them during the bargaining process. And don’t go with your heart set on buying the piece: you’re more likely to succumb to a higher price.
I love old furniture. Good luck in your search!
I would.
I’ve got multiple dressers dating to the 1950’s or earlier. They’ve been hard used and abused and they’re still in perfectly good shape (cosmetic dings aside, most of them my fault.) I’ve got several furniture pieces that are much older than that. Quality wood furniture can last for hundreds of years.
Yes, there was junk made at that time as well as good stuff; but the junk has in the interval usually become obviously junk, if it’s survived at all. And you’re going to go inspect it before deciding.
That said, whether $500 is a fair price for the piece in that area I have no idea. And whether you like the particular piece is of course an issue. I think you could heat treat it for bedbugs, if you’re concerned about that.
My wood dresser is of unknown vintage, but probably dates from 1940 or earlier. When I bought it for $8 at Fran’s Antiques and Collectibles in Newton, Iowa circa 1978, it was covered in peeling white paint. I stripped that down to bare wood and stained it, and it’s been a nice-looking and serviceable piece of furniture through several moves.
I have a cool mid-20th century desk that i also refinished.
No bedbugs or other critters ever emerged from them.
I can’t personally see sinking $500 into a used dresser, but if it’d represent substantial savings over a new one including moving cost and you like it, then why not?
There are two types of approaches to good, old used furniture. Buy something in good condition now, do little or nothing to it and pay a lot. Or buy something for cheap that has been painted or otherwise messed with and fix it up.
I’m in the latter category myself. I can strip and finish just fine. (It’s in my genes, apparently.) So spending $500 on a dresser is just :eek:.
OTOH, you lose all the “lovely original finish and patina” if you do this. But if it was painted or some such it’s gone anyway. Besides, I do not buy furniture with an eye as to its resale value. I am going to use it and I want it to last. After I’m done with it (or vice versa), who cares?
Why would you want to buy cheap furniture that you’d have to replace every 10 years or so (or maybe less) when you could get a nice solid wood piece that would last for the rest of your life? I have a house full of pieces I got at the Antiques Guild in the old Helms Bakery building in Culver City (it’s H. D. Buttercup now) 30 or 40 years ago. Most of the pieces I bought were cheaper than new pieces and better quality. Also more attractive. I’ll always go for antique/vintage over new. Depending on how you put your rooms together, it doesn’t have to look granny.
The built-ins in my condo were builder grade crap. There were drawers I couldn’t even use after about 10-15 years. Fortunately, my GC when we remodeled had quality woodworkers who could re-work some of my pieces to replace the built-ins. Generic condo now full of personality and functionality!
$500 seems a bit, high, to me, though. As others have said, see how good a piece it is and haggle if it’s got any imperfections.
Howdy all!
I am headed tonight after work to look at the dresser.
I’ll try to remember to report back.
Here’s what I have gleaned from everyone’s posts.
What to look for/at:
[ul]
[li]drawer construction “dovetails or biscuit joints or just whacked together with staples”[/li][li]drawer function open/close[/li][li]drawer hardware quality[/li][li]real wood[/li][li]finish (seller says it’s been refinished, I’ll see how it looks) & solid vs veneer[/li][li]odor[/li][li]be wary of bedbugs - not sure how I will approach this but I will think about it.[/li][/ul]
Regarding style and price comments/concerns:
Style - I don’t need it to match other pieces. I have a curated collection of odd pieces that I like, and that I like the look of together. Those that I am not happy with I am replacing slowly.
My friends are totally into mid-century modern but the aesthetic doesnt thrill me.
My house is a mix of Ikea (straight lines, dark colors, very minimalist) and found pieces (1910s-1950s office/library cast off chairs in a variety of finishes, a card catalog, a ca 1915 cabinet Columbia Grafonola, a 1930s Royal 10 typewriter). No idea what you’d call my style. I’m too old to be a hipster, I think. Proto-hipster? Weird cat lady? My house itself is from 1915 with original gumwood trim in all but 2 rooms. The Kling dresser wouldn’t match anything, but neither would it be glaringly out of place.
The more I am looking at Craigslist, auction houses, etc, the more I agree with many of you that this piece is overpriced, unless its condition is vastly better than the other pieces I am seeing.
The state of my Ikea dressers is not urgent. They are annoying and likely to deteriorate, but they’re fine for the near future. To replace both with the same Ikea item would cost me $458. I’d rather spend that on something I won’t need to replace again before I die. My (non-existent) heirs already need to deal with the 400 lb card catalog. Might be fun to acquire another unwieldy item.