Not Quite An Antique
By Juliaacv
@Juliaacv (48636)
Canada
May 7, 2024 7:12pm CST
I work off of our wood Roxton oak dining table.
It serves as my workdesk and with the leaf in it is large enough for my laptop, both monitors as well as other desk must haves.
Today I knocked over a large, almost full, tumbler of water. It went everywhere. The keyboard, the mouse and under the stands to the monitors as well as the laptop.
None of the equipment getting wet bothered me. What really bothered me was the actual wood table itself.
We took great pride saving for almost a full year to buy that dining set. It was delivered on our first anniversary back in 1988. We paid half when we saw the item, which was not in stock, and the other half (it totaled $2,500) plus the taxes, when it was delivered. My how times have changed. We waited for 3 months for it to arrive.
It is old. It is beautiful. It is full of memories. A nick where a globe to an old light fixture that we were taking down, came loose and fell, is still evident. A space, in front of where I have been sitting and keyboarding for the past 4 years is slightly worn. It is still old. It is still very beautiful in my eyes.
I wondered if this 35.5 year table was an antique. But no, it is not as antiques are classified as 100 plus years old. It rather fits the description of vintage. That is about a third of the way to becoming an official antique.
I only have 1 other piece of furniture as old. It is actually a few years older. It is a pine cedar lined chest that my husband made for me before we were married. It is huge and I am able to store alot of off season clothing, and mementoes in it.
It makes me wonder, as we are aging our vintage piece into an antique, do you have any pieces that you are making into antiques?
17 people like this
15 responses
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
8 May
I think that people only become antiques when they allow life to slip by and stop participating in it.
You are no where near that.
I like that little table.
I enjoy seeing furniture that you post because of the wood used, it differs from what is native, and used often here in our part of the world.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (326726)
• Rockingham, Australia
8 May
@Juliaacv I can't get myself past not liking that third 'leg' at the front. It's nicely carved and all but for some reason it grates on me.
Thanks for the kind words too. And Vince had a call today putting off his surgery to 3 June. An emergency case came in and his operation has been deferred. A bit disappointing but nothing we can do about it.
1 person likes this
@just4him (308693)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
8 May
I'm quite certain I have one antique, my grandmother's kitchen drop-leaf table. The other table is probably getting close to antique, but still vintage. The other furniture I have from my parents would be considered vintage as well.
The picture is my grandmother's kitchen table. It's no longer outside.
2 people like this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
8 May
That is a beautiful table.
Someone gave my hubs a table like that years ago.
He suggested that I make a project out of it, and I striped it down to the wood.
It wasn't the greatest quality of wood, and I lost interest when I saw the actual grain.
We put it out at the street with a 'free' sign on it and it was gone within a few minutes.
It became someone else's project at that point.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (80182)
• United States
8 May
I love the story behind your table and how you treasure it. I have my moms hope chest which is ancient and actually have some of the things she kept in there (baby shoes of my brothers, a baby outfit of mine, an apron my mom made for herself when she was learning to sew, an antique bible and a few other odds and ends).
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
8 May
Thanks.
We ate off of a card table with chairs that we received as a wedding gift for that first year.
Neither one of us wanted to get something that wasn't going to last us our lives, so we waited until we found what we did.
I just remembered that I have a pair of Hollie Hobby (remember her?) pillow cases that I embroidered when I was about 11 or 12 years old in a drawer in the bottom of the hope chest. I have some of our son's baby shoes in there also.
I have some love letters in there that my hubs wrote to me in our younger days before we were married.
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
10 May
@Marilynda1225 I do re-read the love letters once in a while. I even kept the very first heart shaped box which contained chocolates that he gave to me.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (80182)
• United States
10 May
@Juliaacv I never had a hope chest but I think it would have been fun. I inherited my moms when she passed away (mostly because she lived with me and it was in her room). She had keepsakes for a million years in hers and I have yet to go through it and see what's inside.
Yes I do remember Hollie Hobby very well. Do you ever re-read the love letters from your hubby?
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
9 May
@TheHorse Surprisingly enough it did. I was really concerned about the wireless keyboard, but I got all of the water out. I was afraid to run the hair dryer over it for fear of the air driving the water further into the keyboard. But thankfully I did not have to resort to that.
@LindaOHio (158688)
• United States
8 May
We don't have any antiques. I hope your table wasn't damaged. Have a good day.
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
9 May
@LindaOHio Thank you.
Yes, we are both well right now.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (158688)
• United States
9 May
@Juliaacv I'm glad it wasn't stained. Have a good evening. Are you and hubby both healthy now?
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (85992)
• United States
8 May
I guess my mom’s hutch. It was her wedding present from her parents back in 1975, the year she got married (she was 16). She gave it to me when I moved out. Oh wait, my grandmother gave me her hope chest, and that was from 1953. So that’s closer to an antique.
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
8 May
I have my grandmother's dining room suite, with a table, alot of leaves, chairs, a buffet and a china cabinet. There have been 3 generations of family gather around that table, and now the twins are the 4th generation. It is quite old, but it is not as near and dear to my heart as the oak table in the office.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (171239)
• United States
8 May
Not really aging to antiques but I have a few oil paintings that are certainly antique, as well as two large dressers that may date from the 30's. They are very well made..and have stood the test of time.The drawers are very deep and can really hold alot
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
8 May
I had an old dresser which was an antique when I was growing up, and the drawers did hold alot.
The drawers in the dining room buffet, which is probably an antique, are deep and hold alot. I have so many tablecloths neatly folded in them as well as alot of placemats.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (171239)
• United States
8 May
@Juliaacv My parents had or still have I think an old buffet in the basement, that I couldn't even begin to tell you the age. Unfortunately though being in the basement I am sure has exposed it to humidity and so forth. So, it probably isn't worth anything now..unless it could be restored or something. I mean it isn't humid there like here, but still..
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48636)
• Canada
8 May
@snowy22315 I can believe that.
On humid days I have trouble opening the drawers on our buffet and the one on the china cabinet.
My hubs will occasionally soap them which helps, but we don't really have alot of cause to open those drawers anyways, so it is fine.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (58961)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8 May
No, not quite. We have some old things, but nothing close to that in age.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40649)
• United States
8 May
I'm anxious to know if the water caused any damage to your lovely table! I know you would be heartbroken if it did.
1 person likes this
@1creekgirl (40649)
• United States
8 May
@Juliaacv I'm so glad you were able to dry all the water.
1 person likes this
@sallypup (58339)
• Centralia, Washington
8 May
I have a fold down cherry wood table that one of my felines has worked on. Its legs appear to have been attacked by a vicious beaver. My Mom willed me the table that was her Mom's. I think that little round table is an antique cause its older than me.
1 person likes this
@JESSY3236 (19056)
• United States
14 May
I don't think my uncle had any antiques here.
1 person likes this
