Our society is shocking when it comes to consumption. We’re thoroughly materialistic and we’ve tricked ourselves into believing something new is better than something second-hand. Thanks to IKEA and the like it’s a simple matter to toss an entire room of perfectly functional furniture in favour of something new purely for the “look”. Don’t get me wrong – I love IKEA – but I think the cheap price persuades people that their products have low value and encourages them to chuck it as soon as they’re bored with it.
I learned at my mother’s knee how to lovingly restore an antique, make it the centre of your home and dress the room around it. From my father I learned what a throwaway society we are and how much awesome there is to be had at the local tip. Consequently, as an adult I have a few antique pieces I’ve collected over the years and a bunch of stuff I’ve discovered tucked away in second-hand charity stores, garage sales and the tip shop.
Of all the second-hand retail outlets in the world I love the tip shop the best. It’s only a step away from foraging in the rubbish yourself and it’s a good step to make - someone has sorted the trash from the treasure for you. It’s amazing what people throw out and there’s always a bargain to be had. In the spirit of encouraging you all towards living a more sustainable life without sacrificing style (not to mention saving you a bog-load of money), I thought I would share with you one of our recent tip shop journeys from start to finish.
First of all, buying anything purely because it caught your eye is a no go. You have to identify a need for it first. This can be very hard because the tip shop is like an Aladdin’s cave of wonders and is filled with mounds of stuff I never knew I wanted so badly I’d give a kidney for it.
To help with the “need” versus “want” issue, I like to keep a list of things we have to do around the house. When I’ve got some spare cash and a specific project in mind I’ll visit the tip shop and try to find something to work with. The advantage of having my project list at home is that if I see a bargain that would suit a different project while I’m there, I can scoop it up guilt free and leave the other project for another day.
In this instance we’ve had a chest of draws on our “to do” list for a while now. This is because Charlotte
The reason? Well, recently she began dressing herself. The problem, as Charles rightly pointed out when I expressed my frustration, is that the shelves in her wardrobe are poorly designed for little hands. She tugs one thing out and everything else comes right along with it. Give her two days of dressing herself and everything she owns is on the floor with no discernible difference between clean and dirty.
Trying to change a person is an amazingly difficult thing to do. Working with habits that have already formed is a lot easier and makes for a happier home. So rather than try and "educate" her about the right way to handle clothing on shelves we decided to go with some draws she could rummage through. Consequently a new chest of draws for her has been on our list for quite some time. Unfortunately a good set are hard to come by (not to mention at least $300 brand new) and we’ve just been keeping an eye out while we go about other projects.
On this particular trip to the tip shop we were on the hunt for a plant stand for my Dad for Christmas. He’s building an undercover pergola like ours and has specifically requested one of my revamp specials. No joy with the plant stands on this particular trip but the tip Gods had something else in mind so we wouldn’t go home empty-handed.
Enter this little beauty:
We checked it out and it was very solid, only needed minor reinforcement and had scratches and gouges all over it. It was also missing two knobs. The draws were also on rollers and easy to open and close (a must for littlies - although you can install your own if your draws don't have them).
Next up you have to negotiate a price and seal the deal. Here is where I reveal my most excellent bargaining tip for the tip shop. Decent people should skip down to the paragraph marked with a * because I assure you that while it is 100% effective, it's a low, dirty tactic and you will be disgusted. (Although not as low as removing draw knobs and pocketing them to make a piece look rattier than it actually is which is, of course, something I would never do. I’m just indicating that there’s always someone lower than you when it comes to bargaining tactics. Set your own standard people.)
When you really want something, find something similar first. Call your friendly tip shop person over and ask them for a price on the second item (the one you don’t want) first. Now is your time to go all out for that Academy Award nomination. Regardless of what price they quote you, your eyebrows should disappear into your hair and you will need to load your sentence with all the incredulity you can muster.
“$40??? Whoa!!! Er…how about this one?”
It is important not to overdo it. Don’t mention your budget, what you can afford, etc. And don’t even try to haggle or bargain. Just deliver a healthy dose of natural surprise with a tinge of mild embarrassment. In this particular instance the first “decoy” chest of draws – a flimsy arrangement that probably would have fallen to pieces in the back of our car on the way home – got a quote of $40. Employing my shock and awe technique got us a quote of $25 on the solid draws of awesome that we were really after. Hurrah!
* Welcome back decent people with highly evolved bargaining etiquette! Now that you have paid way more than you should have what the friendly tip person quoted you, you are now in possession of your chest of draws!
The first thing you should do when restoring your draws is remove the hardware from the outside.
Now is a good time to reinforce anything that looks loose, add more nails/screws, WD40 any sticky rollers, etc. Then you want to survey the superficial damage on your find. In our case the gouges weren’t too bad – more like deep scratches – and I was able to get them out by hand. If you’re missing bits or the gouges are too deep, you’ll need some wood filler before you can sand everything to a smooth finish.
Start with 80 grade sandpaper. Always sand in the direction of the wood grain and use long strokes until the gouges disappear. Now hit it with the 120 grade sandpaper. This is finer and will be enough to give you a smooth finish under your paint. Don’t stress that your furniture looks patchy because your sanding has removed the varnish completely in some areas and not at all in others. At this point you should give the whole thing a light, all-over sand with the 80 grade first and then the 120. Do not try and make it look good. You’re not looking to do anything other than remove the gloss so your primer will have a better surface to stick to.
Your hardware store should be able to advise you when it comes to finding a suitable primer. Essentially primer is a paint that locks in stains and makes a water-based top coat stick to older oil-based varnish. We've used Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3. Use a paintbrush and only apply a thin layer. Be warned it looks like hell when you put it on – thoroughly streaky and generally awful. Keep in mind that this is not your topcoat and it doesn’t have to be even and perfect.
After your primer has dried, hit it with a topcoat. In our case we’ve gone for two coats of semi-gloss in Antique White. Give your piece 24 hours to dry completely and then either reaffix the original hardware or pop on something new*.
Good as new!
* Our draws were missing two knobs and I’ve yet to buy new ones. I wanted to make sure the original draw handles would work with the new colour and they do! Now I just have to find a nice set of four knobs that match the handles to finish it off.
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