I got this thing from a customer that needed us to move some furniture. He said I could take it to any antique shop and get $20 for it. Usually I'm suspicious when people try and pawn their old stuff off on me. But he was a nice guy, paid me $100 bucks for me and my helper to come and move some furniture around, and most of his stuff was pretty good so I took it. And now I have this thing laying around for about 4 months now and still trying to decide what to do with it... so far these are my options

1. sell it on craigslist... I have had a few people offer me $40-50 for this thing... but nobody's willing to drive out to my place to actually hand over the money... and I no longer fall for that "bring it to my house I'll pay you when you get here" story since by the time you take it off the truck and haul it up the stairs is when they like to start nickle-and-diming you on price and whining about scratches. Would be helpful if I knew what kind of wood this is. All I know is its called a credenza. One woman came to see it, she thought it was a sideboard she could put her dishes in, but decided it wasn't high enough. I told her about my "tv stand" idea (see #2) and she almost went for it but her husband said no.

2. I've always wanted to try fixing up old furniture. And I thought this would make a great TV stand.. we have a 46" plasma television, we could put the box on top, and the wii and all that other crap can go down in the bottom. My wife hates that idea, she wants to go to IKEA and spend $300 on something made out of oatmeal. But I was thinking if I took off the doors, and replaced the inside with glass it would look more modern. Maybe stain it a dark coffee colour.

3. Or I could just leave the doors the way they are, sand it and clean it up a little with a coat of varnish and see what I can get for it then.

4. The top is really solid if anything I could take the top off and use it for a shelf or something. My wife hates that idea as well.

5. Throw it out (wife's idea).


<img src="http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/5156/credenza.jpg">

 

if its an "antique" and "original" leave it as is and sell...

(sorry i cant tell you what kind of wood it is... thats probablly the only part of shop ive never been able to remember... if you look at either the end of the top, or the bottom of the legs, if there is little holes there, then its probablly oak...

but for some reason, the leg on the left and a few other places look like alder to me... but then other places it looks like oak grain or???)

 

Throw it out.

To me, it looks like poplar (possibly ash), stained with walnut stain. . . a LONG time ago!

The panels in the doors. Are they actual 'wood', or, are the woodgrained plastic?? (Don't laugh! My first wife bought a coffee table with some ornate 'stuff' in a panel like that. It WAS plastic!!)
I called it her "Genuine Imitation Wood Coffee Table".


Instead of throwing it out, take it outside and break it apart, and use it in the fireplace.

Or, take it to 'good will' and donate it. Then, take it off your taxes as a deduction!

 

By looking at the grain along the top of the doors and along the bottom it appears to have the look of Oak..

I would say sell it on CL and don't waste time refinishing it.. It won't increase the value that much..

If you are into building furniture you can always dismantle the piece and save the wood for some other project..

Another option is try selling it to an antique or second hand furniture shop..

 

You couldn't pay me $20 to haul it away. (Based on the hardware I see it's not much of an antique.)

 

yea, the grain on the top and bottom of the doors looks like oak,

But, the grain on the rest of it looks like walnut


Back to the issue of the T.V. the only way to set that up is hang it....

 

Looks like particle board with veneer covering..................toss it.

 

even if it is old it sure is fugly, take the 50 bucks.

 

^^^^^^absolutely

 

Looks like nice Oak Firewood

 

hmmmm..too intricate and symmetrical to not be mass produced. 50's 60's. Down here, NY, in a summer garage sale I bet I could get $75 for it.
Keep in mind we use our old console TVs as stands for our new TVs.
We can sell the consloles for $30 and a chicken.

 

I bet you could. I didn't think folks in upstate NY had any money to waste on other peoples' old junk, but every weekend they're out there trying to sell their old snow tires and kitchen furniture.

 

Not my taste, but the carvings look irregular enough that they were actually probably done by hand. Some close-ups of the wood grain would help--face grain and any end grain you can find, but it looks like an open-grained wood like oak or ash. A pic of the back would help to--it helps to see how it was stained, whether it was sprayed or hand-applied. You could also look the piece over for a manufacturer's mark or tag, like on the bottom or back. How much does it weigh?

It does look like it may have been painted at some point, then badly stripped and refinished. If that's the case, then any value it had as an antique (if it is indeed an antique) went out the window. I never understood that one. I'd rather have a piece that was antique and refinished but looked great than one that had its original 1800s finish on it and looked like it had been dragged behind a truck for 100 miles.

Jason

 

+1

It looks to me like it's from the 60's or 70's; that it was mass-produced; and that it was considered "cheap" or "budget" at the time. I'll wager not all the wood pieces on that thing are from the same species of tree...

Also, it might be part of a "set" - If you do find a tag or mark on it, look to see if it's numbered in any way... If it is part of a "set", it would be interesting to find out what else came with it... For example, some sets included huge wood-framed mirrors that hung over pieces like this...

 

I just sold it. Now what do I get my wife for Christmas?