Is anyone else surprised by how strangers mistreat furniture when they visit?
My elderly mother lives with me, which means she has nurses and aides coming in our house throughout the week. I feel like I'm having to keep an eye on everyone. Today I had to move a wet coat off my mid-century end table. Last week a nurse dropped heavy toenail clippers into a mid-century ceramic bowl. I don't dare put my rya rug down because I know someone would walk on it with shoes.
I imagine that when I'm no longer caring for my mom I'll be able to more carefully choose my visitors.
I'm curious--does anyone else have this problem, and how do you handle it?
I had a couple of plumbers co...
I had a couple of plumbers come in yesterday, they were really good, took their boots off at the door (whic I rarely do) but I'm pretty shy by nature and it was still uncomfortable, don't really like people I don't know visiting.
Your mothers nurses just have different priorities, thats probably something to be grateful for.
It's not the visitors
so much as my teenagers. If I were really that concerned about the condition of my stuff or suffered from OCD, I'd have offed myself by now. I will admit that I do cringe every time my 18 year-old flops herself over the arm of my vintage 670, though. At least she looks better in it than I ever will.
Besides, they're furnishings. And, like any other utilitarian items, they were meant to be used. If I weren't prepared to repair or replace them, I probably shouldn't have them in my house anyway.
I have...
I have 'a-big-bastard-of-a-brother-n-law' (bastard in a good way)...you know the type, big Italian of 110kg, crumble my early Panton Herman Miller chair into a thousand pieces. They are particularly rare here and damn expensive too.
I had to laugh though, watching it was rather funny but afterwards....not so.
I learnt something that day, my chairs weren't built/made for todays average (large) body and to be cautious of letting people use what I have as we all know it's not only the money but most of what we have cannot be replaced.
That's kind of funny
about your Panton chair (of course it's a tragedy).
I don't think I've any trouble with guests coming in and mishandling my stuff. When my 90yo Mom came by and sat down on my Aalto Zebra Tank chair, I had to mention that she had to sit back on the chair because if you sit forward, you might cause the chair to fall forward.
Other than that, anyone who's come over knew that my living room furniture is vintage, even if the person didn't know diddly-squat about the era.
Mark, your housekeeper's...
Mark, your housekeeper's name isn't Berta by any chance?!
I see the problem here - if you have fragile / delicate furniture it's not always suited for the "harsh" daily use... some of my chairs are off-limits for visitors but of cause that needs to be communicated in a friendly manner.
you wouldn't borrow someone a vintage car for heavy transports either? and expensive dinnerware isn't for lavish parties either, is it?
Great thread. My...
Great thread. My OMGnoooooooo moment was when we went out to dinner with my fiance's mother and her friend. We walked to the restaurant and on the way walking back, we were all soaked with pouring rain. For whatever reason, the friend decided to extend his visit with us and came up to our apartment, where in soaking wet jeans, he promptly sat on our vintage aniline leather Barcelona chairs. Oh, and the best part? I actually had the cushions flipped up because I didn't want my cat sitting on them. The gentleman actually flipped the cushions down and planted his wet ass on the aniline leather. I didn't say anything but I literally had to leave the room because I couldn't keep the look of shock off my face.
Thankfully most of my friends are very considerate people. I'm also not particularly careful with furniture myself, though I try to be conscious of at least not ruining it.
I got rid of a set of beautif...
I got rid of a set of beautiful rosewood Kai Christensen dining chairs, the ones with the Z arm/leg thing going on---because they were inherently fragile and I was sick of worrying about guests and family members being careless with them. I wanted to be able to enjoy socializing without fretting about who was scooting a chair improperly.
I got some much sturdier Mollers and have been having a blast ever since.
Also: this thread reminded me of how when we lived in Denmark the tradesmen (roofers, plumber) always took their work clogs off at the door when coming inside! It had more to do with not mucking up the lye-finished pine floors than being careful of furnishings, but still. SO considerate.
I love this thread! Our...
I love this thread! Our stuff is constantly being 'endurance-tested' by our friends.
We've had the arms bent off our vintage Jacobsen chairs twice. Why do people have to lower themselves into the chairs by the armrests??
Every time we have a dinner party someone falls over in our three-legged Wegner chairs.
A big oaf of a friend sat down really hard in my LCW and the legs did the splits.
Oh, that reminds me-
We had a party and a dear friend sat in the vintage LCW whose back I just epoxied back on OH so carefully and painstakingly---SNAP. Popped right off. I didn't even try to repair the second one, just slapped them up on ebay. Some guy in Belgium bought them. I hope he doesn't have big parties.
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