Finding the Beauty in Flawed Furniture

I’m starting to refinish a furniture piece I got a couple of weeks ago for just five bucks! It’s a hutch, and did I mention I got it for five bucks? Obviously, it’s used, but it has great potential. Flaws? Yup, plenty. Imperfections? You bet. Does that make it less desirable? I believe the opposite is true and here’s why…

Chippendales or Guy Next Door?

Think about perfect faces. Beautifully symmetrical. Teeth gleaming white and straight. Silky, flawless skin. Big saucer-like eyes. Disney-esque. These are the air-brushed supermodels and male dancers of the world. Contrast those with the faces of elders. Faces with abundant spots, scars, and wrinkles, attached to imperfect humans who have seen a lot, endured a lot, and lived a lot. So we’ve got fresh and flawless versus weathered and worn. The majority of us would likely find the latter more interesting, but how about more beautiful?

There’s no arguing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As for this beholder, give me the guy next door any day of the week over the stereotypical hunky catalog male. I could look deep and long at faces that don’t fit the stereotypes. Those are the faces that mesmerize and stir your imagination. And in the same vein, give me a piece of furniture with some wear and tear that you just know would have stories to tell if it could. That’s my idea of real beauty.

Life Revealed in Wood

When I was growing up, we had a phone table in our house. As advertised—it was a table where the phone sat, complete with phone book storage and notepad and pen for taking down messages. That table was in place from as long ago as I can remember until I was in high school. Even when we shifted to the phone being hung on the wall, my mom hung onto that table. You see, over the years everyone in my family had doodled and written down phone numbers on it. As a teenager, I couldn’t understand why she would choose to hang onto something so damaged. As a I got older, I figured it out. That table told a story. It benchmarked her kids’ phases, showed who our friends were, and even the crushes we had. I wish I had that table now.

When I see scratches and dings on an older piece of furniture, I wonder how they got there. Who owned the piece, and what role did it play in their life? How many dreams originated from that desk? How much laughter and how many tears took place at that kitchen table? So many questions that just don’t come to mind with that new, flawless piece off the showroom floor.

So as I work on this latest piece, I’ll clean it up and fix a few flaws, but I’m glad some imperfections will remain. It will feel more real. It will reveal more beauty.

Now, what will you do next to love where you live?

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