Housewives’ Guide to Antiques
We thumbed through the Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book a couple weeks ago. I neglected to tell you about the book that was included in the Decorating Book: A Housewives’ Guide to Antiques.
The book is as useful as the its Decorating Book counterpart. There are descriptions of the differing eras of antique furniture—including the enthusiast’s tell-tale signs of each.
Had it been written today, this book would lack a decided amount of its content. The vastly different landscape —particularly the insistence on the woman’s role at home—colors the commentary and suggestions throughout the book. You’ll see what I mean below. Admittedly, I adore the book; many of the otherwise politically incorrect parts were my favorites (and are still pretty true!). Hope you enjoy the excerpts below. The use of language is delightful—words are one of my favorite indulgences. I’m tickled by the lack of possessive adjectives: your husband, my children. As if all housewives—or wives—and all husbands are the same. So. Perfect. Ha! I imagine I would be the youngest spinster this writer would have ever met, bahaha. Alas, my tone intends to lack any cynicism; its just humorous to observe the difference in social norms.
There is no need to feel that the furniture is out of date after a few years and thus replace it at a strain against Husbands’ budget, when the furniture is still in good shape. (15)
Don’t buy something just because it is old! Age will not improve what was not good to start. Not all old wine is vintage champagne—sometimes it is just wine that has turned into vinegar. Antique furniture is no different. (17)
A lovely home is something that offers enjoyment in many ways: comfort for the body, beauty for the eye, and contentment for the mind in knowing that, “Be it ever so humble…” your home is the nicest place in the world." (18)
However, due to the sentimental value of many items belonging to elderly or deceased members of their families, and the mistaken idea of the true ages of these treasure, (Why, it must have been in Grandma’s attic forever!) some people refer to anything old or obsolete as being “antique.” This is a common misnomer among the well-meaning but misinformed. There is no much you can do when someone shows you a late Victorian chair which was owned by her Aunt Agatha, and proudly tells you that it is two hundred years old, except try to smile and mutter something noncommital like, “My, how interesting.” (19)
Does friend Husband shudder at the mention of antique furniture? It may well be that he has come into contact with poor specimens and has been told that, “Its rickety because its old—its an antique, you know.”
This time Husband is right. If a chair is too wobbly to be used, it should be either discarded, or, if it is of excellent style and workmanship but suffers from years of misuse and abuse, it should be placed in a museum where it can be seen but not used. (19-20)
“Enlist Husband’s Help” Two heads are always better than one; while he becomes an “expert” on detecting fakes, you can bone up on styles and periods. Shop and buy together—it is more four informed, alert eyes instead of just your own two, and there is much less change of being stuck with a fake. Knowing the difference, your Husband may well surprise you by urging you to spend just a little more than you had hoped for, because of a better value than what you would have bought alone fearing his disapproval. After all even though we women are considered shrewder shoppers, he did earn the money and he wants the most for each dollar. (24)
Gross, Leslie.
Housewives’ Guide to Antiques. Exposition Press. New York. 1959.
