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I just spent about $700 having new cushions made for a 50+ year old Danish Teak sofa that I inherited from my grandparents. The original cushions were long gone

by jonah 3y ago

I just spent about $700 having new cushions made for a 50+ year old Danish Teak sofa that I inherited from my grandparents. The original cushions were long gone, but the wooden frame was still in great condition. I sourced high-quality foam and wool upholstery fabric from Maharam and took those to one of the best upholsterers/furniture restorers in Los Angeles. They did a wonderful job and now I have a super-comfortable couch with many good childhood memories, that should last me another 25 years before I need to replace the cushions again. Point being, get a classic old piece and restore it. It will last a lifetime.

andirk 3y ago
Is it super heavy? I've noticed weight often equals how long something will last in good condition, and old furniture is often way heavier and bulkier.
- analog31 3y ago
  Not the OP, but my family has a bunch of Danish teak furniture, as does my mom. The sofas are not super heavy. Cushions on a frame. You can see under it. Now, there's no bed inside. My mom's was re-upholstered once. Ours isn't old enough for that yet. We've re-upholstered the dining chairs a couple of times. As for other pieces of furniture, e.g., cabinets and stuff, we bought them used from a place that combed estate sales in Denmark for furniture and sold it in the US. One attraction is that the old furniture is smaller, so it works in a smaller house.
  - jonah 3y ago
    I also have my grandparent's danish teak dressers and dining table and chairs as well as some various side tables, lamps, bed, etc. I've acquired elsewhere. The all look wonderful and I get a nice feeling of connection to my family whenever I grab some socks, or sit down to eat, etc.
- nntwozz 3y ago
  That's because old furniture is usually made of heartwood and not the cheaper sapwood part of the tree; I like to call it cardboard furniture. Same goes for old wooden windows etc. that can last a hundred years or more if properly taken care of. "Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work you can always hit them with it." — Boris 'The Blade' Yurinov
  - ghaff 3y ago
    >Same goes for old wooden windows etc. that can last a hundred years or more if properly taken care of. The key may be the "properly taken care of" part (or they didn't buy crap at the time part). I live in a greater than 200 year old house and all the older windows dating to whenever are complete crap compared to newer Andersens I've had installed.
  - RogerL 3y ago
    Survivorship bias. The cheap stuff doesn't last. "Take from the dresser of deal, Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet..." - Wallace Stevens, 1922. "Deal" being cheap pine or other soft heartwood (in the poem he is trying to evoke a scene of poverty and maybe a bit of gaudiness). Not that buying old can't be an excellent strategy, it having survived either a long life, or perhaps it was just never used in which case all bets are off.
- byw 3y ago
  I owned a bunch of mid-century Danish/Swedish furnitures, and they're generally pretty light. They tend to have slimmer profiles for the "modern" appearance, so less material. Also solid wood tend to be lighter than engineered wood.
- turkishmonky 3y ago
  I'd be careful equating heavy with quality - MDF is extremely heavy but not great for longevity.
- jonah 3y ago
  As others mentioned, it's quite light. Here are some pictures I found online of ones similar one to mine: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/c9/50/a2c9506ff9f3d65541d545cdefa915ff.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/c9/50/a2c9506ff9f3d65541d5... https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZrMM8Wa1DuU/UkRPE9INzeI/AAAAAAAACe0/N1L4_L7w2Nc/s1600/teaksofa2.jpg https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZrMM8Wa1DuU/UkRPE9INzeI/AAAAAAAAC... I wrote my original post in haste - the cost was for doing the couch and a matching chair (same side-profile, just narrower.)
- tasuki 3y ago
  I bought a used Nieri leather sofa recently for a seventh of the original price. It is supposed to be a solid high end sofa (or so the seller said; it was the most expensive sofa of the hundred they were selling), but is feather light. I was suspicious, but bought it anyway because I liked it. So far it has withstanded the kid jumping on it in various ways. I wonder, is it even possible it's solidly made despite being very light?
verticalscaler 3y ago
Two points actually: Teak is great. How it gets around to being a sofa is not. This is a doubly good thing you're doing keeping it going instead of disposing of it like most people would.

by jonah 3y ago

andirk 3y ago

Is it super heavy? I've noticed weight often equals how long something will last in good condition, and old furniture is often way heavier and bulkier.

analog31 3y ago
Not the OP, but my family has a bunch of Danish teak furniture, as does my mom. The sofas are not super heavy. Cushions on a frame. You can see under it. Now, there's no bed inside. My mom's was re-upholstered once. Ours isn't old enough for that yet. We've re-upholstered the dining chairs a couple of times. As for other pieces of furniture, e.g., cabinets and stuff, we bought them used from a place that combed estate sales in Denmark for furniture and sold it in the US. One attraction is that the old furniture is smaller, so it works in a smaller house.
- jonah 3y ago
  I also have my grandparent's danish teak dressers and dining table and chairs as well as some various side tables, lamps, bed, etc. I've acquired elsewhere. The all look wonderful and I get a nice feeling of connection to my family whenever I grab some socks, or sit down to eat, etc.
nntwozz 3y ago
That's because old furniture is usually made of heartwood and not the cheaper sapwood part of the tree; I like to call it cardboard furniture. Same goes for old wooden windows etc. that can last a hundred years or more if properly taken care of. "Heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work you can always hit them with it." — Boris 'The Blade' Yurinov
- ghaff 3y ago
  >Same goes for old wooden windows etc. that can last a hundred years or more if properly taken care of. The key may be the "properly taken care of" part (or they didn't buy crap at the time part). I live in a greater than 200 year old house and all the older windows dating to whenever are complete crap compared to newer Andersens I've had installed.
- RogerL 3y ago
  Survivorship bias. The cheap stuff doesn't last. "Take from the dresser of deal, Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet..." - Wallace Stevens, 1922. "Deal" being cheap pine or other soft heartwood (in the poem he is trying to evoke a scene of poverty and maybe a bit of gaudiness). Not that buying old can't be an excellent strategy, it having survived either a long life, or perhaps it was just never used in which case all bets are off.
byw 3y ago
I owned a bunch of mid-century Danish/Swedish furnitures, and they're generally pretty light. They tend to have slimmer profiles for the "modern" appearance, so less material. Also solid wood tend to be lighter than engineered wood.
turkishmonky 3y ago
I'd be careful equating heavy with quality - MDF is extremely heavy but not great for longevity.
jonah 3y ago
As others mentioned, it's quite light. Here are some pictures I found online of ones similar one to mine: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/c9/50/a2c9506ff9f3d65541d545cdefa915ff.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a2/c9/50/a2c9506ff9f3d65541d5... https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZrMM8Wa1DuU/UkRPE9INzeI/AAAAAAAACe0/N1L4_L7w2Nc/s1600/teaksofa2.jpg https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZrMM8Wa1DuU/UkRPE9INzeI/AAAAAAAAC... I wrote my original post in haste - the cost was for doing the couch and a matching chair (same side-profile, just narrower.)
tasuki 3y ago
I bought a used Nieri leather sofa recently for a seventh of the original price. It is supposed to be a solid high end sofa (or so the seller said; it was the most expensive sofa of the hundred they were selling), but is feather light. I was suspicious, but bought it anyway because I liked it. So far it has withstanded the kid jumping on it in various ways. I wonder, is it even possible it's solidly made despite being very light?

verticalscaler 3y ago

Two points actually: Teak is great. How it gets around to being a sofa is not. This is a doubly good thing you're doing keeping it going instead of disposing of it like most people would.