Furniture Tells A Story

Do you ever look at a piece of furniture in your home, or in the home of a relative and wonder what stories it could tell? Or when you think of a fond memory of a place or person, do you recall a bit of furniture from there too?

I do. I remember the rocking chair from my nanny and grandad’s house in Birmingham, how it used to be tucked in by the window, almost too tight to rock – probably for a reason knowing how wild we’d get sometimes!

When they passed, it came to be a part of my childhood home, realistically taking up more space than ideal, and becoming a source of squabbles over who got to sit on it. Eventually, when we were about to become parents, it came to our home so there was a comfortable chair in the baby room for those late night feeds. After it’s stint with us in Southam, it found a new home with my sister near Newcastle, offering the same safe space for midnight feeds once again. Now, we’re waiting to discover where it will head next, but one thing is for sure, it’ll be staying in the family. Funny thing is, I don’t think any of us actually like the style and design of it. The upholstery is dated and the wood really needs some attention, but it’s been part of our lives for so many years as it is, that I’m not sure anyone has the heart to change it.

And there’s more. I remember the big dark wood cabinet at my other grandparents house with all of their fancy looking crystals. And then there was the bureau under the scary wooden stairs at my great nan’s house just down the road in Spennymoor, my mom has this now.

All of these pieces are in my memory, and I can’t help but imagine what memories they’d share if they could talk. I know the crystal cabinet could probably tell a few about my mischievous ways!

So its probably no surprise that finding out the story behind a piece is one of my favourite things about collecting furniture. When we get to talk to family members who can tell us a little bit about the piece, how long its been in the family, where it’s lived and a little bit about the family itself, it is the most precious thing. Knowing the furniture has a story within it just makes it all the more special to me.

This story, the bit that you don’t get when you buy brand new, is the part that we love to add to. We love giving each piece of furniture a new lease of life so it can find a new home and carry on adding to the story for years to come.

We don’t always get to know the story behind a piece, but when we do, it just feels so special, and we want to share the stories we can share, with you, and the future new owners, so we can all help continue the story that comes with the  furniture we upcycle.

With huge thanks to the lasses in the Northern Lass Lounge for helping fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle and making this idea way more simple than I could, I’ll be sharing these stories through our blog. They’ll be linked to the product description of the piece of furniture, so when there is a story, you’ll be get to enjoy learning more about its past life whether you become part of it’s story or not.

If you are the lucky new owners, you’ll also get a tag along with your furniture that links to the story so you’ll have a piece of its history with you. Of course, this won’t be for every piece of furniture, because we don’t always get to learn about their history, but when we do, we’ll be making sure it isn’t forgotten.

The three beautiful pieces of furniture you see here each came with their own bit of a story. 

The Stag dressing table in the gorgeous plum pudding was sent off to it's new home near Crewe with the original purchase tag still on the back. 

The mid-century bureau with those amazing glass doors came with someone's school report still inside! 

And then lastly, the dressing table that at the time of writing (March 2025) is waiting to be painted, and looking for a new home actually has the names of the people who brought it, the date and location of purchase etched into the back! This was a wonderful discovery, something we'll be making sure stays visible for its future owners.

We've got more little snippets of stories too from furniture we've sold over the years, which over time I may well put together to create shorter blogs just to enjoy the history behind the furniture we transform.