DH and I are thinking we could make the first two drawers into a single false-front pull-down cabinet, and keep the bottom drawer intact...we have to get measurements of where our water is coming out right now and where the drawers are...

I like it very much and, if in good condition, the price is not outrageous. Check on-line for similar credenzas and you'll feel much better.

I scored a Danish tambour door credenza, similar measurements, on ebay which I plan to use in our powder rm. Not as high, so I plan to remove the recessed rectangular base and hang on the wall at the appropriate height. I'll probably do an undermount sink.

Go for it. Since it's a store, they may be willing to negotiate, but it's already a good price.

OMG, that credenza looks exactly like a stereo console that was left in a house we moved into 25 years ago. We promptly threw it out! I would have saved it for ya, had I known!

MCM fan here. I think it looks very nice and I can see it easily converting to a bathroom vanity without looking out of place. It looks like the hardware is silvertone?

You say "Finding something with these exact dimensions has been a challenge, and a real vintage piece on top of it...but I don't want to overpay.." If you are trying to fit an odd size and you say this size is exact and it is 'perfect', then RUN don't walk, and get it.

You are going to pay a bit more just for the fact that it is being sold in a store and not out of someone's home, but they have overhead to run the store and after all they had to put time in to find it and possibly repair it.

I can't say anything about the price as prices vary between different parts of the country. Even sometimes within a city prices vary according to the neighborhood. How long have you been looking for the perfect size? How long do you want to live with the red one you have now? If its solid wood its a steal.

You know, Fly, I don't think it's a *bad* price per se. I think it's just not an *amazing*, brag-about-it-afterward price. As dillydally says: it's the perfect size and you can do what you want with it. I'd see whether they might be willing to knock 20% off, which furniture sellers often do, if you mutter convincingly enough about the bad economy, doing all your renovations yourself, etc etc. But even if they don't, I'd grab it and pat yourself on the back.

btw, I emailed you a while back in response to your nice long chatty note, and haven't heard from you since -- did I go to spam? (: I owe you a longer one, sorry -- it's been crazy on my end. Details to follow. Thread hijack over.

Thanks, you all -- so hm, I think you're right, walkin, I want to have a "steal" for this, since we're having to do the work ourselves, etc...just being a spoiled girl :)

We've been looking for the perfect size for some time now, since we don't want a HD special or a typical bath vanity...most credenzas or buffets we've found are more like 60" or more. A few are tinier, but there's always been one thing or another...and the increased depth is better than the 16-7/8" of the Effektiv pieces, for which I can't find legs I like, either.

abundantblessings, your post sent me to eBay to see what I could see, and there are LOADS of (bigger) credenzas there--wow! YOu know, I've never bought furniture from eBay, though, because of a hugely, horribly bad experience with the largest (size-wise) thing we ever bought from there -- involved fraud and internet stalking...UGH...and I just know I'd be the person whose piece arrives crushed from bad packing and DH would --well, *I*'d be ticked off as well. Have you received your piece yet? I'll be hoping to hear of a safe arrival/transaction.

walkin, Aw MAN! I looked in my drafts folder when I read your post and there it is, a reply sitting waiting for me to finish it! I completely forgot about it! I tell you, my brain is truly embarrassing sometimes. I wonder sometimes how I would have functioned if I'd followed the career path I was on...but then again, maybe I wouldn't have gotten fibro, which I only got because DH got hit by a van (long story)...wish I could go back in time and make a different decision and see how things would have played out...but the short version is that my holey brain completely spaced finishing the reply...I'll get to it posthaste.

neesie, *sigh*...if DH's parents hadn't sold off all their original Danish Modern at divorce-sale prices, we'd not even be having this conversation LOL...there are so many fabulous pieces floating up into the vintage market now. The eBay "danish credenza" search yields literally dozens of almost-identical-to-each-other pieces that IMO are overpriced, but they must know what the market can bear, so I guess those are the going rates now...

Oh, Fly, no worries! With Thanksgiving AND home reno AND your health stuff, you've got enough on your plate. Not at all meant as a reproach, and take your time.

Am totally with you on Ebay furniture. I am often tempted, esp by the sellers w/100% feedback ratings, but I know DH would balk and I can't blame him -- it's just much better to be able to walk around it, open the doors, push it a little and see whether it gives...

Thanks, walkin, you're a dear :)

And I meant to add, dilly dally, yes, isn't it odd that the hardware is silvertone? I don't think I've ever seen that (original) on furniture of that era. Not sure what to make of that, although more will come clear tomorrow, I guess...

I think it is a nice piece, and the fact that the dimensions are perfect is worth something as well.

My one question is how will you place the sink? Are you planning on putting it to the right side above the drawers, or to the left over the door? I am guessing there is a divider between the drawers and door area, so it would be hard to center the sink. How will it fit in relation to your pipes?

The other thing is what does the granite look like? That might affect whether this piece works, too. I don't see a busy patterned granite looking right on that - perhaps a plain black, with a matte finish.

Hi Les,

Thanks for taking the time to write such detailed thoughts and questions -- I love your attention to the nitty-gritty that really makes things work or not.

The sink will have to be centered, which would put the drain going in what's now the drawer side -- I've got measurements to check where the division is, etc.--if it doesn't work, then we're out of luck. But at this point we're thinking the hot water supply will come up through the cabinet side, and the cold will come through the drawer side. DH is willing to move them so that they come out of the wall *inside* the cabinet; we may need to do that if by chance they come out precisely at the height the cabinet starts, which would be just my luck.

We'll use a vessel (above-counter) sink so the cutting will be a round hole for the drain, no recessing the sink into the piece.

The granite is a very calm blue-green with some black -- I've never seen it before, but it works with the other blue-green counters in our house and is still calm. We've got it on a (darker) walnut credenza right now, in fact, and it looks great...I'll have to evaluate whether I like it with the lighter walnut or if I may have to darken the piece, or whether I want to find another piece altogether. If I don't think it works with the color of this credenza, it's not too hard to find granite remnants that size, and we'd only need a 2 cm thickness--I can even do the hole cutting and edge polishing myself, don't you know :) Among the collection of tools in our garage that I bought and rationalized "I'll be able to sell them when we're done and make the money back"is a pro-level wet stone polisher with all the graduated pads...but I can't bear to part with them!

Of course, when I get there I may see that it's badly made or something and the search will have to go on. But it would be great if we could have this part done with.

I like it. I'm one to really overanalyze things to the point where I miss out on some really good stuff. (A particular house comes to mind, and a meltdown I had in the car. After that, DH made me promise to work on my analysis paralysis problem, and I have). So I say, go get it!

It looks to me like this is a coffee shop and maybe not a furniture shop. So I think there is definitely room to negotiate. Even a standard antique shop counts on taking 10% off if you ask.

Hey jakabedy,

Ah yes, analysis paralysis -- otherwise known as Libra-ness :) (I suffer from it something fierce) Did you miss out on another house? If so, it was because you were meant to have the one you have now :)

Thanks for your idea on what to offer, as well. And in true Portland tradition, *everything* is mixed with coffee here - it's a vintage furniture/coffee/hangout place...what can I say...it's the nature of the town :)

Fly -

We LOVE the house we have now and aren't looking at all. The missed house was back in 2005 when we had some definite financial and geographical confines and I let an ideal one slip through my fingers because I just . . . couldn't . . . . commit.

In a house prior to that we made a vanity out of an antique dresser. We did a drop-in sink, though, and it worked great. The piece had three drawers and we lost use of the top one, but the middle and lower ones we just shortened (water lines came out of the floor) so they were still usable.

Ah...well I'll bet that the one that got away isn't as cool as the one you got :)

May I ask, when you lost the use of the top drawer, did you attach the drawerfront to a piece of wood or something? How did you mask the change in the front?

I didn't get to see it today, btw. Homeschooling got in the way :( I'll be trying tomorrow, if I can get there...

Ernk...my DD had one EXACTLY like that one. She painted it acid green and added glass handles. Worked great for her. Then she sold it at her last garage sale (she lived in Sellwood until 2 mos ago). She bought it at Goodwill for $25.

Have you checked Goodwill? I like the one in Gresham...have found great stuff there. DD comes to Salem a lot and finds great MCM things here at the thrift stores and she says it's a lot cheaper than Portland.

See, that's what I want to have happen. But it's not happening for me--I've found some amazing desks etc. but all too big. And you ask me if I have checked Goodwill?! I've got an admitted Goodwill habit :) Don't get out to Gresham a lot, though. The west side stores are my hunting grounds.

Salem, hm??? Now I have a new fun side trip sometime if we have to go down for track next spring :)

fly -

For the top drawer, DH took off the back and the bottom and cut off most of the sides, leaving some of the sides (it was dovetailed). Then he just glued the sides to the inside of the cabinet, as if the "drawer" was in place. I wish I had a picture of it, but I think I lost it when my old computer crashed.

jakabedy, thanks -- so you couldn't open it, it was a stationary panel? I was thinking we'd want to do something like put it on a piano hinge somehow just in case we wanted the access...I wonder how that would work. We'll figure out something...if we end up getting this. pesky's story has challenged me; I feel like a Goodwill slacker and am getting determined to find it there rather than at this other place :)

Yeah - the top drawer became just a stationary panel. I could see doing the piano hinge on yours since you're doing a vessel sink rather than a drop-in. But since it is in a powder room, is storage really all that important? You'll still have use of the door side to store TP . . .

flyleft - did you get the piece? Did I miss a more recent post? I'd love to see it.

No, we ended up going to see it and being underwhelmed by it in reality. I'm holding out for something spectacular. It is our powder room, after all. Thanks for asking, though :)