You could put those wattle fences to good use as trellises for anything. I tried the milk thistle fence, but the rains killed off any seedlings, not one that I planted made it. I did buy another pack so next year, I will start them off growing on top of a paper towel or toilet paper. When I shop for seeds, I look at the year some of them were created. I have one oldy but goody in the garden, white scalloped or patty pan, it's a nice producer so far, and I'm about to harvest my first maybe even tomorrow. It's bright white. My garden looks like a cyclone hit it, I thought it would be so picturesque. The rains hit it, then overtime at work left it, now I'm battling squash vine borers digging into the stems of the pumpkins and squashes, even my resistant ones had a larvae in the stem, it must have just now this week started because I checked them last week, they were fine. I doubt the normal family in medieval days grew yellow straight neck or crooked neck unless they grew them under cloth, or in another country less troubled by the insect. I guess the borer is worse in the south because they can overwinter, our winters aren't cold enough in Tennessee. I have 3 marigolds that seemed to be heirloom quality, Cracker Jack, just ordered the Mexican Marigold, and then there is one created more recently, Pinwheel Marigold, but it's a seed saver organic type as far as I know. In my medieval garden I don't see pumpkins growing being in a community garden area, they would infest every garden with squash vine borers and squash bugs, unless there are resistant types. My garden would be in Europe though, although I'm part American Indian. I believe also the gardens were more picturesque because of the herbs and flowers being so much easier to grow, plus the folklore of chasing bugs away with them, potions or mojo bags to protect them from the evil eye. My guess is they drank lots of good herbal tea, ate lots of salads with flower buds in them the whole growing season even for every meal. I was lucky to find the old fashioned briars in an area of my garden, the rose bush with such a small petaled rose, not hips that I could find. They will be looking at a different home in the fall. I would hate to disturb them in this heat, and I would also think they would take better to be transplanted in the fall. It's a dreamy idea to have a medieval garden, the seed man is against us. Most of what we have was created in the last 50 years.

I based my asessment on the very square lines of the piece, and the applied decorations which were often used in the early part of the 20th century. I also considered the brasses. Of course they could have been replaced, but that's unlikely. Men wore hats daily well into the 1950's and a derby hat of 1920 needed a place to be as much as a top hat. And those little round feet are also not often found before 1900. And another factor, the OP said it had been her grandfather's. My grandfather was born in 1885 and married in 1905, and while I don't believe he ever wore a top hat in his life, he had a dresser with a hat box. The year the OP's grandfather was born would add more information. Linda C

Thank you all for the responses and nice comments! I admit that I never paid much attention to this set while growing up, but I've really come to appreciate it over the past 10 years - and not just because it's all I've had to sleep on. =) So, Linda, you would guess this set to be about 100 years old, then? And, about it being a demi corbeille bed - most of the beds i've seen marked "corbeille" are upholstered. Are non-upholstered corbeille beds less common? What would make it "demi corbeille" as opposed to "corbeille"? A couple other questions for those with more furniture knowledge than me (not hard to do): I've seen somewhat similar sets called "French". Does that mean this would have been made in France, or is it a reproduction of a French style? Would it be accurate to call this Louis XVI style? i see a lot of similarities to, say Or perhaps Directoire style? I see some similarities there, too. Here is a link that might be useful: This bed has some of the same details, and is described as being Louis XVI, and made in 1910.

Out of curioisty, @ ci_lantro ... I was drawn to the cabinets, myself, how are you identifying them as cheap, so I can learn what to look for? Big tip-off is the wide face frame stiles (the vertical piece) dividing the doors on double door cabinets. That divider stile limits your access to the cabinet. (Real PITA, I know, because I've had them!) Makes it tougher to get things into and out of the cabinet. I prefer butt doors where you can open both doors and don't have a face frame piece in your face, dividing the cabinet. To omit that center stile, generally speaking, you need a beefier cabinet box. With the divider stile, the manufacturer can get away with using thinner materials for the box. Cabinet doors are the most expensive part of a cabinet. The larger the pieces of the face frame, the smaller the cabinet door can be (partial overlay doors) resulting in cost savings for the manufacturer (and a less expensive cabinet for the customer.) Check the shelving. (Really) cheap cabinets from that era are apt to have unpainted particle board shelving. Slightly better, painted particle board. Melamine covered particle board is another step up and so on. Look for adjustable shelving, vs fixed shelves. Inspect the shelf pin holes (if that system is used) for blow outs (crumbling particle board or mdf). Are the doors real wood or foil/ plastic covered mystery wood? For the most part, partial overlay style cabinets (where large parts of the face frame are exposed) are dated. Of course, you expect that in an older home but it will be a factor when it comes to resale. I believe that you did the right thing by backing off on this house. There are just a whole, whole lot of things wrong. A lot of owner neglect that is easy to see. (What all else did they neglect that isn't so obvious?) Mostly small stuff from looking at the photos (excluding the windows) since you were more than OK with the kitchen. Tight budget, novice DIY, probable lack of tools (albeit tools are an investment the cost adds up in a big hurry!) and the quite overwhelming amount of small problems facing a first time home-owner, and the fact that the house was not discounted makes it a pass, period. Keep saving, keep looking, keep educating yourself. Watch YouTube videos. 'See Jane Drill' is great, especially for beginner a DIY. 'Essential Craftsman' and 'DFWCrown-The Finish Carpenter' are currently my two favorites. And trust that the market will cool off; it always does. IOW's, take your time with the search. Oh, one more thing--When you see things like those single pane aluminum windows original to the house, you can pretty safely assume that the builder was using bottom of the line/ as cheap as you can get materials and did not scrimp on just the windows.