HOUSE: Newburgh + Scavenging

Scavenged faux-Saarinen table.

Even though we’ve driven by Hudson Valley Office Furniture in Newburgh dozens and dozens of times since we moved here, we never took the time to go in until last week. What an amazing place! They bill themselves as being a supplier of “nearly new” office furniture, but as it turns out, a good portion of their inventory is from the ’60s and ’70s. I started wishing I needed a Steelcase desk, because they had a million of them.

We spotted this Knoll/Saarinen tulip-style knockoff inverted on top of a pile of cabinets. The top is wood-grain laminate and the sides are peeling, but it looks easy to remove. We figured we’d bring it home and keep an eye out for a round marble remnant to replace it with. Not 5 minutes later, though, we found a piece of black marble in EXACTLY the right size (!) just hanging next to some coffee tables. Sold! (At a “just get it out of here” price, of course.)

I still have to unscrew the old top and get rid of it. It’ll look great when that’s done. The marble is heavy enough that I don’t think I’ll need to do much more than put a little Velcro underneath to get it to stay in place on the base.

I’m pretty excited about the shiny metal base, and the scratches don’t bother me at all. We’re planning to use this table outside, which I’d probably hesitate to do if it were the real thing (platinum base + black marble top = $759, or about 20x what we paid for ours).

Hooray for scavenging!

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10 Comments

  • Reply Leah April 27, 2008 at 10:33 pm

    God, you always find the most awesome stuff!

    Enviously yours,

    Leah

  • Reply Greg April 27, 2008 at 10:58 pm

    I love that table

  • Reply Vicki April 27, 2008 at 11:02 pm

    We have a Steelcase loveseat we got at a used office furniture place, but this was a great couple of finds! The table will look amazing flanked by your Bertoia chairs.

  • Reply woodley park-zoo April 28, 2008 at 7:57 am

    Ahhhhhhhh I am lusting for found-bases… I was in a cab doing a courier-errand for work and I saw what looked like a small four-star base lying on the side of the road but I thought it’d be a bit much to ask the taxi driver to stop, plus lug that thing back up to the office!

    Only thing that I wonder — is Velcro going to hold up if you get some crazy storm wind? I don’t want to imagine flying marble!! Maybe I underestimate the weight…

  • Reply mrslimestone April 28, 2008 at 8:18 am

    Love it!!

  • Reply katie April 28, 2008 at 9:47 am

    Wow!!! Amazing find!

  • Reply maya April 28, 2008 at 10:38 am

    wow,
    you are so lucky, you always find the best stuff ever!

  • Reply cevec April 29, 2008 at 12:00 am

    Oooh, makes me want to dig around the old office furniture stores here …

  • Reply read me... April 30, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    That really gets top marks!!

  • Reply gracia May 5, 2008 at 7:25 pm

    Such a brilliant find…

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