utilitarian furniture in french interiors

by Sharon Santoni
[blank]Industrial furniture is all the rage here and has been for years now.  The French love to mix it with more traditional antiques and blend it into a chic, modern oh-so-French interior design.[blank]
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[blank]These large wooden drawers, tables and cabinets are commonly called “meubles de metier” and are highly sought after.[blank]
[blank]’Meubles de metier’ is strangely difficult to translate – it has a more artisan meaning than just ‘industrial’, I suppose you could say ‘furniture for professional use’, be it from a store, a workshop, a tool shop.[blank]

 

[blank]I thought you may like to see some of the really lovely pieces that I have encountered over the past few months.  Some of theme cleaned and polished and ready to go, and others needing some serious TLC.[blank]
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[blank]I’m collecting these pictures because I’m on the look out for a piece for my own kitchen, and wander from dealer to fair to warehouse with a list of dimensions to hand![blank]
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What do you think?  Is there anything here that you’d love to have in your home?

pictures 2,3, 5 via Bords de Scene

23 comments

Prince Snow Farm October 10, 2013 - 11:54 am

I love these pieces. My dad was a pharmacist, and back in the 79's when the pharmacy was updated, he brought home the old wooden bench. He haas used it in the cellar as a workbench for many years. It is GORGEOUS! He told my hubs that someday when they move he can have it. Now I am dreaming of it in so many different ways!

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Poppy Q October 10, 2013 - 12:13 pm

Ohhhh I'd love them all. There is something magic about lots of drawers with letters or numbers on them.

Love your blog.

Julie Q

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Lynda Bergman Decorative Artisan October 10, 2013 - 2:12 pm

"Industrial" is slowly moving in here, too. I love the cabinet with glass doors. If that's the one you choose for your kitchen, I know you will make it beautiful!! Lynda

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NotesFromAbroad October 10, 2013 - 3:45 pm

We lived in a glass walled apartment with 20 ft high ceilings in Portland Oregon for a couple of years. Very industrial loft styled space and it was filled with our antiques .. the mix was wonderful. So I think the mix of antique (soft) and industrial (hard) is very stylish and actually has been done for a long time, just in different ways. I remember my mother having my great grandmothers table in the dining room of a modern Ranch house, with all the porcelains and china from the late 1800s .. it is a great style.

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Kimberly VanDyke October 10, 2013 - 4:42 pm

In love with the one that has the huge deep drawers. But truly like them all.

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Anonymous October 10, 2013 - 5:04 pm

It would have to be the glass fronted cupboard too it would go with lots of different style kitchens it's fab.But also like the unpainted cabinet and the first numbered one too ! Why people choose new over older furniture with history is beyond me. Sure whatever you decide on will be great – Avril

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Ms Lemon of Make Mine Lemon October 10, 2013 - 5:14 pm

I love the third photo down. I want the TLC already applied, but I love the look. When I used the dictionary – it translates as "moveable of trade" so I would have needed a little more info to figure out what the heck they were talking about. Can;t wait to see what you choose.

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Julie West Wales October 10, 2013 - 6:01 pm

The table and the glass cabinet in the kitchen are just beautiful, I'm not sure about the chairs though. They look great, but it might be a bit uncomfortable to linger round the table after a meal. It breaks my heart when I think of all the solid furniture my parents put on bonfires in the Sixties so they could update to "modern". If only we knew then what we know now!

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Anonymous October 10, 2013 - 7:59 pm

Wonderful! So what would you do to "clean and polish" some of these old pieces so they would be ready to use in your own kitchen? I always wonder how much "work" professionals like you do to old pieces before using?

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Emm October 11, 2013 - 1:33 am

I like the eight-drawer chest, next to last photo.
When libraries were converting to all-computers about 10-15 years ago, I really wanted to get an old card catalogue, but no luck.

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Magnolia Verandah October 11, 2013 - 4:14 am

Love that table and chairs, and the drawers. I love this industrial looking stuff.

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Colleen Taylor October 11, 2013 - 6:36 am

These are all so wonderful Sharon. Sure I see many things here that I always lust for, if I just had the room for more pieces. Lovely post, lovely things. XO

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Mumbai October 11, 2013 - 9:11 am

It's very chic but like leopard pattern etc. …less is more.

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titchhazell October 11, 2013 - 10:16 am

Beautiful pieces Sharon, some great ideas for my own renovation project just starting in the Limousin!

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david terry October 11, 2013 - 10:46 am

Is here anything I would love to have in my own house?…..yes. I've always lived in University towns (Charlottesville, Durham, Sewanee), and in each place I've had friends who'd gotten (FOR FREE) old classroom furnishings that were simply being thrown away. Friends of mine here in North Carolina have two sets (as in, these cabinets fill two long walls in their reading-room?) of the 7' tall, glassfronted, polished wood cabinets that (from about 1880 until 1960 or so) lined the walls of the chemistry labs. These were being THROWN AWAY during the first full renovation of the science building in the 1970's. They're least 100 years old.

Similarly? Another couple owns (and has installed in their kitchen) a wall-length set of those glass-fronted, wooden storage bins that you used to see in rural feed stores…..rather like the plastic bins for bulk-goods you see in, say, a Whole Foods store. These were being THROWN AWAY, in the 1970's, when a old Feed & dry-goods store was being demolished.

Another friend of mine, in Charlottesville, was walking by the old ampitheatre (it was being renovated…this is a building; not an outside ring) when she saw a smashed toilet on the lawn. Turns out the workers were simply tossing all of the old bathroom fixtures (all of which were from the 1920's) out of second and third story windows. At that time, my friend had been wincing and cringing at the proposed cost of such fixtures for her own house (which she was renovating and enlarging).

Charming and pretty as she is, she got the workers to promise that they wouldn't smash up the remaining sinks and toilets if she returned with a truck and hauled them off, herself. She's a lawyer….she came back in a hour with a rented truck and 2 of her office's janitors….loaded-up five of those lovely, enormous, porcelain sinks/wash basins and four vintage toilets, and hauled them to her house. I should emphasize that, since this was the building where nothing much beyond evening concerts and lectures occurred for 90 years, the fixtures and hardware were in near perfect shape; it's not as though they'd been in a dormitory all those years.

She had them all installed in her house. Each of those sinks-with-stand would have cost over a thousand dollars if she'd purchased them new from Restoration Hardware…..and she got them for FREE (with a little elbow grease and 50 bucks for each of the hijacked janitors).

In each case?…..it seems that a renovation decision was made by some university officials in the "Grounds and Buildings Department"….and, since UVA and UC are state universities, no one's authorized to SELL the old furniture and fixtures,particularly not anyone who's actually in the department whose building is being renovated (the benefits of beaurocracy, I suppose). In each case, all my friends had to do was to make nice with the actual workers, who were all too glad to get rid of the stuff that was getting in their way. In each case, all of it would have been trashed and hauled off to the dump.

I'm afriad, however, that those days of easy-looting are over; folks have wisened up.
Sincerely,
David Terry
http://www.davidterryart.com

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peggy braswell October 11, 2013 - 5:55 pm

Picture #1 of the numbered drawers would be my choice + I would take any of them! xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

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Lin October 11, 2013 - 5:58 pm

I love love the sign in the second picture…the black and gold one with the cursive printing..that would look so wonderful in my french country home…sigh….

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Champagne Sunday October 12, 2013 - 6:33 am

I love the style! It's like Restoration Hardware, but the real French style.

Cheers!
http://www.champagnesundayliving.com

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Christine Freeman October 12, 2013 - 4:14 pm

I live in the Washington, DC area. The same with lawfirms! The beautiful legal files and library cabinets with glass, lift-up doors. In my living room I have 16' of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves I got for $10 from a defunct lawfirm. I applaud the people who, in their own space, have the spine to stand up and say, "New is not better." I think churches have gone through the same issues.

I love all those cabinets. I'm making my own out of drawers from the reuse centers. Another is going to have drawer fronts from old wine crates I've collected. I think I have a thing for dressers and drawered cabinets! Love this day's topic here!

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Emma June 27, 2021 - 5:06 pm

I love solid wood furniture, it looks very old and beautiful. Because of this, we are often looking for antique furniture or just very high quality handcrafted furniture. We recently bought a bookcase from https://www.stuartdavid.com/ website, and now it is the highlight of our living room

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Ada November 13, 2021 - 9:11 pm

Cool article! I found good furniture here https://anne-quinn.com/product-category/dining-room-furniture/dining-tables/ and I think that now this is sold and produced extremely rarely. You always want to get real furniture that will be of high quality and practical

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Olivia December 25, 2021 - 7:41 pm

Thanks for these tips and photos. I am actually looking for similar furniture and good shops in Australia that might offer something similar. There are excellent listings as furniture stores in Fortitude Valley, but I think I should look for something more specific as an antiques dealer, what do you think?

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Adam September 21, 2022 - 12:50 pm

Good options to make your home more elegant and interesting. I saw similar furniture on the Furniture Row website not so long ago, but after reading the Furniture Row reviews, I realized that this company can arrange delivery

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