About
Kindra
One person, a truck, and an unreasonable amount of time spent in other people’s basements.
It started as a habit I couldn’t afford to keep.
I was buying more than I had room for. Beautiful, well-made things that somebody had spent real money on decades ago, sitting on a folding table for eight dollars because nobody in the room knew what they were looking at. Eventually the sensible move was to sell some of it — and then that became the job.
Now I’m out three or four days a week. Estate sales on Friday mornings, auctions on the weekends, and a handful of pickers around the region who call me when something turns up that isn’t their thing. Most of what I see, I walk past. What I bring home has to clear one bar: would I be happy to live with it?
The answer has to be yes, because sometimes I do live with it for a while before the right person comes along.
What I look for
Made properly, then forgotten
Material honesty
Solid brass rather than plated. Real stone, real wood, real glass. If it’s veneer or pot metal, it has to be exceptional in some other way to earn a spot.
Evidence of a hand
Hand-cut dovetails, a maker’s stamp, a slightly uneven glaze. The small irregularities are the whole point — they’re what a factory can’t fake.
Age that shows well
Patina, wear on a handle, cloudiness in old mirror glass. I’d rather have honest age than a stripped-and-refinished piece with its history sanded off.
Something to say
A barometer, an orrery, a cabinet full of pharmacy drawers. Objects that make a person stop and pick them up.
In the workshop
What I fix, and what I leave alone
Always fixed
Anything about safety or function. Old wiring comes out and gets replaced with new cord, sockets and plugs. Loose joints get re-glued. Rugs get properly cleaned. Drawers get waxed so they run.
Usually left
Original finish, original hardware, the small dings a hundred years put there. Refinishing is a one-way door, and it takes the value and the character with it.
Always disclosed
Chips, repairs, replaced parts, a leg that was once broken. It’s in the listing before you ask. If I find something after you’ve bought it, I’ll tell you and make it right.
Pricing
How things are priced
I price against what comparable pieces actually sold for — not what hopeful listings are asking. That usually lands under a dealer showroom and over a flea market, which feels about right for something that’s been checked, cleaned and made safe.
A few pieces are marked price on request, which just means the market for them is thin enough that a number on a page would be a guess. Ask and I’ll tell you what I know.
“The best pieces don’t look expensive. They look like they’ve always been there.”
Kindra