“How to: Restore a Vintage Table” is part of a series of step-by-step guides showing how we bring our furniture back to life without losing original character and charm.
We started buying these old, vintage tables about 10 years ago. We started out with just 10 pieces, but this year alone we’re on track to buy and sell over 400! They’re incredibly flexible and versatile, and have each undertaken a long and comprehensive restoration process to ensure their functionality for another 30 years. Read on to learn a little about their history, how they are restored and how they can be used around your home.
They’re very strong and sturdy, incredibly flexible, versatile and can be set up in seconds. This style of vintage table usually has an iron frame and legs. A top or legs and top made from tropical hardwood. Other styles include wooden legs and top. They’re built more for function than good looks, but because they have been used so man times, they develop a unique character of their own. They’ve usually been painted several times and older layers of paint and the dark hardwood are often exposed. The big domed bolts and washers used to secure the wooden tops and tubular steel frame give this vintage table an industrial look and feel.
Vintage Table History
Originally these vintage table’s are used as wedding guest dining tables. An Indian wedding will often have more than 500 and sometimes 2,000 guests, who over several days are treated to an amazing feast of Indian curries and traditional dishes as they celebrate the bride and grooms nuptials. These tables are usually covered with a decorative table cloth and then seat 4-6 guests.
Often called ‘tent tables’ across northwestern India, they are used repeatedly during the Indian wedding seasons. Traditionally Rajasthani weddings would have been held in brightly decorated decorated tents – to keep the desert dust and searing sun off the guests. The Indian bride, groom and their parents will look for auspicious dates in the Hindu calendar. January, February and May are usually the months with the most dates, which means in Rajasthan larger cities like Jodhpur, Jaipur and Udaipur will see hundreds of weddings taking place on the same days.
