The Furniture Bible: A Review

 

When you're trying to take a picture but your cat thinks it's time to play with bubble wrap.

 

My brother bought me The Furniture Bible by Christophe Pourney for Christmas. Not only was it extremely thoughtful but a departure from his usual gag gifts. Like the year he got me rubber gloves for Christmas because I need to become a housewife and do the dishes. Or the year he got me a framed photo of JC Chasez from NSYNC circa 1998.

At first I thought this book was going to be a history lesson on furniture. I had seen similar books with black and white pictures at the library and lost interest. I have to say this book was easy to read, engaging, and helpful.

The feature that meant the most to me was the how-tos. There is nothing wrong with using online mediums to learn. My husband can watch a video and fix just about anything, I just prefer to learn by reading. I’m one of those people that refuses to save events in my phone. It’s 2017 and I still use a planner to write out the weeks’ events. The how-tos in this book provide step by step pictures and instructions. When I use my phone either an ad pops up, a picture is skipped, or my phone locks by the time I’m on the next step.

I also appreciated the definitions of different materials used to make furniture. Pourney also described how you may spot each material on a piece and gave an example of each. This will help me in the future when I’m shopping for a piece to restore. Ever look at a piece and think: Is this quality, or junk? This book will help you make up your mind.

If you enjoy finer pieces you will want to read the section “The Hunt: Where to Find Great Pieces- and What To Look For”. The author outlines different venues to buy furniture, what to expect, and how to score a piece that may be undervalued. I’m mostly a give me your trash and I’ll make it your treasure girl. This book opened my eyes to other ways to score furniture finds and helped me figure out what to look for with antique pieces.

All in all, take any furniture tutorial, painting hack, or your grandma’s pearls of wisdom about antiques and put it all in one book and you have The Furniture Bible. My husband and I already have plans to enlarge specific charts from the book and hang them up in the workshop as quick references.