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| Furniture of the Depression Era by Harriett and Robert Swedberg |
The term derives from the coupons that came with borax detergent that could be redeemed for this low-end furniture. Borax furniture cannot be refinished, as stripping or sanding leaves a blank piece of wood.
This particular type of furniture continued to be produced into the 1940s, when a return to prosperity made good furniture affordable to the middle class again. Modern design came into vogue, characterized by simplicity of design and the use of quality materials.
Borax has become synonymous with any cheap, mass-produced furniture. In the 1980s, furniture manufacturers began using the "photo finish" technique, ushering in a return to cheaply made pieces designed to be showy but of poor quality. Unfortunately, much of today's furniture is not meant to last for decades, as so much of the furniture of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was, and is the borax of present-day design.
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| Modern day borax, 3 faux marble pieces for $159.99, sofa table for $89.99 EASY FINANCING 98% Approval. No Credit Check. No Checking Account. tmartfurniture.com |
Sometimes, I question my taste, since I really like that bureau. I definitely have eclectic tastes because sometimes, someone will be getting ready to paint some older piece and I'm in the wings muttering, no, don't do it. Guess I'm a peasant at heart.
ReplyDeleteI was born in rural East Texas, so most of my relatives owned furniture similar to that bureau. I daresay that most of our relatives were hit hard by the Great Depression, no matter where they lived, and that was the best they could afford at the time. Quite a few pieces of that furniture were handed down to me when I was a newlywed in the 1960s, so I admit to having some sentimental feelings about it. :)
DeleteAs I understand it, the term "borax" has more to do with the quality of materials used than the actual style...and the fact that it is supposed to look like much more expensive furniture than it really is. That bureau was made of cheap wood painted to imitate a real antique piece made of fine inlaid wood and gold leaf, very much like the borax of today is made of fake marble and laminated particle board trying to pass for expensive stone and solid walnut.
Never heard that term outside a laundry room :) Have seen a lot of that kind of furniture in junking adventures - maybe it wasn't so cheaply made after all to have lasted so long.
ReplyDeleteIt was sturdy enough...but the design was painted on, rather than being real wood grain. The downside to that for the person who picks it up at a garage sale thinking it can be sanded and stained it is that all the design disappears once you get the electric sander to it. About the best you can hope to do to a piece of borax is paint it. Like that modern 3-piece set for $159, it's not made of a wood that will look very pretty if stripped and stained.
DeleteI have a 'Borax' chest and dresser (I use it to put my sewing machine on!) in my sewing room. It was my bedroom suit at my grandparents' when I was a child. Before that, it was my grandparents' bedroom suit. They got it second hand when they married in the early 40s. At the moment it's painted brown. I can see black paint under some scuffs and my mom said that when she was a very little girl in the '50s that was the colour and she was fairly sure the brown came in the late '50s or very early '60s. I'll bet that underneath, they resemble the chest in the photo...or did...someone may have sanded them before the 1940's paint job! I suppose I'll find what was done in a month or so when I strip them to be repainted. Gotta get rid of that poo brown!! Yuck!
ReplyDeleteBack in the 60s when I got several pieces of borax hand-me-downs to set up housekeeping with, antiquing was all the rage. You'd buy a kit, paint the piece avocado green or red or blue and let it dry. Then you'd paint on a black glaze and rub it off while it was still wet. Why we thought that made it look antique I can't say. My furniture had many incarnations, including all those colors and a few more. That was our 1960s version of whitewashing or liming or the chalk paint and wax technique, long before Pinterest. :)
DeleteInteresting, this is new to me, although I know the original sense of Borax. FOr a while there, I thought you meant "Borat." ( :
ReplyDeleteKazakhstani furniture! :)
DeleteI am going to have to suggest Ikea being a warehouse full of (modern day) Borax.
ReplyDeleteIKEA is cheap, but at least it's not pretentious. What really screams "borax" to me are cheap bedroom sets with lots of carving or huge posters...or cheap, overstuffed leather sofas.
DeleteInteresting post, Dana. I didn't know that term or the history behind the furniture.
ReplyDeleteGood to know.
I knew the term, but I didn't know about the coupons till I started researching this post.
DeleteI just bought a couple pieces of that from the 20s to take up to our cabin. The cheap veneer is flaking off, so I'm painting it white. 'Shabby chic-ing' it up, I suppose, but there's not much else that can be done.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I wish I had a stool or something small that I could do the chalk paint and wax on. I've seen some pieces done with that method that I think are really pretty. I used to swear I'd never paint furniture again, but that looks really fun to do.
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