North Carolina couple takes pride in restoring ‘sad’ furniture
By John Le
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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — They just don’t make furniture like they used to. That’s why an Asheville couple takes pride in restoring and revamping everything from chairs to dressers.
“Sad furniture is usually scratched up, banged up, damaged,” says Debbie Palminteri of Friend of Furniture. “So making sad furniture happy makes us really happy. It’s almost like our babies.”
Over decades, furniture can decline from heirloom to borderline junk. But Debbie and her husband Mitch Palminteri proudly take on family reclamation projects.
“This chair a lady brought in and it belonged to her mother,” Mitch told us. “And she was afraid that it would be thrown away when she passes it away.”
“Right now, I’m lace caning a chair, so it’s a weaving process,” explained Mitch.
He works skillfully, and carefully, on a piece that’s been in that family for generations.
“This is a piece of history right here. This chair right here is probably 100 years old,” he says.
They’ll gladly show you before and after photos. Each set is attached to a memorable story and an impressive transformation.
“We kind of took them and made them into something,” Debbie says.
She’s a painter and an artist.
“And so I thought that this had really special grain,” she said, showing us a recent project. “So what I’m going to do is, I’ve already sanded this, I’m gonna stain it and keep the top like a nice beautiful wood. And then just get fun and funky and really do my thing on the legs.”
Sometimes, the furniture speaks to them creatively.
“I love being able to create something that is kind of my personality, but just keeping the personality of the piece,” she said.
And what they really love about their dream job, is that they do it together.
Mitch, a former New York firefighter, loves the change of pace.
“We started out as a hobby and it just kind of took off,” he said.
“It’s nice that we work together,” Debbie says. “So that when life gets busy and hectic, at least we’re doing it together. And we’re super happy to be doing this in Asheville.”
The enemy of furniture is neglect and time. But here, the pieces have a friend.
“It’s almost like having a pet that you’re just caring for. You know, it’s kind of nice to see it get its life back and have its purpose back in life,” Debbie said.
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