Furniture Consignment Gallery Blog

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Full confession: furniture, I understand. Feng shui, not so much.  But Lisa was determined to undertake a dramatic re-organization of my office. I suspect she’d read that bestselling book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” Once I reluctantly agreed, she was relentless, purging our files of clutter, flinging all the flotsam and jetsam of last year into the trash.

When we were done, I felt a surge of energy and purpose. Like a lot of people, I hate to let go of the comfort of familiar clutter. But getting rid of old files and long-forgotten to-do lists opened up a kind of psychic space for new thoughts and ideas. Hey, I thought, maybe there is something to this trend of reorganizing.      

So we’re extending the concept to you, our customers, and to our showrooms. Take a good look around your house. Is that recliner looking a little ratty? Is the coffee table a little wobbly? Start 2016 off right. Sweep out the old and bring in the new. We’ve got showrooms full of beautiful furniture and accessories to refresh your home and help you prepare for the holidays and other family events of this new year.    

And here’s a little incentive.

Starting today through Wednesday January 6, 2016, we are having a sale. Take 10% off any item in the showroom.  

2015 was a very good year. But if you de-clutter, refresh and apply some feng shui, 2016 might be even better.

“Done!” Diana said triumphantly. She snapped the laptop shut and checked off the last item on her shopping list. Christmas 2015 was in the bag. 

Or, actually, in the truck. Thanks to online shopping, we’ve hardly set foot in a mall this season, which, for busy working parents like us, is a major victory. Diana scoured the Internet for bargains and treasures, saving us the stressful task of trekking from one store to another to find the perfect gift for everyone on our list.   

And, according to the news, the Fruccis are not unique this holiday season. Online shopping will likely top $83 billion this year, up 10% from 2014. No wonder UPS has had to rent additional vans to deliver all the packages. Our front door is seemingly piled high every afternoon with brown cartons.  

While Christmas shopping has gotten easier, hiding the loot has never been more difficult for parents. As soon as the boxes started landing on our doorstep in late November, our three boys would run out and examine them closely. They would study stickers, tags and barcodes to determine where the package came from – and what its likely contents were.  

“Mom!” Robbie, our seven-year-old, announced one afternoon. “My Skylanders Superchargers just showed up!” 

Not to be outwitted by a pack of under-age private eyes, Diana switched the delivery address to our showroom in Hanover. It seemed the perfect solution. But Collin, our thirteen-year-old, figured out how to log onto her account on Amazon. There, he hit the motherlode: a list of everything she’d bought this year.  

Playing hide-and-seek with the presents is part of the fun of Christmas. Thanks to the Internet, we no longer have to endure snarled traffic and overcrowded malls. But we do have to come up with some pretty ingenious ways of outwitting the spies in our midst. The times, they are a-changin’.    

Happy Holidays to your family from all of us at FCG.

Christmas, 1999: I was tired, hungry, cold and worried. I’d been trudging in and out of gift shops all evening. My boots were soaked with icy slush. Soon, the shops would close and I still hadn’t found the perfect gift for my wife.
  
Diana was in the middle of an extraordinarily difficult pregnancy that year. Because of complications, she was bedridden, swollen and miserable. I wanted to find something that would tell her how grateful I was and how hopeful I was for a healthy baby and wife.  
In the last moments before closing time, I stumbled into a small shop and found the perfect gift: a handcrafted pendant of a mother with child encircled with stars. The sweet old lady who owned the shop told me the stars symbolized angels surrounding my wife and unborn son and keeping them safe.
 
Even now, years later, seeing that pendant brings back a rush of memories. I remember the excitement and the worry about impending parenthood. I remember the frustration of looking for the perfect gift and the thrill of finding it.
 
I see the same hope in the shoppers who wander through our showrooms this time of year. Like me, they’re looking for something more special than a scarf, a tie or a cold piece of technology. I want to reassure them: you’ve come to the right place.
 
Our stores are chockful of furniture and accessories perfect for that special someone. We have practical items: desks, chairs, lamps. We have classic accessories: framed prints of ships and nautical scenes, perfect for a home office, a man cave or a study.

We have fun accessories, too. Our Plymouth showroom offers lobster buoys and signs with slogans made from driftwood. For aviators, we’ve got a mobile of vintage model airplane that holds an assortment of candles. For boaters, we’ve got a decorative propeller.

At FCG, you might just finish your holiday shopping this weekend with the unique and special gifts you’ve been hoping to find.

"Which one?" Diana asked me. She had a fork in each hand, one from the everyday set and one from the special-occasion set. We were planning a meal to celebrate our oldest son taking a step towards manhood, making the sacrament of Confirmation. At first, we'd thought about a buffet, but Diana had changed her mind. "It's a special day," she said. "I'd like the whole family sitting around the dining table."

How many of us use our formal dining room anymore? Not many and not often.

 

Everyone seems to eat meals at the kitchen island now or, even worse, in the car, a reflection of the frenetic pace of our lives. In homes where space is tight, the dining room has been repurposed into a toy room, a crafts room or a home office.

 

Call me old-fashioned, but I'm in favor of dining rooms. Who doesn't cherish the memory of visiting grandparents on Sundays, when everyone squeezed around the table to eat and talk all afternoon? Meals aren't just about food. They're about celebrating life's milestones, sharing family history and honoring victories large and small.

 

Here's my modest proposal for reviving the dining room-

	1. Is there a baby in the house? Put that high chair at the head of the table. Or, better yet, pass that baby around during the meal. It's a great way to celebrate a special time that vanishes all too soon.
	2. Before eating, take a moment to appreciate your family, your friends, your health. Say a prayer. Raise your glass in a toast. Or just pause to reflect about the good things in life.
	3. Teach your kids manners. Our boys shovel food down their gullets wordlessly, the only noise a snort or gobble. Okay, teenagers are a challenge. But in the dining room we impose rules: no baseball caps, no slouching, no using shirtsleeves as napkins. Someday, that kid will be on a date, at a job interview, or meeting the in-laws. Everyone needs basic training.
	4. Use the good china and the wedding crystal. Decorate the table. Your family and guests will feel special.

 

Don't have a dining room set? Furniture Consignment Gallery has them in every style. Chestnut Hill has sets by Alfonso Marina for Ebanista and Restall, Brown & Clennell of England. Hanover, has a beautiful Karges inlaid mahogany table with satin border and four leaves for $5,849. Plymouth's showroom boasts a Nichols & Stone cherry table with six chairs for $999.

 

Polish those forks. The holidays are coming.