I thought it would be perfect in place of the guest room nightstand I had been hunting for.
Since I didn't have any extra LV luggage laying around, I would have to find some hard sided vintage sets. No problem - ebay was waiting. The only changes I wanted to make was adding a 3rd piece for height. Thanks to Flickr, I stumbled upon this execution of the idea, and thought it would make a nice piece for a guest room. I stalked ebay listings until finally winning an cream colored 3 piece Samsonite set from the 40s/50s. Yippee!
I got it home and realized that the pieces weren't quite rectangular but angled down a bit creating an issue in the stacking. I added brass casters to the front and some shims in the middle to offset the slant. That seemed to work. I drilled holes in each case and attached them to each other using a few bolts/nuts/washers. I planned to cover the bermuda stickers with some Paris ones but other than that, it looked pretty snazzy in my dining room.
All was right with the world until I put it in the guestroom. I suppose I could have bothered to do a "dry fit" before going to all that trouble but Im sorry to say I didn't.
Damn me all to hell! Its totally out of scale for the spot. Im so bummed and I have absolutely no use for this anywhere else. I suppose I could take it all apart and use the cases for storage holes and all. But what a waste of time!
Oh well, they can't all be winners I suppose. I'll just have to go out and find a traditional nightstand.
Can you add legs?? Anthropologie had recently (for like $400!) with simple, painted screw on legs (short spindle ones), screwed into two pieces of 2 x 4s secured to the underside. Will try to find a picture online...I swear it looked better than I'm making it sound.
ReplyDeleteI just love what you've done with that house.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon your blog, and I had an idea for your suitcases.
Try getting a suitcase stand like you see in a hotel. Or, some kind of low side table then put the cases on top.
Here's a link to a stand I thought was pretty. You could always paint the stand to suit your taste. Hope it helps!
http://www.comforthouse.com/suitcase.html
Even if I added legs, its still out of scale with the space. Its not really the height but the general size. It just looks odd and small there. (even though its not really small at all but I guess with the scale of the bed and the wall its looking dinky)
ReplyDeleteWell poo! I thought KBS had a great idea of adding the luggage stand but if the scale is wrong that is a definite issue. The suitcases would look great stacked on top of an armoire if you have one?!?!?! I hate to see you not use them in the room after all that work!
ReplyDelete~Des
I'm sorry, but I laughed out loud when I saw the last picture. It's frustrating, but funny. If you look in the original picture though, you will see that their luggage is on wood risers. I think you could figure something out with some tweaking. Someone earlier said to put it on a nightstand. Perhaps you could make something inexpensive to offset the scale. Otherwise, they really look great!
ReplyDeleteLive and learn , these things happen , I have learned throughout all my home improvements there is a lot pf problem solving along the way , or rather coming up with a new one.
ReplyDeleteI kinda think it looks cute , maybe keep the stack under the art and get a small round table for a little lamp?
Legs is what you need. Once you put some height to it I think its workable.
ReplyDeleteOh, the road to h-ll was paved with the best intentions. The thing about the LV is that they are large and both the same size, and that tray on the top works brilliantly. I do love the ones that you found and they would look wonderful on top of a piece of furniture as a focal point~
ReplyDeleteI still think you have a great idea and I agree with everyone else that I am sure you will find some other use for them. They are too lovely to discard! Love your blog too :)
ReplyDeleteAw, man! I was loving your suitcases and thinking you had really hit the jackpot until I got to the end (I somehow had missed the title of the post). You just have to find some way to use those suitcases in that room! They look so cool and you've worked so hard on them. Hopefully one of your commenters' ideas will strike a chord with you. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteAs my brother would say, doing anything to do this would just be "adding perfume on a pig". Its just not going to work. Oh well, I gave it a go.
ReplyDeleteIm sure Ill find some use for at least one or two of these as storage.
I think it would have worked well on a smaller bed - like a twin?
Why does it have to be in a bedroom? If you added legs it might be a cute accent table in a front entry. I knew I shouldn't have thrown out my old hardsided suitcases (although my dh would disagree).
ReplyDeleteoh too bad! the colour is perfect and would have been a nice unexpected touch! i'm sure you'll find something else that does the trick though.
ReplyDeleteLOVE your saying of 'it would be like adding perfume to a pig' i'm totally going to use that now.
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ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteI just found some ideas for your suitcases at country living:
http://www.countryliving.com/homes/makeovers/three-bedroom-transformation-0507?click=pp
Click thru...pictures 3 & 5.
Thanks Wendi - loving photo number 5 so I'll definitely put the top case to use. The other ones might get relegated to storage.
ReplyDeleteIt'd be hard to beat that LV display. Sometimes it's just not meant to be. I'm so happy to learn it isn't just me that gets on these "missions" to duplicate an idea. Sometimes I just end up disappointed. Thank God we now all know what to do with our old LV luggage!
ReplyDeleteEllen
nouveaustitch.lefora.com
the positive- you are so crafty! I lost you after "shim"...
ReplyDeleteTheres a lot of comments on here, so I am not sure if anyone has mentioned it or not. But something I was thinking that you could do is get a acrylic or glass table square table and completely encase the suitcases so they look like they are on display. like these but a complete box so that the suitcases can't be touched.
ReplyDeleteGiven your excellent decor track record, this is just a small setback as far as I'm concerned =)
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find a use for the suitcases; they're just too lovely to give up!
LOVE that vintage luggage! Not practical for travel with weigh restrictions... perfect for side tables!
ReplyDeleteHow disappointing! Well, maybe the arrangement would work with a smaller scale arrangement, like next to a cozy little armchair in a bedroom or office?
ReplyDeleteOkay - I seriously just read your blog from beginning to present today because I'm avoiding work. Wow - I'm thoroughly jealous of your gorgeous home! My husband and I have a place (100+yrs old) in Astoria but any and all architectural details were removed before we came in.....I love old houses and yours is just amazing - just had to say!!
ReplyDeleteAdd legs! Add legs!
ReplyDeleteWell, darn! It was looking so promising, too! I hate it when that happens.
ReplyDeleteLaura's idea of adding legs is kind of intriguing. I wonder what that would look like? -Julia
Don't you hate that! I have this crazy table with beautiful wood inlay and a base made up of three carved dragonflies. I loved it at the Antique market but got it home and it is not the right height for anything - ie: night table, coffee table, etc. I think I'll end up selling it on Craigslist!
ReplyDeletecould you maybe use them as display under a console or something like that?
ReplyDeletehow about if you took them apart, covered the holes with the paris stickers you were talking about and used them as nifty storage somewhere?
hey, just think of them of another type of closed storage containers:)
You could construct a plywood (painted of course) cube to sit this on to bring it up to the level you want.
ReplyDeleteShould work and you can store out of season stuff like boots, inside it.
Janet
I agree with everyone that says add legs - but with one big change. Get rid of the top case. It is way too tiny and since the handle covers most of the surface area you couldn't even balance a glass or reading light on it - so it renders the whole thing totally useless. just add some legs and the two bigger cases will work im the room.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog!
If its a table i just hope the smaller the luggage hope its in the bottom and put legs on it. if its the least of your concerns.
ReplyDelete