Sorry Ma’am, That Pattern [Style/Piece/Design] is Discontinued

If you care to follow me when I shop for a set of anything, take notes and don’t buy — it won’t be available for long.

I have the distinct knack of choosing things that are almost at the end of production. It started with the set of Langley and Denby ironstone I saved my babysitting money for as a teen. (I was very practical.) There were several patterns worth considering but I liked my aunt’s Canterbury pattern best at the time — cream, brown, a touch of olive green with a carmel colored rim.











It was the 70’s, OK? They went with the appliances! But it, of course had already been discontinued, so I went for the next on my list of faves: Shamrock with teal and olive hand painted leaves. Every time I had 20 dollars saved up, off to Westwell’s China and Gifts I would march to buy four plates or cereal bowls. The Denby company was actually polite enough to let me complete my set, or as much as I wanted of it, before axing it. I broke a mug a few years ago, the only casualty ever, with none lost in a 500-mile move. The pattern still looks quite contemporary and has enough wonderful colors to pull from it to make it look fresh with every new color of napkins. My gosh, I just looked at the current prices of the plates on e-bay — $39.00! I could mortgage them for a world cruise!

Next was the china pattern that was my mom’s. Royal Albert’s American Beauty. Same story, same status. My everyday Oneida stainless cutlery, ditto. Lovely set of mat black Pfaltzgraff dinnerware in 2002 — any guess as to what happened? Same luck with the Ikea Princip office furniture years ago and the little Plugg** cabinets more recently. I give up!

In an office revamp effort I have to do a big rearrangement and need a place to put my printer. I had this old night table from about six years before the Denby episode took a foothold. That would make it about 40 years old.

The salesman took a coin from his pocket and ground and scraped it all over the top of the matching desk. Very impressive! Not a mark! Dad thinking, “It should last a few years.” Me thinking, “I won’t get in trouble for being careless.” SOLD!

I think I can make an ‘Ikea match-up’ from it that will do. Living nearer everyone’s favourite supplier of affordable Swedish furniture would make things easier but traveling there would more than double the price.

I’m too cheap smart to do that, so it’s a can of sticky primer, off-white satin Varathane, a set of found casters and three $3.99 library pulls.


First, off came the old 6-inch-high tapered furniture legs which were replaced with casters. There happened to be four matching ones in a bag of 12 in the workshop. Next, I needed to fix the drawer slides which were so badly worn the drawers wouldn't close properly. After trimming one of the T-shaped pieces to an I shape, an old paint stirring stick came in handy to replace it and was screwed onto the remaining part of the slide. Good thing it was the right thickness as I don't happen to have a wood plane lying around. Wood filler went into the old holes from the handles. I squashed it in with my palette knife that I use for acrylics, let it dry overnight, refilled, then sanded with 120-grit.

A light all-over sanding with hefty-duty 80-grit aluminum oxide sandpaper followed by two coats of hefty-duty primer was a great improvement already. Three coats of Varathane (the nice water-soluble kind) applied with a small roller made it look even better. (Good work, Lefty!)















Finally, some brushed stainless library pulls to replace the old handles. This is getting exciting! They match reasonably well with the aluminum trim on the Ikea Princip desk but I don't think I'd want them in a kitchen or anywhere that would require a lot of repetitive use. They're a VERY un-ergonomic strain on the wrist.

Done — printer in it's new place ready to churn out homemade moo mini-cards, art doll faces and whatever else.



















Lots of storage space for paper. too.



















Only thing left to do is purge and rearrange the digital spaghetti under the desk.















** If anyone has a door for a 30-inch Ikea Plugg cabinet they aren't using.....never did get the 3rd one that was 'out of stock'!