Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.

Matching bedside tables are overrated.

Matching bedside tables are overrated.

My wife, Sharon, and I have been frequenting antique stores and estate sales for years, looking for matching bedside tables that somewhat resemble our bed. We found matching bedside lamps, which do help to draw the eye away from the mismatched tables we’ve been using for decades.

Our house is like one of those eclectic dining establishments where the tables and chairs are all different. The Coffee Shack restaurant, near our former house in Winterville, North Carolina, was like that.

We liked that place a lot and were sorry to see it go out of business several years ago. It might be that we liked the place so much that we’re subconsciously creating a Coffee Shack atmosphere inside our house. The tables holding up our bedside lamps, for instance, are not designed for that purpose at all.

I’ve come to realize that we’ve never been the sort of people who shop at furniture stores for a bedroom suite, living room suite, or any other variety of suite. No matching coffee table and end tables or bedside tables and dressers for us.

Our home is a hodge-podge of different styles and pieces. We genuinely like old things that are not alike. It could be that our design tastes have been shaped by the premium prices for new things that match.

We rarely buy new furniture at all. When we have bought new, a clearance sale was involved. Our bed, for instance, came from a factory warehouse sale. No matching pieces. Not even a mattress or box spring. Just the bed.

We’re working on nesting the third mattress set, and still there are no matching bedside tables.

Our favored estate-sale establishment recently posted a photo of matching bedside tables that, to the casual eye, look like they could have come with our bed. I arrived at the sale 20 minutes after it started — just in time to watch as “sold” stickers were affixed to the items I had come for.

Those tables were priced at $350 each. I managed to find another pair of items priced the same as the tables.

“Go check out the washing machine,” Sharon instructed during my phone call to deliver the bad news about the tables. We had recently priced a new washing machine to replace the one crushed by a cabinet that freakishly fell from the wall above. The dryer was damaged, too, but is operational.

“It’s a Speed Queen,” I said in a downward tone of disappointment, figuring the brand was probably less dependable than our crushed Maytag. My wife repeated the name back to me, but with a knowing, exuberant lilt.

“Is that good?” I asked.

“Those are high-quality appliances,” she said. “And they’re made in America.”

Headquartered in Ripon, Wisconsin, Speed Queen is known for producing durable and repairable laundry appliances.

Upon further inspection, the washing machine at the sale was found to be in like-new condition. No scuff marks or scratches on the outside, or so much as soap residue on the inside.

I ended up buying both the washer and dryer. I had come for a matching set and I was going to leave with one.

As of this writing, we have not installed or tested our new-to-us appliances. “What if they don’t work?” Sharon asked.

They’re a little tall for bedside tables, I said, but at least the lamps would be even.

Contact Mark Rutledge at mrutledge@reflector.com.

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