Age of Vanity and sweater Cheat

Any idea on age range of attached items?

 

Sweater cheat???? I’ve never heard that term.

As far as the vanity goes, one might describe it as “Depression era,” ie 1920s-30s. Very striking lines!

 

Perhaps OP meant "sweater chest", which this is not. (Did OP mean to post a second item, too?)
The blue paint on the vanity is unfortunate, to my eyes.

 

Is that like a blanket chest?

 

A sweater chest usually refers to a tall-ish, slim-ish chest of drawers... usually with a door area on the side. It's supposedly useful for storing sweaters (aka jumpers).

 

Surely the blue paint isn't original? Or the knobs on the upper level?

Debora

 

Thank you.

 

Looks (unfortunately) "upcycled" to me.

 

The wheels usually went away on these by 1920. Someone made it prettier, or so they thought, by adding the paint. I can only hope it was damaged and the paint kept it out of a landfill.

 

Correct on both counts, @Debora Doubly unfortunate, since the piece has such beautiful lines.

and thanks for the instructive post, @bluumz

 

Agree, 1920s. The tall thin chest being shown as a sweater chest above on the right, is usually referred to as a lingerie chest by most furniture companies.

 

I wonder if "sweater chest" is a regional term? I'm in the Midwest USA and I've certainly heard it before.

I'm more familiar with calling that one a lingerie chest, too. But it came up in my search when I was looking for examples of sweater chests to post above.

Agree. But different people = different tastes, I suppose. I think perhaps many of us here, and most true antique aficionados, have a horror of "upcycled" antiques unless the piece was significantly damaged and/or otherwise non-usable/-saleable. That vanity was a stunning piece, but it is sadly no longer to my taste.
All that said, a vanity isn't an easy sale these days so it's hard to blame an upcycler for trying to get some money out of it, or make it more appealing to themselves and fitting for their own decor.

 

You typical lingerie chest would have 7 drawers for the 7 days in a week - also called a semanier chest.

 

I learned something new, thanks!