Furniture from mid-1900s at new downtown store

1 comment January 5th, 2008

A store selling furniture from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s has opened in downtown Rockford.   The store, called Nest, is located at 218 E. State St.  

Owner Christopher Furney said his goal is to provide furniture that “offers a fun, colorful interpretation” of the designs from those decades.  He said he gets customers from as far away as Chicago, through some of his offerings on Craigslist.

Furney grew up in Rockford and graduated from Boylan High School in 1987,  then moved away from the area. About 18 months ago, after working for years as a fashion photographer in Chicago and New York and maintaining apartments in both cities, he moved back to Rockford to be closer to his family.

“I decided it was time for a change,” he said. “I was living out of my suitcase, and it was not that much fun anymore.”

Furney said he’s always had a passion for mid-century furniture, and some of his current stock is furniture he’d used for props as a photographer.  He picks up other furniture at auctions. While he is still gearing up and stocking up, he did manage to open around Dec. 12,  just before the holidays.  He especially had been interested in holiday shoppers who were college students home on break, Furney said — “so young people could come back from college and see, ‘Yeah, there are some cool things in Rockford!’”

Nest is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.