i also picked up an old ironing board at goodwill several years ago. It is taller and sturdier than ones today - unless i spend an arm & a leg for one. It is from the 60s - it's avocado green!! :) I do want to make a larger ironing area for taking care of my quilt tops..someday! LOL!!

Get the big one. Find a small one to do small things on.

This just kind of made me smile because who would ever think ironing boards would be a conversation in this day and age when kids don't even get'em for wedding presents anymore (or know what to use them for). Back in my marrying days (37years) an iron and ironing board were typical presents.

Just make a big board to go over your ironing board, very cheap and inexpensive to make

http://www.quiltcampus.net/Library/P...ningBoard.html

well, occasionally I iron a shirt or blouse for "serious" occasions, but they are usually clothes the kids buy for us. LOL

I have a plywood board I made that fits on my sewing room dresser, a sleeve board, a tailor's ham, a seam roll and seam sticks. I do not have an traditional ironing board. I can sew clothes & press them. Unfortunately I cannot answer your question on excessive steam. I don't use it - I'd rather dampen.

I recently bought the larger board at Wal-Mart, and I can still iron on it easily. I iron my husband's slacks on it every week.

I just measured the smaller end, and it starts at six inches. Ten inches in it is 13 inches wide, and 20 inches in it is 17 1/2 inches.

Maybe I can't iron as far down on the slacks as on my other board, when I put them on waist band wise, but I am able to iron as much that way as I need to. It may depend on the size of the slacks. My husband wears 36x 30.

The best one I've ever used was an 18" wide brabantia model. I've been on the lookout for a good sale for one ever since - it was incredibly sturdy and worked very well.

Unless it is broken I think you will be sorry you replaced it. I gave my old one to my son, and wish I had it back it was far superior to anything I was able to find under $100 dollars. I ended up spending about $60.00, and think I messed up every home laundry display in multiple stores before settling on the current one, got it home and found the sheet metal buckles when it gets warm! I also HATE the covers that you cant wash, I ended up making my own, because after a while the starch build up will stain damp light color fabrics if you cant wash it out. :-D :-D

This thread takes me back to the early 90's - I had purchased raffle tickets at a quilt show benefitting some guild. Months later I received the phone call that I had WON - my prize was a Rowenta iron AND a Polder ironing board (funny how I remember that brand name so many years later). Boy, was I excited! I had won something and things that I really wanted. That evening I was spending time with my nephew, then 10. I excitedly told him about winning a raffle. His little face lit up, until I told him what the prizes were. Just recently he brought that conversation up. He was sure that I had won some cool thing like a GameBoy or a motocross bicycle or some other awesome thing that I would want to give to him. He could not understand why anyone would ever get excited about an iron and ironing board. He told me that I actually dropped a few points in the "cool aunt" category for a while there.