50's Kidney shaped sectional comes home and a start on our Heywood Wakefield king headboard!

You may remember a few posts back about a 50's two piece kidney shaped sectional that I had acquired with some trepidation on whether or not this was really a very good idea. Loved the great "bones" and style of the pieces, and although you rarely see pieces like these, I knew that this wasn't going to be inexpensive to bring back to speed. Mostly because I am not an upholstery pro and the cost of 20 yards of fabric and having to replace the missing cushion! Well, here it is, in all it's glory, good as new, with a bit more mid-mod look...

Not for every home at better than ten feet long and six feet off the wall, this is still one super nice piece for that special space! I guess my instincts must have been on for this as I'm really happy with how this turned out! I really need to invest in a better camera to document this stuff. Maybe Santa is reading my blog?

As mentioned a few posts ago, I have been refinishing some H/W Kohinoor pieces for a client over across the bay and they decided that the M790 king size storage headboard I had would work for their bed and wanted refinished in the "wheat" to match their other pieces. This is not a piece you find everyday and this is the first one I'd seen in person and the first I've refinished. I had my fingers crossed that I hadn't under quoted as I wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started. Here's a few pics of the ongoing work...

Here's our starting point. Originally done in the "platinum" finish. Not in horrible condition, but the platnum finish showed plenty of wear and looked dated.

Any piece with exposed back panels will require removing these for ease of refinsihing and these were no exception. Although most of the brad nails that held the panels in place tend to pull easily, there are exceptions that will cause the plywood to splinter and will need to be addressed before you start sanding. Not a big deal if you are careful removing, but you can create major headaches if you get impatient!

After taking out the back panels, this turned out a bit easier than I had expected. The balance of the headboard was pretty much three spearate cabinets that didn't need to be totally disassembled, but I did need to reinforce the hanging top ends of the outside cabinets with some strips of wood that I brad nailed into place temporarily for support for sanding and refinishing. These will be removed prior to reassembly. Some old paint sticks cut to length worked great for the reinforcment. I've found this technique also works well for pieces that have tambour doors that need to be removed for refinishing!

Here's our current patient with two coats down and two to go...

Our local Tampa Museum currently has on display the Masterworks of Vitra Design Museum collection of

A Hundred years - A Hundred chairs.

This is a great collection of some of the most iconic chairs produced in the last century.
Here's the link to their page on the exhibit...
http://www.tampamuseum.org/exhibitions/hundred-years-hundred-chairs

We had the opportunity to see the exhibit up close and personal a few weeks ago and it's definetely worth the price of admission! Needless to say, they aren't letting the public try these pieces out! Look, but don't touch or photograph!

 In conjunction with this exhibit our local art perveyors "Art after Dark" are offering a two dimensional exhibit featuring paintings, drawings and film all related to the chair theme of the museums exhibit there at the museum on Friday July 20th. A Modern Line was offered the opportunity to provide some vintage seating for attendees and we jumped at the chance! We have about twenty chairs we plan on providing for the night that patrons can actually sit on and try out!
Here's the link to their facebook page promoting the event...

 http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/314973571925653/

Here's my invitation to anyone within range to come by and join us for what's sure to be a fun packed evening!