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!

A recent new acquistion and a completion to the 50's Atomic Harmony House pieces!

First up, we recently acquired a super nice Drezel "Parallel" suite credenza in nearly pristine condition! I already made space for this on our floor as it was too nice to make it wait "in the wings". This is a a very high quaility piece with lots of solid walnut. Date stamped from 1960, this looks great alongside the remaining Kent Coffey dining table and chairs we have in house! Sorry, if you were lusting after the K/C china and server, they have already gone to a happy new home!

If your looking for something under that big flat screen hanging on your wall, you need look no farther!

Now for the conclusion to the 50's Atomic set that I've been struggling with for the last two plus weeks. And I will ask you my readers to give me your unabashed feedback on whether or not this was a good idea! Please try and keep your comments civil! I do moderate comments but love constructive feedback!

It's true, I have little love for blond 50's veneered furniture as mentioned in my last post. Anyone who follows along also knows I do have a passion for real birch Heywood Wakefield from the same period. Totally different animals and totally different rework! Here's what I did to the once 'blonde/cream atomic pieces I picked up and the results.

I'll get some better picks once they make it to the store and are placed properly, but this should give you a pretty good idea that these have had a rather major change of look. Although certainly not perfect, I think these pieces are destined to go to a happy new owner soon. They should give someone another 30-40 years of service.

I tried to make sure the original atomic lines still popped and all in all, despite the effort involved, I'm still reasonably happy with the overall results. Not likely to be on my 'to do' list for anything like this project anytime in the near future!

Feel free to chime in with your take and any questions on how this was actually done.

As always, thanks for following along...

For those that my have missed the last post, here's how these looked on arrival...

Thanks again...

Great original 50's pink kitchen and bath!! And possibly some new acquisitions...

We were recently contacted by a couple who are  downsizing in a big way for a one of a kind life adventure. They are planning a year long plus excursion across the country on bicycle and are divesting of pretty much everything they own. And boy, do they have some nice stuff to divest of! As they are big mid century lovers, the house had plenty to choose from. I don't think my pockets are going to be anywhere near deep enough to take too much off their hands, but I'm hoping we can come to terms on at least a few items to buy and hopefully get them to consign what we can't afford. This post is actually more about the house they've been renting than their stuff. And sadly, I did not bring a camera, so the pics are all not so great phone stuff. Still...this house is, lets just say, fabulous!

Everything in this kitchen looks original 50's.  From the counters to the cupboards to the appliances and tile work! From the occupants descripton, the stove is a bit iffy, but everything else is in working order. Totally fell for the ribbon glass in the cupboards. Could I be in love?

Yup, the bathroom is just as great as the kitchen! Everything thing in this house looks pristine! No renovation required here, just some TLC to make sure it survives another 60 years! It makes my heart glad that the owner has not decided to demo and remodel! Hope they don't ever have this in mind going forward...

Just a couple of pics of what the residents have up for grabs...there was too much to try and document on the phone and I just grabbed a couple of pics of stuff I'm personally interested in. That said I'm interested in a lot of stuff available!

From the top, if not an original Adrian Pearsall rocker, this looks like it should be. Could not find it in the online catalogue. It has a locking mechanism that allows it to rock or be a stationaty piece. A really nice Heywood Wakefield small dinette. I'd never have thought this particular table could be used this way, but it looks great and functional with the two rayback chairs in the space.

What appears to be an Adrian Pearsall cocktail table base although I'm not sure the glass is original. I've seen this configuration before with the same glass.

If we can come to terms with the owners with their great stuff, I will be posting again.

Rainy weather has somewhat stalled the 50's atomic dresser and chest but I've made some progress and should be able to post the 'finished' job soon...

As always, thanks for taking a look and feel free to comment. Don't feel hesitant about my moderating my posts. I've had way too many people attempting to scam the blog with crappy ads. If it relates to the discussion I will definetely put your comments up!