Tired of hearing about the Pearsall dining set I just finished? Wait, don't answer yet, here's more Pearsall!

The new Pearsall dining set is catching lots of looks at the store and I doubt it's going to be hanging around too long, but the next project on the bench is almost as sweet and is turning out to be a lot less work in our rehab department!

 

 

These two pieces came to me from the same consignor as the previous dining set with the same stipulation, recovery costs were coming off the top of the sale price. Again, solid walnut original Pearsall 1209-C chair and 1211-O ottoman. These were both sans their original cushions and the original Pirelli webbing was either missing on the ottoman or in such poor condition on the chair it would need to be replaced.

On the bright side both pieces are very structurally sound. The downside was the wear on the arms of the chairs were totally through the finish and no amount of Howards was going to bring them back to life. The balance of the pieces looked great with a bit of cleaning up and I decided to just refinish the tops of the arms and keep my fingers crossed for a match!

 

 

As these were slightly lighter shades of walnut in this chair, I used a Minwax golden oak over the sanded arm tops and it looked pretty good before lacquering. It still popped the walnut without being too dark and seemed to match the original finish really well. This chair was a bit higher gloss than the normal satin I would use on refinished pieces, so I started with a semi-gloss lacquer for the first couple of coats and topped in off with a satin just to knock down the gloss just a bit. Bingo!

 

 

Here's our "patient" under the sheets to avoid contanimation of the balance of the piece!

 

When I stopped by my upholstery wholesale place Harris and Stearns (they've been in business longer than I've been here in Tampa and maybe longer than I've been alive) here in town to look into replacing the original Pirelli rubber webbing, they advised that someone had bought them out of the last they had in stock and due to cost, they hadn't planned on replacing at $200 a roll. Ouch!

They advised they could order this for me if needed so I decided to take a look online. At $3 dollars a linear foot, I decided the newer nylon black webbing would work just as well and last a lot longer.  It's not like you can actually see this in action! I try and be a purist as best as possible, however!

 

 

Here's how we stand presently! Frames look pretty stunning and have been dropped off at my upholstery professionals along with foam and fabric to complete this rehab. If I could only brush up on my upholtery skills it would save me a bunch of money but this isn't a trade you learn overnight and Mike and Anne always do a really nice job on every piece I've given them for a fair price.

Hope to get some finished pics up in the next week or so.

 

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Just a quick post on the finished Adrian Pearsall set!

I finally finished the rahabilitation on the Pearsall set and what a stunningly gorgeous set it is!

Although this was a lot bigger challenge than I anticipated, I'm not complaining after seeing it come to fruition.

 

 

Since this was accepted as a consignment, I was determined to keep track of my time and materials in the redo. Unfortunately, after about two weeks into this working on it from 2-4 hours a day almost every single day, I gave up. I would guesstimate I have somewhere around 65-80 hours in the finished product. What a marathon!

 

 

The nubby oatmeal sofa/bed that resided just inside the front door sold over the weekend which freed up space for this in it's place. And another new aquistion of a pair of 60's splay legged 30 inch bookcases with sliding glass doors paired up really nicely with the table and chairs. Our Rya rug, though a bit smallish, looks great with all these pieces well!

We are ready for the weekend to commence!

 

 

Still on the hunt for the perfect fabric for the Adrian Pearsall dining set!

Frustration has set in looking for just the right fabric for our Pearsall dining set! All of our current inventory, which is pretty extensive, was either just not right or there wasn't enough yardage.

I spent hours Tuesday looking through all our local fabric dealers and had picked up a chenille that looked like it may work in desperation. Maybe for another project, but not this one!

The table as well as the chair frames are done and ready. I just need the correct clothes for our new princess!

 

 

It's been a bit of a long slow slog to get these frames up to speed but they look great!

I originally thought I'd have to replace all the foam on the seat cushions, but although the base rubber foam is pretty hard and dried there is another foam over this from the last recovery and they seem quite comfortable as is and still look quite original to the set and I think I'll leave these alone as well as what may be the original padding on the backs. I will definetely add a bit of cotton batting to the mix to plump them up some...

 

 

The the new plugs for the chairs are ready to install and all the components for the seats and backs redo are in place. Just need the right complimentory fabric! I've got some bids out on some auctions that look like they may work without spending an arm and a leg. Hard to tell until we get to feel and see in person!

Hope to post the total make over soon!!

 



An Adrian Pearsall rehab update and looking for some feedback from readers!

I've been spending a lot more time lately on the Adrian Pearsall table and chairs that I acquired from a consignor awhile back. Regular readers of this blog may remember how the set came to me, but for those of you just coming into the mayhen here's how the set looked originally:

 

 

Shredded upholstery from the resident cats and a totally incorrect refinish on the frames. I've had the good fortune to rehab quite a few pieces of furniture and this was definetely not original upholstery and the frames had been redone in a very tough to remove makeover! I finally got the chair frames back up to speed and here they are in all their glory before we get down to the upholstery at hand!

 

 

Back to the original and gorgeous walnut finish in a satin lacquer. Despite all the time spent, I love how they turned out! Pics aren't so great, but you'll see the finished job soon...

 

We tend to collect fabric whenever it's available for a good price and I dug through our inventory today looking for something appropriate. I found some examples I'm considering in the bunch and I'd like some input from readers as to what they think may look just right on these chairs!

Here are our contenders:

 

This red has some texture and depth...

A bit of a lime green with a nubby feel...

A patterned and textured fabric...

A sort of plain nice red with a bit of nubbyness to the touch...

A very vintage barkcloth fabric with pattern...

 

I'm leaning towards the lime green or one of the two reds but I'd love to get some feedback from my readers on their thoughts!

I just tonight finished staining the table base and although it's going to require a bit of touch up before the top coat it's looking pretty good.

 

 

In as much as this rehab job has been a lot more time and effort than originally expected, I'm totally in love with the results! Looking forward to your input on the fabric selection on the chairs and I hope to have this done and for sale within the next week or so at the store.

Thanks as always for checking into the posts. Let your like minded friends know where to find us!

A Modern Line

If you are not already a fan of us on Facebook, please take the time to look for us at A Modern Line here in Tampa. This is the the easiest way to see new inventory arriving in the store!

 

 

 



Our new (?) Telefunken finally made it to the store in all it's glory! That and an update on the not so recently acquired Adrian Pearsall dinette set...

There's hardly anything I love more than saving a great piece of furniture and being able to bring, particularly mid century modern items, back to life! I literally live for this stuff and here's the newest success story.

My recently acquired early 60's Telefunken stereo console was just gorgeous for the cabinet alone and the stereo seemed to function just fine. Just had a turntable issue which has now been resolved.

I went ahead and turned it over to a local audio shop and now pretty much eveything on this is up and running nicely!

 

 

The cost of the repair work was more than the price of the unit, but I think worth the investment.

 

A month or better ago I had told the tale of bringing in some great Adrian Pearsall pieces at the behest of a consignor. I advised up front that getting these up to speed could be a bunch of work to sell and it was coming off the sale price. Well, the slat bench went pretty quickly and I still have a couple of pieces still in the store in what appears to be the the original ebony finish, but the dinette set had been lanquishing in storage waiting for my attention.

 

 

My consignor was under the impression these were of an original and a rare finish. Although a very stunning design, I seriously doubted it's originality. The finish covered the bottom steel taps on the chairs and table (this would have been the last application from the factory after finishing)

and the installation screws were mismatched attaching the backs to the frame. There were also more staple holes in the wood than what I ended up pulling the fabric off the seats and backs. More proof that these were not original! Not that I planned on keeping the same finish, just a bit of justification for taking some liberty with these pieces.

 

 

This has been one of the most daunting refinish jobs I've undertaken! Undoubtably, the frames on these are solid walnut. That didn't neccesarily make the job any easier. Whoever last refinished these put down a very heavy coat of white paint and had somewhat antiqued over the finish which was heavily embedded in the wood. I even resorted to some citrus stripper which turned out to be a major mess in itself. After way too many hours, here's how we stand currently with a bit of stain...

 

 

In the next couple of days these will get 3-4 coats of satin lacquer and should look pretty swell. I'm on the hunt for some appropriate upholstery as well to really make these pop! The table is on the bench and hopefully will be done soon as well. When I finally finish this set it should be totally stunning! Keep your eye on the prize and all the work will be worth it? I certainly hope so!