such sweet sorrow, again.

As usual we face the toughest aspect of dealing in vintage furniture - parting with things we love.  Our policy has always been to only stock things we want to keep, but it does make it tough.

This time it's a pair of sofas and matching tiered coffee table by Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard Nielsen.  We have had this set stashed away for almost a year now, just totally unable to share it with the world.  The big danger, of course, has always been that somebody would want to buy them - then we wouldn't have them any more - what a bind!

Worst of all, the upholstery is the perfect colour for our place.  Seems like the more we spend on acquiring a piece, the less inclined we are to let it go ... perhaps we were born to be collectors rather than dealers ... if only we had unlimited funds and a similarly sized place.

We had another Hvidt sofa in-store about 2 years ago - we were happy to learn that it's buyer has since started collecting his designs to keep it company!

Anyway - fantastic and beautiful 'Minerva' lounge suite circa 1957 is listed on our website, and available for purchase - unless we change our minds!

by wire ...

With Summer looming, the verandah at the farm needs a bit more chairing up (as with most spots around our place, need may be a mild exaggeration), and we have been hunting for something to compliment our long-time favorites ...

Of course, the problem is that any new addition has to be vintage, look good, and have a decent pedigree ... oh, and fit our budget if possible.

Today things came together nicely - we were off to Richmond to deliver some chairs and thought we should take the opportunity to check out the recently launched Permanent Collection on Burnley Street.  A great stop all 'round.  The store is stocked with some officially fantastic mid-century pieces, Charles is a lovely chap to chat with, and ...

... a vintage (c.1950) local-production of the sweet Bertoia 420c side chair - quietly waiting for us.  With nicely cracked plastic-coating and just enough rust developing to fit in with the verandah's current set, she's just the thing.

Joy.  So now we just need maybe one or two more nice bits of white wire and ... oh lordy ...

Like Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia's sculptural chair designs from the 40's+50's have become fodder for those 'reproduction' monkeys (MattBlatt, Click-On, Sokol, etc, etc) who are getting low-quality copy furniture SOOOOOO cheaply from China and populating every real-estate brochure and carbon-copy renovated house in the western world.  So we know that for $149 (+ delivery) we could have as many of those $12 (wholesale - check alibaba.com for a laugh) knock-offs as we please ... but does the world really need to put our dwindling resources into turning classic design into disposable, paper-plate chairs?

As for the originals ...

A vision of tomorrow before we humans got together and trashed it!

love a job once it's done

Ages ago, we picked up a set of 4 dining chairs - Parker model #26, 1963 - a design we really love, and had not had before.  They came with a table (which we restored and soon re-homed though the shop), but the chairs were in extremely pre-loved condition.

All the frames were pretty loose, the upholstery had holes, and those fantastic 'spade' backrests had serious damage to their veneers.  If they weren't the best-looking chairs in the world, we might have given up ...

We re-glued the frames so they were all as strong as new, but have been totally stuck since then on what to do ... re-covering the seats is no problem, but the damaged backs were beyond our abilities to repair (and the cost of getting an outsider to re-veneer would make the chairs unsellably pricey), so they have been resting in the shed for months.
This week, inspiration struck - refinish the backs in matte-black enamel and see how they look ...

 So we stripped the seats and re-covered them in a nice full-grain leatherette, then got to work on smoothing out the spades ...

And, of course, polishing up the rest of the frames ...

After a whole lot of sanding and smoothing, the time has come.  Found a nice low-sheen black enamel paint, which would conceal the sins of the past, and a big roll of masking-tape to protect what needs it, and set to painting ...

We gave them 7 coats over 24-hours, and were really excited to find that the grain texture of the timber shows through the enamel.  Bit more sanding, and polishing the backs, and it's time to re-assemble.

We're really happy with the result ... now the only problem is going to be parting with them ... still, they're going into the shop today, so we'll see.

tough times

Well then ...

After a few years of rampant and undisciplined chair collecting (we classify most of the collection as 'stock' to help us feel better), we have finally picked up our first 'proper' Featherston chairs ...

Sure, we have had plenty of his Aristoc pieces, which we love, and a few of the crazy 'numero' chairs in various forms, but never anything from the early 1950's 'Contour' range for which he is most well-known.

But this week ...

... a couple of super-cute D350 dining chairs have come into our lives.  So sweet and small, and more usable (to us) than the lounge chairs.  They need a lot of love, restoration and refreshing, but that's pretty much our favorite part of the job.

So here's the problem - from a purist's point of view, the chairs should be left in their original state - worn upholstery, scuffed timber, missing buttons - proper evidence of 60 years of life.  It may masquerade as respect, but there's a bit of cynical 'protect the re-sale value' in that attitude.  If they were oil paintings, I'd say leave them exactly as they are ... but we reckon commercially produced consumer goods should be maintained and refreshed to keep them living on.

But we want them to have a future as well as a past ... AND they do have to fit into the family up at the farm too!

 

So, yeah, one grey chair and one red one are going to look a bit out of place.  We want them to settle in and play-nice with everybody .... so the hunt is on for the perfect vinyl to freshen 'em up.  Promise they will be going to the most respectful and professional upholsterer we know.

We'll keep you posted.

whew ...

Hey, sorry we've been a bit quiet over the last few weeks.  Been cooking up a shiny new website for KYP!

We kind of knew it would be a bit of an exercise trying to move from an online catalogue to having an online store ... but it has given us plenty of perspective on just how much stuff we collect (and how much we love it all, too). 

There's nothing like taking half a dozen photos of each item, and then measuring and weighing and describing it, to remind you of what you have stashed away.

It's been pretty fun though - and today we 'go live' - hope you like it ... we are pretty happy with things so far.

another nice interiors blog ...

KYP friend Catherine sent us a great link a couple of weeks ago - you should check it out ...

 The blog is called The Brick House - it's a sort of 'renovation diary' combined with a generally amazing collection of interior ideas and inspiration by a Californian gal named Morgan Satterfield ... along with some decent DIY tips ...

It's fun checking progress and development on their house - with a nice collection of furniture which evolves as the diary goes on.  She is also working on an ebay store for some her renovated finds ...

We kind of suspect that it was the Brick House entry on woven wall-art that prompted Catherine to send us the link tho ...

You should take a look sometime.  Oh, and thanks for the link, Catherine!

new wall-hanging

Loving the strong Australian dollar - great time to scan US ebay for those bits and pieces that are so tricky to find here ...

Last week Cath scored a new bit of string wall-art on ebay - we think the design is based on a Yeti?  Whatever the case, he's fitting right in with the others.

Actually, it might be a free-form portrait of 'Sam the Sheepdog' from the old Looney Tunes cartoons - the fringe is a bit of a giveaway ...

We'll live with him for a while and see.

Oh, and we finally got around to covering one of our Fler SC55's in green fabric - so there's another exciting addition to the loungeroom.

rearrangement

Always nice to freshen things up with a big re-jig at the shop ... anybody walking past on Friday would have thought we were converting to a sidewalk market - everything out, chairs all over the place ...

But by sundown it was all back in and looking good again ... ahhhh.

Now it's time to part with a few pieces and make space ... for the next rearrange.

new chairs ...

So our farmhouse decor is decidedly stuck on a theme - pretty much everything in the lounge and dining areas is woody and/or forest-green.  It's a scheme that gives the room a calm sort of cave-ish feel, and it definitely links nicely to the eucalypts that grace the view from every window.
It sort of just worked out that way, started with our super-amazing dining chairs, who have reigned for a few years now ...

... and we have let fate keep it rolling - the right piece, with it's original upholstery in the right green.

So we felt pretty lucky to come into possession of a set of dining chairs this week fitting the criteria.  They're a style we have always admired - Model #26 by Parker, made in 1963 - and of the set of 4, there are 2 needing serious restoring.  In the interim, of course, the other 2 were looking for a home (guess it will be temporary - once the damaged pair are back to full health they may have to join a matching table we have in the shop).

We have seen these chairs a few times over the years, and always thought they were enormous ... almost too big for a regular room.  Just last week we brought in a new dining table however, and the table's pretty much big enough to bring any chair down to scale.
So there you go - another bit of 60's green fabric that means we need to make space in the house.  Thanks universe!

phew!

From this ...

 ... to this!

That's major progress.  The shed is done ... and pretty full already ... definitely need to do some work on our 'good use of space' techniques.  We're pretty happy though - and getting plenty of use out of our allen-key collection turning it all back into furniture.

This is DEFINITELY the fun part ... assembling, polishing, repairing, cleaning ... we just have to stop picturing everything in our house and start imagininging more of it in the shop!  We are taking pics and gradually getting it all onto the website now - so keep an eye out.