Secondhand Surplus

Friday, May 28, 2010

Suggestion...




I had George Nakashima's long chair brought to my attention by Rae, and I have to say I am in love. Everything thing about it. I might prefer the last one with the arm, but any will do.
I also love the natural walnut wood with the webbing, both black and unbleached. At this point I am not going to strip the black chair back, but what about leaving the rocker walnut with black webbing? maybe white?
It really shouldn't be this hard, and at this point I might just be stalling so that I don't have to remove the previous white webbing.
Thanks for the suggestion Rae, love this chair also! Probably won't be finding one of these in the alley.


See previous post




The first picture is one of the reasons I decided to paint my chair black, the photo is by Vincent Wolfe, via desiretoinspire. The last two pics are Jens Risom chair and ottoman. I thought these pictures may help with the decision.


Thursday, May 27, 2010

I need your opinions...




So here it is, the top picture is from right after I found this pair of chairs in the alley. I decided instead of reupholstering them, I wanted to take a different route, and use exposed webbing. I have never done this before, but I love the look.
The wood on both of these chairs was in decent shape. I had said something to my husband about painting them black, and he felt that that wasn't the way to go. I half-heartedly agreed and began working on the rocker with dark walnut danish oil. Next, I went to the fabric store and chose some bright white webbing, and started on a tight basket weave. After almost finishing the back, I decided the weave was too tight, I wanted to see some light coming through, and that the webbing wasn't substantial enough.
Knowing that I was going to take all the webbing off and start over, I began daydreaming about black chairs and black webbing. I went ahead and painted the other chair that isn't a rocker, a flat black and went to get heavier black webbing.
The fabric store of course only had 7 yards of the webbing I wanted, so I ended up coming home with just 7 yards of nice thick cotton webbing. I got to work, using steel tacks and am really happy with the back of the black chair.
So, my question is this: Do I go ahead and paint the rocker black and use black webbing, so that this pair looks like a pair, or do I leave the rocker walnut color, get the exact same webbing but in white? They also have unbleached webbing, with a more natural color, that I could use on the rocker, but I kind of like the contrast of the bright white against the wood.
Any advice would be great, your opinion may open my eyes to even something I haven't thought of.
(*I picture these chairs sitting next to each other or at least in the same room)
(** I forgot to mention I had my husband cut the backs so the lines were a little cleaner)

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Lotus bowl




This is the new enamel bowl I found this afternoon at my secret thrift store. At .69 cents I scoured the shelves for it's mates and came up empty handed. I am very excited though, it looks like its always been on the shelf in my kitchen.
I believe this vintage bowl is Scandinavian and designed by Catherineholm, there isn't any kind of marking on it, so if anyone knows whether this kind of bowl has a stamp or not, please let me know.


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

There aren't enough hours in the day





























I drink a lot of caffeine, and there still aren't enough hours. Here are just a few things I've been working on. Not to mention the clean out of our basement so that I can have a studio. So, I need either more time or maybe a full time babysitter/nanny. I will have more pictures soon, don't give up on me, but with all of these projects and a three year old, I don't have much time to blog.







Friday, May 14, 2010

My chair


I found this picture via apartmenttherapy.com, scavenger. The chair and ottoman are for sale for $625. They say there is no makers mark on there chair, but I believe it is the same chair I just recently upholstered. My chair had been reupholstered in the 70's, and maybe the headrest was tossed at that time, I might have to make one for mine. The base is also darker on theirs, So now seeing this I will definitely be using some walnut danish oil on mine.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

New enamel pot






The first picture is not my pot. The second two are. I have been on a little trip to Oklahoma City, and of course it isn't vacation unless there is some shopping involved.(Of course a trip to OK isn't really a vacation, but its the closest thing to one that I'm going to see for a while.)

I did a little thrifting while away, and found this pot on a shelf at one of the thrift stores in town. I love this pot but at $20 I felt that it was a little steep, so I put it back on the shelf and continued to browse. While I was looking I began to talk myself into the little pot, deciding I couldn't go any where and buy a new piece of cookware for less. So, I hurried back over picked up the pot, and told it that it was going to take the long drive back to St. Louis in my suitcase.
There are no markings I could find on it, but as I began to google, I found the lovely pot in the top picture for sale at Mjolk .
I believe it is priced at $290 and is made by Sarpaneva. I thought the space between the handles was for holding a spoon, looks like mine my be missing a handle, but for that price I think I my either make a handle myself or have one made.
I brought quite a few things home with me, so I hope this week I will be able to post them all.


Sunday, May 2, 2010

Third times a charm





































I found this chair and ottoman recently, and like most things I bring home, it was in an alley and in desperate need of love. One back leg was cracked and a front leg was loose. The wood was sad and dry, and it looked like a cat had love the back of this chair for a scratching post.
My friend stacked claim on the chair pretty quickly, and she also had a couple of yards of fabric she had just bought.
I used her gray fabric for the back rest and arms, then I bought some burlap for the sides and back. I had the velvet, and thought it would add to the coziness of the chair and ottoman. I for got to take a good before picture of the ottoman, but it had seen better days. The webbing on both the chair and ottoman needed to be redone, and I added new foam to the ottoman and new batting to both.
I just rubbed the wood down with wax-n-feed, and that did the trick. I am happy with how it turned out, and I hope my friend is also.






Saturday, May 1, 2010

Finished Coop/Chicken Pile




The coop has been finished for a couple of weeks now, and our chickens(Lola,Rita,Prudence,Cecilia)have been spending all of their time there. We still lock them in their coop at night since they still haven't figured out how to climb their ladder.
I think we are all very pleased with the handy work of my husband.
(They are growing so fast!)