How do you like my gate? I like it. I like gates in general. But they have to show some element of design.
Art Deco Design
It’s always funny how once you see something, it cannot be unseen, and this rule definitely applies for gates and fences. That’s how I first noticed this design/type of gate on a local house in town, and how it shares a great resemblance (when turned on it’s side/upside down) to our logo. So naturally when I come across this one at a scrap steel merchant I had to have it.
I’m not overly sure what I’ll do with it just yet. Ideally I’d love to find another single and hang both side by side on a wall in a possible/future bricks and mortar store. Guess time will tell!
Similarities.
If you’re interested, on your next trip to work, or walk around the block with the dog take a little time and check out some design features of the gates and fences on the older homes (1940’s – 1960’s) in your area. I’m sure you’ll be surprised at what you see!
Another week, another interesting item of furniture from Melbourne.
Front on!6 pieces!
It appears to be a version of the Selig Z chair, however in lounge suite form! We’re told it’s rosewood (kind of hard to tell from the photos, but you can catch a glimpse of it in one image) and that it was brought by a Chinese family from the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne in 1971 which to me would date it from the 1960’s. The original cushions were apparently filled with horse hair.
So we have –
Solid rosewood timber
Selig Z chair style/inspiration
Originating from the Chinese Consulate
Circa 1960’s
Price – no bids starting at $200
It’s a shame I’m 700km’s away otherwise this auction watch post might of come after the fact…..
To find, search eBay for – SIX 1960’s Rosewood Chairs.
I recently picked up this beautiful little TV lamp whilst on holidays. After spotting it in a local retro/vintage shop I knew it had to be mine, so after exchanging some currency it was packed away in my suitcase and safely made the 2500km trip home with me.
I definitely didn’t appreciate just how amazing the projection of light is from this little lamp. It shoots a really crisp line of light illuminating everything below the shade, whilst casting a shadow above.
Tripod Legs! Always a favourite.
Along with it’s crisp line lighting ability, we have the simple yet always amazing ‘tripod’ base which is just so cool.
Unmasked from the darkness!
The top hat (shade) is another impressive piece of design, which looks to be floating above the lamp itself when illuminated, almost like a UFO! Combined with the tripod base the proportions of this TV lamp for mine makes it one of the best I’ve seen.
As soon as I saw this listing, the first thing that came to mind was a sunken lounge room!
Very cool!
The first thought came into yours was ‘here he goes with his big lounge fetish again’…..
But seriously though, can you blame me? How cool is this monstrosity of a lounge! Apparently it originated from the Mahogany room in Crown Casino – that might help explain it’s brown velour upholstery……..
So what are you waiting for? Buy now, build your lounge room around it later and then invite around 13 of your friends and converse the night away!
To find, search eBay for – Large RETRO modular couch. But be quick, ending tomorrow PM with a starting price of $150!
With the repairs done, and the finish applied, it was time to fit the new (old) period handles.
Matches very well!
As you can see the handles worked out very well. The repairs also quite good! A little hard to match perfectly in some areas however overall I’m very happy, a huge improve on the original handles.
No, I’m not yelling at a man (or woman) being chased down the street by my trusty K9 companion after she caught them snooping around our back yard, I’m talking about this 1980’s (1979 for this version to be exact) board game.
Not wearing sunglasses? No liability here!
Now you may think I have a ‘thing’ for board games, just like I have a ‘thing’ for big lounges, but you’d be wrong. It just so happened that after featuring a 1960’s version of Twister on the blog a few months back (you can see that post here) I thought it’d be cool to share some images of this board game.
The first thing you notice, and the thing that attracted me to this game is that awesome cover art on the box – ‘STOPTHIEF’ in big, bold capitals varying in colour from purple to red to orange to yellow. To me that just screams 1980’s. It is really cool to compare to the 1960’s Twister board game. Both styles extremely different, however each is
unmistakeable identifiable.
After you’ve dusted yourself off after being sucked in, and than spat back out by that cover art, we find that this board game was quite revolutionary, in the fact that it was one of the first games to bring an electronic device into the game play. Pretty cool eh.
Complete, always a positive!
Now without boring you on the finer details, basically the game play involves you, the detective finding a thief who is computer controller. How do you find a thief that is controlled by a computer? With your electronic crime scanner of course! The game itself does actually sound pretty fun, and perhaps something to break out on a cold
winters night in front of the fire to get away from all the modern day technology (irony much?).
Whilst doing some research, I did come across a nice video segment on the Collectors ABC which relates to a collector and his board games, and specifically features the STOPTHIEF game. If you’re interested in viewing, you can find it here.
Continuing on from my last post, the repairs to the 1950’s bedsides have been completed.
Almost done!
I was reasonably happy with how the veneer patching turned out. Once the glue dried, I dotted the fresh veneer with a dark stain (walnut) to help give it a little colour, and after a light sand, I again spotted the repairs with a varnish/thinner mixture to build it up a little. It was after this I then realised I wasn’t happy with the overall finish on the door and drawer fronts. Cue some 240 grit wet and dry. This smoothed out the original finish, and gave a good base to then apply 2 final coats of the varnish/thinner mixture.
Polished and ready to fit.
With the repairs done, it was time to polish the new (old) door and drawer handles in preparation for fitting!
Struggling to find an Auction Watch item this week, so I thought I’d share this picture I took just recently of a pair of 1950’s wing back chairs before I put them into storage for a little while.
I came across this neat little set of bedside tables on the weekend. Ever popular, and judging by the style, I’d imagine they date from the 1950’s. Cube shaped, and sitting atop a 4 legged base, the compartments comprise of a single drawer and cupboard space.
45 degree chamfered edges
It looks like they’ve previously had a refurbish, and unfortunately the handle choice leaves a little………or a lot to be desired! Just not the correct style for the piece. Luckily I was able to find 4 period specific matching handles that should look quite good. More on those next post.
Super fine cut and paste!
Now for the fun part. The current handles had to have 2 extra holes drilled in each drawer, and 1 extra in each cupboard door because the centres for the screw holes were wider apart than the original handles (6 holes in total to patch). Secondly, whilst removing the handles, they removed some of the finish and stain due to whatever glue they used to attach them. Double Whammy! Thanks for coming! LOL. All good, I’ll sort it!
I started off by glueing some 6mm dowel pieces in place of the old handle screw holes. This will help give a solid backing to the small pieces of maple veneer I’ll cut and paste. A super sharp razor blade and small rule then helped to size the veneer up perfectly which was ‘borrowed’ from the rear/bottom of the drawer fascia. It should mean that once I’ve reapplied some stain, it will match very well. Fingers crossed of course!
I’m really impressed with this corner lounge by Van Treight on eBay this week.
Viking Series?
Consisting of 2 lounges (2 & 3 seater) which are joined in the corner by a nice matching coffee table it has a really nice shape – I love the sloping angles on the back rest/front of the arm rest. I’ve seen various pieces of Van Treight furniture in my time, and I must say that the quality is really, really high.
The same seller also has listed 2 single, matching arm chairs – one has a footstool. I think this presents as a nice opportunity to purchase quite a reasonable sized setting, all in one go!
Matching arm chairs!
With a good oiling and some fresh upholstery, I think you’d certainly be onto a winner here!
So what’s the current bid? Well with all 3 auctions ending in 3 day, we have the –
Corner lounge suite and coffee table @ $51
High back arm chair @ $86
Low back arm chair with foot stool @ $87
Definitely one to keep an eye on. To find – Just search eBay for – Van Treight Viking Series
