Tag Archives: 1960’s

Scrap Metal

February 19, 2017Restoration Projects1960's, Architecture, Australian, Fencing, GeometricJohnny

Welcome to 2017! (Although 6 weeks late………)

I thought I’d start off the year by sharing a little personal project around the house that I’ve recently completed as it fits in perfectly with our ideals, which is saving items from the 20th Century and giving them another lease on life!

You see, we’ve got a small drop off just outside our back veranda, and with a new little woofer on the way I was after a small bit of fencing to stop him getting into bad habits of jumping/falling off the edge.

So one day whilst browsing a scrap metal/recycle yard I came across this great little section of 1960’s fencing (love this design!). As soon as I saw it I knew I had the perfect spot for it so after exchanging a $10 note home it came to get measured up.

Rusty gold *puke — Ready for the scrap heap……

After a few small modifications (few brackets added to mount in its new position) the tedious task of removing the old paint, cleaning, then undercoating was here. After a few enjoyable hours it was now ready to be positioned and fixed into place.

Geometric mid century fencing design — Time consuming to do correctly!

Once mounted, I then completed the job by applying 2 coats of an exterior paint (woodland grey) to match our window frames. Although the colours slightly differ to 50 years ago they still work extremely well with it’s design (let’s be honest – any colour would look good on it!)

So there you have it folks, a great piece of 1960’s design fencing, a $10 note, some elbow grease and paint makes for a job well done whilst adhering to our status quo.

Deer Me

November 23, 2016General1950's, 1960's, Building Materials, Deer, Doors, Etched Glass, Mid CenturyJohnny

1950's Australian Building Materials — What yo looking at?

Yes, what indeed are we looking at……………………? Well if we pan back a little, you’ll see that we are feasting our eyes on some amazing etched glass doors that depicts a lovely forest scene with everyone’s favourite mid century animal – deer! And not just one, but 3! Buckincluded!

I’d dare to have a guess and say that they didn’t quite match the new style that the renovators in question had in mind for their 1950/60’s home so out they came, and luckily for some, straight into my arms!

Home renovations 1960's Australia

Doors and shower screens seem to be the most common areas to find these etched glass images, ranging from mermaids to bushmen, under water fish to ships however I’ve rarely seen such a large scene stretched across 2 doors and its 2 sidelights.

Mid Century door - glass etched

With no active plans for them at this stage, I think I’ll just store them until I find a use, or alternatively, until someone comes across this post, falls in love and wants them for their own home restoration! If thats you, contact me here.

Auction Watch # 23 – Viking Van Treight Lounge Suite

March 31, 2016Auction Watch1960's, auction, Blackwood, eBay, Lounge, Mid Century, Van TreightJohnny

I’m really impressed with this corner lounge by Van Treight on eBay this week.

Mid Century Lounge Suite — 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!

1960's Australian Lounge Suite — 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

Happy bidding and Goodluck.

ATEL Furniture

March 9, 2016General1960's, ATEL, Australian, Wall UnitJohnny

What do I love more than great quality mid century furniture? Catalogues for said furniture! It’s always great to come across an original piece of advertising, which happened when I came into possession of an ATEL wall unit a few weeks ago. The unit is currently dismantled and stacked atop of my car in the shed, however tonight I thought I’d share a few images of the ‘Personal Plan Series’ unit chart and model calculator as the ATEL wall units have been a topic of discussion in a few social media groups over the past few weeks so thought it would be fitting!

Mid Century Wall Units — ATEL unit chart and model calculator!

Australian Mid Century Wall Units — 120 different options!

As you can see from the above picture, this brochure listed 120 varying cabinet/shelving units that you could mix and match to produce the wall unit of your desire! Another really great feature is that all the prices are listed below, giving an accurate cost of each unit.

The unit that came with this brochure was 10 ft wide, and 2 units tall, and cost $361 in the early 1960’s. According to the bureau of statistics, the average male wage at the same time was between $30 – $40 a week. Do the math, these were not cheap units!

I thought I’d finish off by posting an image of one ATEL unit currently for sale on Gumtree for appreciation. Beautiful! Now just to find a wall big enough!

1960's Wall Unit — Huge amounts of storage!

“sex in a box”

December 17, 2015General1960's, Mid CenturyJohnny

According to wikipedia, that’s what Milton Bradley’s competitors referred to Twister as when it was first released in 1966. As enticing as that sounds, it’s not the reason I purchased this early Australian version of the game a few weekends ago.

Vintage board game Australian — Great Cover Art!

It was the cover art! How great is it? I suspected it may of dated from the 1960’s, and after a quick look inside my suspicions were confirmed – so purchased it I did.

1960'S Mid Century Board Game — Great Condition!

Once home, I pulled the board game apart, and was pleasantly surprised with it’s condition, which included the original instructions.

I honestly don’t think I’ve ever played Twister before, so perhaps over the Christmas break and before I add it to the online store I might just to see what all the fuss is about!

Parker Bedside Repairs

December 6, 2015Restoration Projects, Upcoming Items1960's, Bedsides, Mid Century, Parker, TeakJohnny

Lucky enough to come across a great matching set of Parker Nordic bedsides.

Condition was pretty good, however the leg on one had a previous repair which wasn’t quite up to standard, there was also a nasty gouge to the top edge and a small chip to the veneer on one drawer front.

Nordic Bedsides Parker — Solid Timber Repair!

1960's Parker Furniture — Veneer repair!

With all repairs carried out, the original finish was given a light go over with some super fine steel wool, and then 2 coats of an oil/mineral turpentine mixture was applied.

Very happy with the end results! The bedsides will be available in the online shop with the matching bed head very soon.

Meyer Furniture

November 23, 2015General1950's, 1960's, Australian, Chair, Meyer Furniture, Mid CenturyJohnny

Meyer Furniture, not Myer. Got it? Good!

Mid Century Australian — Not a bad stance.

This chair is interesting to me. Why? Well because of its construction. From the front it appears to be your typical steel/iron rod chair. However once you see the underside you quickly realise that the frame isn’t welded together. It is in fact bolted together using various clamps and fasteners. These hold the timber armrests (covered in plastic) / the back support and the seat all together (see photo below).

Mid Century Dining Chair — Early ‘Flat Pack’?

It really is quite amazing, and I would imagine of been more time consuming in the final assembly stage. I am curious why a company would go away from the traditional method of say, welding the frame together to the method described above?

Now I’m only speculating, but one reason I can think of is space saving for transport, just like Ikea’s flat pack furniture. You may of been able to fit say 20 of Meyer’s fully assembled chairs in the back of a delivery van, you break them down and that number could probably triple or quadruple quite easily. Another would be the ease of manufacture of each separate part off the production line.

So just who are ‘Meyer Furniture’? Searching on-line wasn’t a great deal of help, however trove brought up limited results. One was a news article from the 25th of September 1958 which read –

The Sydney firm of Meyer Furniture successfully tendered for the supply and delivery of steel framed cafeteria furniture for the cafeteria to be located on the fourth floor of the new administrative Building at Parkes. The furniture comprises 90 tables, and 360 chairs, and deliveries are to be completed by November 17. The accepted tender price is £2,593.

Another was a great image of their furniture stand at the 1960 Furniture Exhibition from the NSW State Library website – which I’m pretty sure shows the exact chair up against the rear wall.

http://acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemLarge.aspx?itemID=80339 — Meyer Furniture Stand 1960

Unfortunately that’s all the info I can find right now, however as with most things the search never stops, it just gets put on ‘hold’ until some new information/pictures/furniture comes to light!

Cut & Paste

October 27, 2015Restoration Projects1960's, Dressing Table, Hayson, Mid Century, TeakJohnny

Over the weekend I carried out a few minor repairs on a great Hayson teak/veneer dressing table. A common issue often seen with the majority of teak furniture dating from the 1960’s can be chips/damage to the thin veneer. They are unsightly, can run further if caught whilst cleaning and also devalue your beautiful piece of furniture.

1960's furniture repair — Sitting precariously!

For example, on the left hand side of the dresser, towards the bottom edge we are missing a 15mm x 20mm piece of veneer, along with a few other smaller nicks to the right. Obviously it’s not a major issue, it’s just there, and you know about it, and you hate how it’s damaged in that area, and how it catches your eye every time you walk past – much like a dent to your beloved car!

So how do we fix? We simply glue in another piece of teak veneer, and try to match it as best we can!

Teak Veneer Repairs — Left – little to dark / Right – better

The teak veneer used above I salvaged from a broken record player I stumbled across at the local tip one day. The piece to the left is a little to dark, and whilst the piece on the right is better – the grain however is a little wider and not quite as tight, but it will have to do!

1960's Sideboard Drawers Repair — Glueing / Taping / Finished.

So after squaring the edges, and meticulously peeling off a piece from the ‘donor’ it was trimmed, glued and clamped into place, along with a few smaller pieces (under the tape). Once the glue was dry I removed the clamp and I must say I was a little surprised at how much darker it looks now on its own compared to the side by side picture. A light sand with some 800 grit wet & dry, and a few coats of furniture polish (oil) and we’re done!

Now although the colour doesn’t quite match 100%, the repair is complete! The veneer’s are level, and firmly glued down, with no chance of any further damage occurring. Remember, we’re not trying to hide the repair or signs of it’s previous life – we’re ensuring the piece is in great, functional condition, ready for the next 50 years of use!

Auction Watch # 20 – 1960’s Swivel Lounge Chair

July 20, 2015Auction Watch1960's, Auction Watch, ChairJohnny

Tonight I open auction watch # 20 with a well known phrase – Credit given where credit is due.

What do I mean by that you may ask? See below…..

How amazingly good is the main picture for the auction listing of a 1960’s swivel lounge chair!?! The way the sunlight is pouring through (I’d imagine a window) onto the backrest whilst creating subtle shadows and differing tones of colour on the rest of the chair is a real treat to look at. This image alone makes me want to be its new owner!

Of course there’s the great shape and design of the chair, along with the current bid – only being $71!

To find, search eBay for 1960s Swivel Lounge Chair, but be quick, there is just under 24 hours to go!

Makers Labels

June 1, 2015General1960's, C.R.O, Chair, Mid CenturyJohnny

Hi.

Here is a chair. I purchased this chair a few years ago.

Single retro chair — Great mid century CRO chair.

It was originally in a set of 5 with the matching table. Although at the time I was tight for space so just settled on this one. Regret? Kind of now yes, but why did I purchase just this one chair?

The secret lies underneath.

Original mid century paper tag/makers label. CRO of Sydney. — Original mid century paper tag/makers label. C.R.O Furniture of Sydney.

As soon as I flipped the chair and saw the original cardboard makers tag still stapled underneath I knew I had to have it. Yes it was a shame to split it from the set (only 5 chairs originally so I didn’t feel too bad…..) but you can be sure I’ll come across these chairs and table in the future, an original tag though? Maybe a little more difficult. The 50 year old dust came at no extra cost also. Bargain!