Whilst browsing a recycle centre earlier this week I came across a piece of mid century furniture which had never, ever crossed my mind – a mid century styled cot.
Manufactured from a teak/teak veneer and dating from the 1960’s I would have a guess that this cot would of been a custom made piece to fit in with the rest of the original owners home decor. With all the correct signs of a quality piece of furniture I could only imagine (and would love to of seen) what other pieces the original owner had!
With a piano hinged door that revealed shelf space on one end,
And a double towel rack to the other this cot was definitely made with practicality in mind, however style was not sacrificed in the process.
So did I buy it? Unfortunately, no. It was super hard to walk away from but due to the difficulty in regards to selling older style cots/baby furniture and whether they comply with relevant Australian Standards just isn’t worth the hassle…….Hopefully it’ll find a good home though and be saved from being turned into landfill.
In my last auction watch I shared an interesting single lounge chair manufactured by fler. Although the colour would not of appealed to everyone (and that’s being nice), I could relate seeing as I have the same lounge chair (apart of a 3 piece suite) currently in storage.
Now as you can see, it has been reupholstered in that hideous floral pattern fabric. It’s lines and curves however what were originally attracted my attention.
Once I looked a little deeper (removed a cushion cover) I discovered a great, possibly original swatch of fabric which seemed to match the style of the lounge a little better.
I’m still not 100% sure though on the material above being what the lounge would of been originally covered in, it seems a little to ‘light’, and contrasts strongly to what the eBay listed lounge chair is covered in.
I guess if I could find an old advert on the said lounge online it would help out, alot! However there within lies the problem. I have searched reasonably extensively through trove and other online sources and came up with zip, hence my excitement at finally seeing another one online.
It’s style almost reminds me of Featherstons Numero 4/7 range (which dates from the 1970’s) so could of possibly had some influence on this style of fler lounge.
The fler lounge suite appears to have a fibregass inner shell, which is covered in a high quality foam. The white plastic base covers the bottom along with providing the ‘feet’ for the lounge/chair, and to be honest those lounge chairs are possibly the most comfiest chairs I have ever sat in! I imagine it feels like what sitting on or in a cloud would. LOL.
So can you help me identify the era and model of this groovy Fler lounge suite? Love to hear from you here.
Sometimes, it’s the small things that can bring the biggest smile. That statement definitely rings true to this great little ‘cocktail set’ that someone put together 50 years ago!
Originally thinking it was an old empty chocolate box, you can imagine my surprise when I lifted the lid and the burst of colour from the glass straws/swizzle sticks hit my eyes!
Delving a little deeper into the box and we also have a beautiful set of teal coloured drink coasters, pink plastic cocktail sticks/toothpicks and 5 plastic ‘swizzle sticks’.
I was curious as to why there was a Qantas branded swizzle stick in the box, which did look a little out of place, and when researching the ‘Wentworth Hotel’ branded swizzle sticks it all became clear. According to Wikipedia – Qantas, in 1966, diversified its business by opening the 450 room Wentworth Hotel in Sydney. So not only were they promoting their brand new hotel, but the famous airline also!
It’s nice to know that these items were treasured and taken care of, only to be brought out to impress the visitors when throwing what I am sure would of been a fabulous cocktail party. A pleasant thought compared to todays throwaway society…….
What’s a beachcomber house I hear you ask? Well, to put it simply it was a project home that was designed and built during the 1960’s. For more information I highly reccommend taking a look at http://www.beachcomberhouse.com.au/. There is some excellent information and images available and well worth the visit.
Now although the roofline is slightly different on our toy beachcomber, the similarities are way too great to ignore! The angular lines, the stairway, the veranda! Just awesome!
With the ‘Illawarra Toy Library’ marked to the underside it definitely has a coastal background, along with the wear that shows the 100’s of hours of play it sustained keeping many children amused.
It’s a little hard to say whether it was a commercially produced item or not, however I’m more so leaning to the idea that it was likely a one off created by a father for his child and dates from the 1960’s/70’s? Perhaps he even sought inspiration from the home he and his family were living in at the time?
Either way it’s a great little piece of Modernist Australia. Should be listed on the site for sale by week’s end.
Auctions, Markets, eBay, 2nd hand stores, Op Shops, Specialist stores are just a few of the many places where you can find that special piece of furniture for your home, and a truth that comes with every item, be it – vintage/retro/industrial/mid century/antique is that it is ‘2nd hand’. Someone, somewhere before you has used it, loved it, and perhaps eventually had enough of it to move it on.
Now is this a bad thing? Of course it’s not! It’s just something to keep in mind when you are looking to purchase your next item as you’ll see below.
For this example I’m using a beautiful Queensland maple coffee table that I purchased in Melbourne last year. I loved it’s style and use of materials and surely enough, it made the 600km journey back home with me.
Now when you’re shopping, the lighting in some stores can sometimes be a little dark making it hard to see just what condition the item is in. Now due to this being what I do it is no big deal, however for the single/couple looking for a nice coffee table for their living room buying something that is dirty, or that hasn’t been cleaned correctly, or been checked over and the necessary repairs made it can turn into a real headache.
That’s why when you purchase any item from us (or from any reputable store for that matter, be it online or bricks and mortar) you can feel 100% confident that the item has been thoroughly gone over. Any necessary repairs will have been carried out, ensuring all parts are functioning as they should, cleaned to a high standard (able to place it straight into your home) and the finish attended to (whether it be oiled/polished/waxed/varnished/etc).
Below you will find before and after photos. Could you imagine putting this coffee table straight into your lounge room in it’s before state? Having your phone, wallet, TV remote sitting on 50+ years of dirt, smoke and grease build up? No way! And as you’ll see, the difference is amazing.
Check out these 2 awesome dining suites that have just been added to the online store!
The first is an early 1950’s Dining Suite. Comprising of 5 pieces and manufactured from a Queensland maple it has that awesome ‘atomic’ style design/influence that is so recognisable from that era.
The second is a late 1960’s Parker 7 piece suite manufactured out of solid teak. This setting oozes that famous danish style design and still has its original, bright and funky orange/yellow check upholstery.
How cute is this children’s outdoor setting? Dating from the 1950/60’s it’s modelled off the larger, adult sized outdoor settings except this one is for the little people in your life.
It originally would of been painted in multiple colours, much like a candy cane (hence its name). You can still see the original colours faintly on top, however when you flip the table or chair over the paint/colour is still quite bright as its been protected from the elements.
A very nice feature of this setting is that both chairs still don the original brass manufacturers plaque which reads – ‘Another A.W.A Frazer Product’.
All in all a very nice setting which would be an easy restoration project for someone. How cool would it be if Mum and Dad had the adults setting out in the back yard, and just next to it was the kids smaller, matching setting!
I picked up this interesting piece at a local sale over the weekend. I didn’t really know a whole lot about it, other than that it was an early outboard motor powered by a lawn mower motor.
After doing some research, along with a good degrease and clean it turns out this is a Mermaid Outboard Motor powered by a VICTA 125cc Engine. Dates from the late 1950’s to early 1960’s.
Although a little knocked around this item will provide a great deal of hard to find parts to someone restoring a similar type of engine! Will be listing on eBay within the coming weeks.