Tag Archives: Mid Century

Auction Watch # 23 – Viking Van Treight Lounge Suite

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.

Auction Watch # 22 – Mid Century Corner Lounge

I don’t know what it is about them, but I’ve definitely for a thing for big lounges. Perhaps its the ‘look at me, I can seat 5+ people at once’ attitude that they give off, or the idea of the room it would be in and how it would be furnished that I’m attracted too,  but regardless, I find them really, really cool.

So it’s no surprise that I was impressed by this awesome corner lounge and two matching lounge chairs on eBay this week.

3 piece mid century corner lounge
Nice curves!
1950/60's Lounge
2 -tone vinyl!

In the right space, I think that it would look amazing! And all for the reasonable (starting price) of only $400!

To find search eBay for – ORIGINAL VINTAGE RETRO CIRCA 1960 VINYL CURVED 3 PIECE LOUNGE SUITE MID-CENTURY.

Be sure to have some strong men at your disposal and large double doors into your living/lounge room to save any heart (and back) ache! Until next time.

Stool Re manufacture

If you’ve browsed our online store, you may of noticed in the ‘Coming Soon’ section I’ve had a T.H Brown fondue coffee table and stool set sitting there for perhaps a little too long. The table and glass are in great condition, and were not the hold up! It was/is the 3 stools.

You see, unfortunately the original woollen upholstery is well worn and needs to be recovered. Not overly hard no. However when I started to pull one apart all those months/ years ago…..eeek I was not overly impressed with the condition, or materials used for the frame of each stool. This was a tad surprising given the reputation for furniture items manufactured by T.H Brown however I guess if it’s not to be seen, and does the job for 20 or 30 years what’s the problem? Save costs where they can…………

Anyways, back to the stools. As you can see from the images below 10mm particle board was used, along with some rough cut pine which was all held together with a few nails. Time and moisture have played their part which left the frames in pretty poor and unstable condition. There’s no way you’d ever apply new upholstery over the top! So before moving ahead I wanted to re manufacture the frames for the 3 stools to a higher quality than what was there before, to ensure they’ll last for as long as is required!

T.H Brown Fondue Table
Nice Sundays Work!

I used the base from one of the stools as a template to ensure I ended up with the same shape. This shape was traced onto 12mm plywood (much preferred than particle board although double the cost $$), 42mm x 18mm pine along with some 50mm long screws, nails, and wood glue will provide a plenty solid and long lasting frame for the new upholstery to be applied too!

Now just to select the material!

Updates will follow!

Kafka Lounge

I thought the best way to start off 2016 on the blog (a little late…….yes I know) would be to wrap up the Kafka lounge blog posts that I started last year in the lead up to our wedding – you can find them here.

In my last post I left with you with the finishing touches in preparation to use the lounge as a ‘love seat’ on the amazingly white sands of Jervis Bay.

So how did it all turn out you may ask? Excellent! See below!

Kafka Lounge

Now it wouldn’t be fair If I didn’t show off my beautiful bride on the day…………..

Mid Century, Wedding, Kafka, Australian
Concept delivered perfectly!

It was amazing to see the concept that I had pictured for all those months leading up to the wedding be captured on film by our wonderfully talented photographer – Pete, from Peter Izzard Photography. I cannot recommend him enough! You can find out more about his services here  – http://www.peterizzardphotography.com.au/

Until next time!

“sex in a box”

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

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.

Mid Century Teak Bedsides
Leg repair!
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.

Mid Century Parker Bedsides
Finished!

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

Meyer Furniture

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!

Auction Watch # 21 – Summertone Buffet

Tonight I thought I’d log a few images as reference of a Summertone buffet/sideboard currently listed on eBay.

1950's Sideboard
eBay listing for a Summertone Buffet

Condition is OK, but work is needed, and with a starting price of $500 I think it’s pushing the envelope a little. However I think it’s worth noting as Summertone pieces have a great design and seem to be a little harder to come across! Nice shot of the makers label – which is different to other (earlier?) versions I have seen which appear to be more so of a badge.

To find – search for ‘Summertone Buffet’.

George Doukoff

I’ve had a hard time over the last few weeks finding anything of great interest to share with you for my ‘Auction Watch’ blog posts. Tonight whilst trawling all the usual haunts again I was less than impressed (hey – maybe it’s me!) however a chair listed for sale on eBay caught my eye.

1950's Chair
Similarities?
1950's Mid Century Chair
Silky Oak

The similarity between it and my ‘Warwick library chair’ which I posted about here almost 3 years ago reminded me that I needed to post an update about the said chair in question.

I was contacted by Dean from Australian Modern and he referred me to an article he had written about the designer – George Doukoff. It’s well worth a read, and you can find that article here – https://australianmodern.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/george-doukoff-the-man-behind-the-volkschair/

Re-reading back through Georges history myself, there is every chance that the chair currently listed on eBay (search for Atomic Wooden Silky Oak Mid Century Chair – Buy It Now $75)  is an early version/prototype that was discussed in the article of the eventual ‘Volkschair’.

The A-frame legs and its curves looks very, very similar along with those little arm rests sitting atop. The materials used are right for the period in question (early 1950’s) and the location of the chair (Strathpine QLD) is just 20km’s north of Brisbane, where George had his store and workshop.  Could these factors just be a coincidence? Possibly, and without any hard documentation or makers marks it’s just speculation! I’ll leave you to make up your own mind.

Comparison
Side by side!

Cut & Paste

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!