street find turned sweet find

I know most of you remember the Saarinen chair I found in the streets of Jersey City last year and I already gave you a little peek of the finished chair on Instagram. Here is the story how I found it. P and I were on our way to visit friends to have a spontaneous bbq last summer, on our way we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some beer. While I was waiting outside the store with our bikes I spotted the chair about half a block away. It got me so excited but I was also afraid somebody else would snatch it up before I could get to it. Luckily nobody did and I grabbed it. I pushed my bike with one hand and the chair with the other to our friends place which was only one or two blocks away. I made a happy dance when I found out the Knoll tag was still in place and also found a Met Life Insurance Co. inventory sticker underneath the seat as well. Somebody was probably sitting in this chair working on insurance claims, or selling insurance or something like that. In September I started my second upholstery class and it was finally time to work on the chair. When I took off the old vinyl fabric I got hit by a mildewy smell, the chair must have been sitting out in the rain and the foam never dried completely for a long time. So I did what everybody in my situation would do and soaked the backrest and seat in a water and bleach solution in our tub, as well as one round in a vinegar and water solution and let it air dry in the sun. After the pieces were dry they didn't smell anymore and the re-upholstery could begin. Unfortunately I didn't finish the chair in the last class but I started another class in February and last week I finally finished it. Love how it turned out, it is such a big departure from the sad ripped and somewhat flesh colored chair I started with.

Have a great weekend my friends! I have some more painting planned for this weekend (bar cart and side table), I am on a roll right now and need to take advantage of it to get as much done as possible. There will be times ahead when I do not feel like doing much on the weekends. On Sunday I will be visiting a friend in Connecticut I haven't seen in forever. Looking forward to a fun weekend. Do you have any plans?

another curbside find

Last week on Thursday I went to see a play with a friend. After the play I took the bus home from NYC, which is not my usual route but the theater was close to the bus station. Walking home from the bus stop I found this chair. The cushions were missing which is not a big deal because they might have been yucky anyways. I think the chair will clean up nicely with a little bit of work and once I work on my sewing skills I can hopefully sew some box pillows for it.

My list of projects for 2012 is growing steadily and 2011 didn't even end yet...

workspace shopping

I got one step closer to getting an organized workspace when we stopped at Ikea on Sunday to pick up a drawer unit for all the small bits and pieces that were flying around on my desk. Also in my shopping cart were a new simple mouse pad and a new desk lamp because the old one couldn't be attached to my new desk, the one I found on the street back in August. I really liked the Aröd lamp but the whole lamp including the foot was way too big for my small desk so I decided to go with the Forså lamp.

1. desk found on the street 2. Aröd work lamp 3. Lågis mouse pad
4. Forså work lamp 5. Alex drawer unit

new (old) chairs

Another post for the category one man's trash is another man's treasure...

This chair and five other ones just like it were sitting on the side of the road on trash day across the street from our house a little over a week ago. First I took only one home but later thought having a pair would be nice. Even later that evening I went out again to snatch two more because you can never have too many chairs and four of a kind would even be better than a pair. Well already someone beat me to it and there was only one chair left. Boohoo! But I took the last one home and now I have three more projects sitting in the basement. Let's hope for a long & cold winter so I can hole myself up in the basement and finish everything...

Some parts of the wood frames took quite a beating in their lifetime and will have to be sanded and refinished. The seat cushion and backrest are upholstered with Vinyl, some have small holes in them. Also they are a bit smelly, they might have been sitting in somebody's basement for a while. A new fabric to replace the vinyl will also bring the chairs back to life.

As you can see in the last picture they have been made by Boling Chair Company in 1971, which makes them officially older than me ;)

finished plycraft chair

The Plydraft chair I rescued back in April from being thrown into the garbage is finally finished. After gluing the cracked plywood back together I sanded the backrest/armrest and decided on staining it Dark Walnut from Minwax. To protect the wood I applied two or three layers of Minwax Polycrylic in semi-gloss.

The base got a good cleaning and was polished with brasso. I also replaced the feet with new ones. Because I couldn't find plastic ones that matched the last one that was still in place I bought metal swivel glides. Then it was time to pick a fabric which was actually the hardest part. I ordered a bunch of fabric samples through work. First I wanted to go black and white as usual but then decided to go with some color and ended up with turquoise*.

Taking of the fabric revealed some dry rot and I had to replace the foam. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of rebuilding the seat.

And now, without further ado, here is the finished result. My very first upholstery project. Not too bad right? The first picture is actually a little reminder of what the chair looked like when I got it...

All in all it was a pretty easy project that could have been finished much faster if I had committed more time to it. For all the materials needed I spend about $100, with the fabric being the most expensive item. The fabric I found on ebay for less than the contract price and I still have enough leftover to sew a pillow.

*The fabric is actually called Letters (in 006 Aqua) by Gunnar Aagaard Andersen, 1955 from the Maharam Textiles of The 20th Century® collection.

monday, monday

So good to me...

I found this awesome desk on the street while walking from the subway to my office. First I tried to carry it by myself but that didn't work so I rushed to the office to make one of my coworkers help me. I got lucky and the desk was still on the curb when we got back.

I have been searching for a nice desk for myself on craigslist for a couple of weeks now and boom there it was on the side of the street. And for free!

While searching for a desk on craigslist I came across this Eero Saarinen Executive Chair and bought it. Will look nice once it will be reupholstered. Not so sure if I can tackle that as a diy project.

This is how it could look when finished.

via Knoll

chair progress

Another chair update - I have finally gotten around to sanding the backrest/armrest piece after gluing the cracks back together as good as possible. All the cracks have been filled with stainable wood filler wherever needed that I mixed with wood dust from sanding the piece. On the pictures I circled the most obvious crack. Still need to sand it once more with fine grit sandpaper and it will be ready to get the finishing touches.

The natural wood looks so good I haven't made the decision if I should stain or just oil the wood. Wood stains on hand are Minwax Dark Walnut and Jacobean. Maybe I should try to achieve a similar look to my Eames DCM dining chair?

Once I finished the backrest I can start looking for a nice fabric to match...

chair - continued

The chair I rescued from its tragic end on a landfill back in April finally made the journey to our place now. I had to drag it onto the path and after that take it on a bus ride. I have already disassembled it, ripped off the broken feet and brought the chrome back to life with Brasso.

When I took it apart I discovered that it was made by Plycraft in September of 1964. Still have to find out more about the manufacturer. The plywood of the armrest/backrest is cracked and somebody already tried to fix it a while back. I have been trying to glue it back together. Hope it will work as planned. Already started thinking about what kind of fabric I would use to upholster the seat.

More updates to follow soon...

chair

Found this chair in the ready for pick up garbage pile at my office today. I needed to rescue it from the lurking doom of ending on a landfill. Unfortunately the plywood armrest is cracked but I will think about how to fix it once I got the chair home. It's sitting behind my desk at the office for now. Will have to drag it onto the train with me on Friday...