Eye of the Tiger...

It was a friday afternoon. I was running some errands for the boy (buying bike food) while he was at work and decided to swing by the nearby thrifts. I only happen to go to these thrifts when he needs bike food because they are located on the far side of town. I also hadn't been having much luck at them recently.

It just so happened that it was 50% day. Alright time to find some goodies! I made my way around the furniture section out front and saw a really fabulous rustic coffee table... already SOLD. Oh well. I was walking around the housewares section, always keeping an eye out for some Ulthima Thule. No luck. I went through the plastics section and found one thing which I'll reveal in the week's roundup. *This post is dedicated to a solitary find. *

I continued making my way around the store and ended up at the back, where the books are along with the large exercise equipment. There, next to the exercise machines, I saw a chair. It was low lying, made of teak and very much in a Danish style. I went to take a closer look but it didn't have a price tag. Oh no, someone in this store has beat me to it! I waited around (like a tiger stalking his prey) and saw an employee walking towards the chair along with a couple. He was going to help them with the purchase... did they buy it? Turns out they bought the exercise machine next to it. Phew. I continued waiting around to see if someone would take the chair but alas nobody did. I asked an employee if he knew about the chair and why it didn't have a price tag. What a helpful fellow, he asked his manager and then he got on the loud speaker and asked if anyone had the price tag for the chair. Nobody did! Yay! The manager then came by and told me the price tag was taken off since the time they brought the chair out the night before. That's odd. In any case, since nobody bought it he told me the price of the chair was $50, since it was 50% off Friday it would end up being $25. "Was I interested? ", he asked. Heck yeah!

I always wanted a Danish style lounge chair and for $25 it couldn't be beat. I failed to mention that the chair was wrapped in plastic so I couldn't thoroughly inspect it. I looked underneath and everywhere you could think of to find a mark but didn't find one. I figured it was a chair reproduction from Plummer's because the wood seemed to be in pretty good shape. The upholstery didn't look original and needed to be replaced too. It was also really light which I found odd. However, it was $25... what more could I ask for. I paid for the chair, had someone put it in my car and off I went.

The boy called me to see where I was and what I was up to. I told him I found a chair. A chair, that in my mind made up for an amazing mid-century sale that I was going to miss the following day. You see, we had already committed to a father's day bike ride. Even though the boy isn't a father yet we wanted to go. 

When I got home I started unwrapping the chair. I took off the bottom cushion and found a mark. No Way! That's always a good sign. However, I didn't recognize the mark. Blasphemous, I know! So off I went searching on the interwebs for France + Teak + Mark. What do I find? It is the manufacturer France & Sons of Denmark. Sweet, an authentic Danish chair! So I continued searching with my new bit of information and what did I find... the chair that I thought was a reproduction is actually a chair designed by one of the most notable Danish designers, Finn Juhl! Holy smokes!!

This certainly makes up for missing the sale the following day (the boy actually wanted me to go but due to the high publicity of the sale I didn't want to fight off any hardcore dealers). 

Lo and behold my find: (sorry for the bad pics but I'll re-photograph when I have the new upholstered cushions)

These folks found two of them 3 years ago, at $10 each!!

Just look at the thoughtful detail at the end of the armrest.

... and look at the soft curves and the beautiful color of the teak.

 

You see where the mark is? It was hidden underneath the cushions! Since I love anything teak, MCM or Scandinavian this is like finding the Holy Grail. Unfortunately the boy wants me to sell it as does la familia. The only way I would even *think* about selling it is if it was to have money for my papa bear chair. Wouldn't you agree?

As far as the cushions are concerned, I'd like to get some distressed leather upholstery like so...

 

What do you think?

Lessons Learned: 
1. Don't assume that a large item is sold because it doesn't have a price tag.
2. It doesn't matter at what time of day you go to a thrift store, you may just be lucky that day!
3. Maybe there is such a thing as Good Karma.
4. There are still GREAT deals to be had.

Hunted:: Gathered: 06/12/11 Part I

IT'S A DOGGY-DOG WORLD  (love Modern Family)


Hey fellow thifters! I hope everyone had a great week this week. My week's adventures were like that of a comedy film. It all started early on a Saturday morning. I had planned a route of garage sales. Well, I happened to find one just around in my neighborhood as I was headed to the first place. Of course I had to stop by. I didn't find anything there but as I was leaving I found a little white fluffy dog wandering the streets. She looked lost. I pulled over and got out of my car. I walked over to her, close enough for her to be curious but far enough as to not scare her away. I kneeled down and called to her. She hesitated and then walked over to me. She was a friendly little thing. She didn't have a collar and her coat was heavily matted.

I picked her up and put her in my car. What was I going to do with her? I hadn't figured that out yet. Since it was early I decided to go to a couple of the sales I had planned out. I drive a HondaFit and the backseats were folded down so she had free reign over the entire back of the car. I arrived at the first place which happened to be a hoarder's estate sale. There were tons of vintage furniture, lamps, suitcases and other housewares. I saw a few things but didn't get them because I was worried about the furry little girl. I made my way back to my car only to find her sitting in the driver's seat!

As I drove around I had the back windows open. I love seeing dogs sticking their heads out the window enjoying the ride and this little girl was no different. It warmed my heart. I went to another estate sale and this one was filled with promise. The lady who lived here loved crafting and hippos, and I thought I loved hippos. There were several tables filled with all of the possible hippo figurines you could ever imagine. The walls were riddled with hippo prints, cartoons and paintings. Hippos were everywhere! I was tempted by a couple of the figurines but ultimately decided to leave them.

As I tried to quickly make my way around the house I got stuck in your usual estate sale traffic jam and was next to a bookshelf. That is where I found these two lovely teak hippos. 

I had seen the Zoo-line hippos before and I thought these were them but I didn't see a mark. I loved them regardless. I had seen the lady hippo before but I had never paid attention to her pearl earrings. How fun are they? Upon further inspection at home I found that the lady hippo has the Zoo-line copyright and the male one has a J.V. Orel copyright. The Zoo-line hippos don't typically have the drilled holes in them like my male one does. I'm assuming that it is J.V. Orel's contribution to the line since I've seen other adapted figurines by him that hold cocktail utensils/ desk accessories. There was a third hippo but she was in bad shape so I left her behind. After buying these I went back to the car to check on the little girl and she was in the driver's seat... AGAIN!

It was getting close to the time that most businesses open so I needed to find a way to take her to the local no-kill animal shelter. The problem was that I didn't remember how to get there! The boy was on a bike-ride so I couldn't call him to tell him to look it up. Well, I did what any thrifter would do. I went to the local Goodwill and asked one of the ladies at the register. Luckily one of them knew where it was and I wasn't too far from it. Phew.

I arrived at the shelter and asked them to check her for a microchip. No Microchip. I then told them the story and they proceeded to tell me that they don't take dogs in until Tuesday. That is when she would be checked out by a Vet. and Behavioral Specialist. I start to panic because I never thought I'd be bringing her home with me. They ask me if I can keep her till then and I say yes even though I am trying to figure out how I am going to get away with it. (My apartment complex has a strict pet deposit and monthly pet rent.) What else was I supposed to do? Luckily they were more than willing to provide me with a pet kennel, dog food and a leash. Off she goes with me again, this time in the kennel.

I was on my way home when the boy called me and asked me what I was up to and where I was. How am I going to explain this one?! I tell him where I am and that I've picked up a dog. I heard the shock and disbelief in his voice when he asked "You did what?". I told him that I was on my way to the other no-kill shelter to see if they could take her and he breathed a sigh of relief. Turned out they didn't want to take her. Home we went. The boy was there as he had just gotten back from his bike ride. He saw that I didn't have the dog with me and asked if the shelter took her in. I told him that she was in the car. I grabbed a really quick snack because by that point I was starving. He walked down with me to take a look at her and I could tell that he liked her. She jumped all over him and gave him kisses. I briefly imagined the time when we would get one of our own. As a final resort I decided to drive by the area where I found her. A few kids were playing outside and I asked them if they recognized her. One of them said "yes, I think that's princess". He pointed me in the direction of her home and I knocked on the door. It turned out the owners didn't even know she was missing. They thanked me and I left. Meanwhile I was left wondering if I did the right thing. She was matted, she didn't have a microchip or collar, they didn't know she was missing and who knows if she is up to date with her shots. I tried to be positive and reasoned that she did seem like a happy little girl and that she was better off there than at the shelter.

Sorry about the doggy story but I haven't had a doggy in years and so I treasured those few chaotic hours with Princess. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

I ended up going back to the hoarder estate sale and brought home a rocker and ottoman set that was designed by Takeshi Nii in 1958. Since the chair was outside I had no idea of the smell that it had until I drove around with it. It was the 'my cats have done their business all over it' smell. I picked it up as a restoration project. I thought it just needed some deep cleaning and conditioning but boy is it turning out to be complicated. Some of the screws need to be replaced but I can't even find them online! I've taken the chair apart and scrubbed the canvas over and over and still can't manage to eliminate some of the stains. Does anyone have any suggestions? Does Oxyclean work miracles?

I also bought a HUGE painting and a couple of vintage suitcases. That's my queen headboard at the bottom for reference.

The blue and gray suitcase are the latest acquisitions. They are perfect for hoarding storing the goodies I bring home.

Would you have said no to this beautiful decanter? I really should have but I have high hopes for this baby.

That's it for this week. Now it's your turn and you can do so here if you haven't already:

DIY- Refinishing a Lane Side Table

When the boy and I first moved here to California I decided to tackle some furniture refinishing projects as a result of searching for inexpensive ways to furnish our home. It ended up becoming a little hobby of mine since applying to jobs and not getting any replies was becoming the norm. I had to get my satisfaction from somewhere plus it was a good way to expend some energy as well.

So let me introduce you to this baby. She is a vintage Lane step end table for the Perception line that was designed by Warren Church. As you can see she was not in the best shape. I was a little hesitant to tackle this project because I knew I had my work cut out for me.

I must admit that this project took much longer than expected. It was hard to get motivated when I would spend countless hours hand-sanding and I was not seeing great results.  But alas, I took a deep breath and finally finished her up. Here she is in her current glory:

 

The final product may not be everyone's cup of tea but it is mine. It may be the purist in me that likes to see the natural state of the different woods used. Originally these tables were stained and finished to have the same honey color throughout. As you can see above, the ends are capped off with a bull-nosed oak and the larger surface tops are walnut. I like seeing the contrasting wood colors. 

I have included my steps for those of you that would like to tackle a similar project. I would recommended doing this outdoors because of some of the fumes from the chemical stripper that I used. ( I am going to try out citri-strip for my next project.)

Materials (for pieces that are varnished, lacquered or shellacked) 
For your protection: safety goggles, chemical resistant rubber gloves, and a mask

Stripper/ Refinisher (I used Formby's Furniture Refinisher because my item was lacquered, but I am going to use Citri-Strip for my next project), abrasive pads (to apply refinisher/ stripper), sandpaper (varying grits depending on the level of damage to your piece), steel wool, rags, metal bowl/ pan, drop cloth, wood filler (if you have really deeps nicks/ scratches) , wood conditioner, time and elbow grease. I would also recommend a hand sander if you know your piece is solid wood throughout. 

I also want to say that I am by no means an expert nor has my process been perfected. It is a work in progress.

 

Ready to Start?

1. Lay out your drop cloth in your desired work area. Wipe your piece with a clean rag to remove dust and other small particles.Gather all of your working materials.
2. Put on your protective gear. Play some music ( that's how I like to work).
3. Pour 1-2 cups of Formby's refinisher into the metal pan. Dip your abrasive pad and squeeze out the excess.
4. Start rubbing the pad in a circular motion on your piece about the size of a dinner plate. After the finish is picked up by the pad, rinse it in the pan, and squeeze out the excess. Repeat this step in an overlapping adjacent area until you have done the whole piece. (This takes a while)
5. When you find that the pad isn't working like when you first started, replace it. If the liquid in the pan also gets too gunky, replace it with some more refinisher.
( I had to go over the piece a second time to remove the finish, hopefully you won't have to)
6. If all goes well, you should just need to buff your piece with a dry pad. If it goes like it did with mine you have countless hours of sanding ahead of you.
7. In retrospect, because of the damage to my piece I should have used a stripper because I was going to have to sand the piece down anyway. I had to use 100 grit sand paper for the oak edges and the walnut tops. There were deep scratches and nicks that I tried to even out. I also had to hand sand instead of using an electric sander because supposedly Lane used veneer for these pieces. I still don't know if that's true because I haven't sanded deep enough to find out. I also had to use some wood filler for some nicks that were very deep. Once I had sanded the whole piece down to my satisfaction with the rough grit sand paper, I had to work my way up to the finer grits. After I finished sanding, I used a wood conditioner containing natural beeswax to really bring the wood grain to life. Finishing a piece is a matter of personal preference. You can oil a piece, lacquer it, varnish it, wax it and do many other things.It's all up to you.

 

For those who would like to tackle smaller, yet still rewarding projects I would start by gathering any lightly tarnished silver or brass objects. I learned about this trick while thrifting. I overheard a conversation on homemade ways to clean and polish your silver.

We all know that there are plenty of polishing and cleaning products for metals but little did I know that you can also use products that you find at home. For my Dansk bunny that I thrifted here, I used an old toothbrush, toothpaste and a rag.

It is recommended that you use a basic non-gel toothpaste. One that does not have tartar control or whitening chemicals. Supposedly you can use a mixture of baking soda and water, but I didn't have baking soda. I don't bake unless it comes premixed in a box. Shameful, I know.

With a bit of brushing, rinsing and wiping here is the transformation. Not only does the bunny look great but he smells minty fresh too!

Here is to a productive Spring weekend!

Mid-Century Table

I purchased this side table from its original owner and restored it to make it look like it does above. Originally, it was much darker and the finished looked muddy. I enjoyed restoring it because I love working with my hands and this was a temporary outlet. Someday I will have my own studio/ workshop... someday