Showing posts with label shelves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shelves. Show all posts

Friday, 8 November 2013

A Scandinavian Sojourn

For a variety of favourable logistical reasons, we found ourselves on a flight to Gothenburg the other week, heading for a week of treasure-hunting.

The best time for hunting of course is summer, with the long days and plenty of barn sales (or 'loppis', as the Swedes refer to them) open for business.

From our base near Stenungsund, on the beautiful Bohuslän coast of Sweden, and despite it being the wrong end of summer (i.e. autumn!), we managed to plot a packed agenda of treasure-hunting. We revisited some of our favourite haunts, and found some fantastic new ones.

A rather picturesque lunch stop

The beautiful Bohuslän countryside

An industrial storeroom in Munkedal



The treasure that got away - not one for us!


A Swedish still-life study

Roaming the countryside definitely provided good hunting ground for treasure, but inspiration in the form of colours, design and graphics, also came in from a bit of sightseeing - both in Gothenburg and indeed the local supermarket...

Haga district, Gothenburg


He's SUCH a delightful object! (and sadly NOT for sale)


A bit of 'shabby chic', Gothenburg-style

'Fika' (coffee break) joint in Haga district, Gothenburg




Beautiful architecture in Gothenburg

Celebrating Scandi-cake style


One of many hundreds of 'pick 'n mix' offerings at the local supermarket

Those Swedes love their sweets

Vintage-style graphics

Some beautiful graphics on crispbread packaging

Within the space of five days, we accumulated chandeliers, desks, industrial side tables, rustic dining chairs, filing cabinets, vintage globes, dress mannequins, wooden children's toys, industrial anglepoise desklamps and a variety of vintage hooks and hat-racks.

Frenzied packing and organizing ensued - some of the items are already at LASSCO Ropewalk for sale (a vintage Scandinavian globe, a retro Danish chair), others are being prepared for sale at our Cornish workshop, and some of the larger items will be making their appearance on the shop floor next year.

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Globes, globes, globes (and a rather beautiful tambour-front cabinet)


At our logistics, um, depot/HQ

A giant abacus

A child's rocking horse


Saturday, 3 March 2012

An eclectic offering

A selection of our latest stock for your perusal...

We found this Scandinavian office chair on one of our trips to Sweden last year.


Dating from the 1950's, it is made of worked steel and moulded maple-veneered ply. A very stylish and practical piece of furniture, it swivels with an approximate 6 inch rise-and-fall, whilst the back-rest also swivels but with the added bonus of the angle of tilt being adjustable.


The metalwork has been lightly burnished, and then sealed with a clear wax.


A set of vintage, lightweight tubular steel sack wheels, dating from the early 20th century.


When we first saw these, covered in rust, we saw their potential in those brilliant red wheels with solid white tyres. After burnishing the metalwork, we sealed the metal frame with a clear wax.


We are always on the look-out for unusual items of stock, and this vintage poultry incubator certainly fits the bill.


Dating from the early part of the 20th century, possibly 1920's, 'The Hebditch' must have been the bees-knees of farmyard technology in its day. Entirely constructed out of pine, with brass hinges and fasteners, it was built to last.


We have slightly modified it to make it more practical for the home. It has been thoroughly cleaned, the original racks replaced with solid shelves, and an internal paint, now make it an attractive table/storage unit.



We've been working with our local blacksmith Wilfy Sleep to produce some new furniture inspired by some of our finds. This steel shelf-unit has been made-to-measure to utilize two original 1930's panels of black glass.


We then gave it a couple of coats of contrasting green paint to compliment the glass.


This coat rack uses some vintage schoolroom hooks, which we've mounted onto a fragment of a reclaimed packing case from the 1940's.


Some objects deserve to be described as works of art, no matter how common, practical, or mundane they may at first appear. This certainly applies to this beautiful set of Slazenger bowling balls from the 1920's/30's.


The 8 boxed balls are made of Lignum Vitae, one of the densest, hardest, woods in the world, and are separately numbered with dots of bone or ivory set into the wood surface.


The box that houses them bears the retailing mark of A.W. Gamage Ltd, a Victorian department store that once dominated Holborn, in London, until 1972.


A Deco-looking lamp made from a converted farmhouse Tilley Lamp. Dating from the 1930's, it still retains most of its original chrome plating, but some of the underlying brass has rubbed through after many years of use. It has been rewired and given a new shade.


Sunday, 12 February 2012

The Power of Patina

Patina - much sought after, impossible to reproduce.

We like our furniture to show evidence of its former lives. Frankly, the more flaky and battered that paintwork is, the better! Interior design fashions and tastes change, a much-loved piece of furniture is perhaps re-purposed and repainted - all this is reflected in these layers of paint. We like to preserve this history where we can, in most cases resisting a repaint and instead sealing the surface with a simple clear wax.


We are naturally drawn to country pine furniture retaining remnants of its original layers of external paintwork. This lovely two-door pine cupboard dates from around 1840, and appears to have had only three coats of paint over its 170 year lifetime.



We have repainted the interior 'Duck-Egg Blue' to compliment the pale cream exterior. The three deep shelves would be ideal for storing bed-linen or towels.



This elegant floor-standing pine cupboard retains not only some of its original external paint, but some internal as well. For such a basic and functional piece of furniture, this cupboard is beautifully proportioned.

 

 

This glazed cabinet pine dresser, dating from around 1900, was found in an old barn in Cornwall where it had been relegated to the position of 'paint tin/tool storage cabinet' by its owner.

 

We wanted to retain the fantastic original external paint, and it's 'distressed' state! We have given it a new lease of life with an interior repaint in delicious 'Georgian Green' and a simple wax to the exterior.

 

  

This early 19thC West Country kitchen dresser, c.1820, retains its original 'scumbled' paintwork finish, a popular technique employed during this period to mimic the woodgrain of more expensive, better quality wood, such as oak or walnut.

 

 

This large, 19th century pine cupboard is one of best, and largest, we've found. Needless to say, it has already sold, after only a month on the sales floor. A prime example of the power of patina!