Search result for: the-last-thing-you-aquired-
| # | Post Title | Result Info | Date | User | Forum |
| Not to change the subject | 1 Relevance | 13 years ago | NULL NULL | General discussion | |
| Not to change the subject I used to professionally design high-end audio both commercially and residentially. Before that, I was a professional sound engineer. When compact disc players first came out, Consumer Reports wrote ( I am paraphrasing) that cd players sounded better than vinyl, (When comparing comparable compact disc players with turntable/cartridge combinations across the board, that was not true) and that all cd players sounded the same (also a fallacy) so one should only purchase cd players based on features. Because of this evaluation by them, I stopped thinking of them as a reliable source for some things. I have been painting for over thirty years, and, the true measure of a really good paint is time. How well it performs over time. It took a few months before my friend couldn't pry her ram's head away from the Behr paint. The sad thing is, she didn't position it in the optimum place and it is now very crookedly stuck in place. But this could be the problem with most, if not all, latex/acrylic latex paints. I am not saying that latex et al is bad for trim. I just question it for mantel tops, shelves, and tops of furniture on which items will be placed for periods of time. Also, my issue was more with the Bin shellac primer and brush strokes. | |||||
| placement of speakers in living room? | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | Fungus Mungus (USA) | General discussion | |
| I think I just about have my living room set up to my liking. I have decided not to put a TV in that room, but I still need some kind of sound system. I've attached a crude image of the room as it is now. I am thinking of getting a pair of Audioengine 5 bookshelf speakers...see the link. I like these because the sound is supposed to be very good for a bookshelf system, it allows you to plug in your MP3 player (no iPod dock, but I can use my stock dock with it), and it allows for an airport express to be plugged into the back, so I can stream audio from my computer upstairs. I also wanted separate speakers for superior stereo separation. The question is where to set them in the living room? Should I put up wall shelves for the speakers, say on either side of the sofa? Should I find some kind of stand to put them on? I certainly don't want them on the floor, but I've got this nice mid-century thing going on in the living room and I hate to destroy it with non-matching speakers. On the other hand, I don't want crap speakers that look good either. fm http://audioengineusa.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=76&osCsid=f51ac1e94c1345424d6e1c803897a81 | |||||
| passion or profit | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | dadaman | General discussion | |
| passion or profit Just discovered this thread and have been enraptured by the stories of amazing discoveries which mostly seem to be a result of people not knowing what they really have. I have also been dismayed to read that people are often selling these treasures on for a quick buck. I would class these individuals as speculators not collectors. What's the difference in that and the stock market? I have found some real design treasures in London - which seems to be just about the hardest place on earth to find a real bargain because everyone is so clued up about design these days, (and I'll gladly list them if anybody out there is still interested - or is this a dead thread?) but here's the thing, because of the way these treasures were found they assume far more importance in my life than some of the pieces I have bought at a far more realistic price from dealers or ebay and such like. Like the eames upholstered blue/grey side shell that I found in the local tip in West London, after I had had an argument with my wife about wanting to buy a bikini shell on ebay - I spent the rest of the afternoon sponging out smelly dog hair and stains but it came out like new and sitting on a spanking chromed stacking base with narrow shocks, I'll never sell that chair, ever. more next time.... | |||||
| More thoughts... | 1 Relevance | 22 years ago | Olive | General discussion | |
| More thoughts... Ya know, Robvolz, I was just thinking that your Walmart analogy is really quite apt. We all know the biz-practices that W-Mart uses and the level of quality for which it is known. It's crap, but it's easily accessible crap. No real thinking or awareness is required pre-purchase for anything in the place. Just go get your groceries, ammo and a case of Coors Light. Apply this to design and you get a group of consumers who say 'this looks pretty good and it's affordable so I'll take it home'. It may be a Noguchi table knock-off that's been so badly done that it's now standard coffee table height and completely dishonors the japanese floor-sitting intent of the original design. But Joe Schmo doesn't know this or care. He just stopped at a local discount furniture center on his way home from Walmart. Then you have folks like us. We care that a piece is well-made and faithful to an original design. We have read, researched and shopped around. We have used our brains. We have taken responsibility for our comsumer behavior and we have opted to 'do it right'. So, therefore, we come across a well-known, well-respected furniture manufacturer who demonstrates claims to the original design and, to their credit, reproduces the pieces faithfully and with a high level of quality. We go for it, it seems the right thing to do... | |||||
| Otto | 1 Relevance | 14 years ago | tick | General discussion | |
| Otto I have seen the Otto and I must say that it looks like the designers have improved the design of the old Atomic machine. Stainless steel is a must, as far as I am concerned, as it is easy to clean and doesn't taint the flavour of the coffee. I think it is also made in Australia, which is a nice change. It's sturdy and looks great but the main thing to consider is whether or not you want to use a stovetop to froth milk, as it can sometimes be a bit difficult to maintain steam pressure. I was considering the Otto but in the end went for a Rancilio Miss Silvia machine simply because it is easier to use, has loads of steam pressure, and makes a great coffee. I don't have milk in my coffee, so I use a basic stainless steel stovetop for my morning espresso and the machine for when friends come over and I need to make a lot of latte's fast. All depends on how you plan to use the machine. If it's just for you or two people, the Otto will do the trick. No matter which machine you choose, it takes time to learn the ropes and figure out the grind and time required to produce a great cup. I discovered that getting the grind right is key to a great cup, so you might want to consider buying a grinder too. Also there is nothing quite like the smell of freshly ground coffee to start the day. Cheers, Tick. | |||||
| Coffee Maker Dilemma | 1 Relevance | 18 years ago | crankyd | General discussion | |
| After 16 years of faithful service, my 10-cup Krups drip coffee maker has finally brewed its last cup. Now that i'm out shopping for a new one , i'm appalled that coffee makers, too, are infected by the plague of overly-complicated, useless design. Virtually EVERYTHING out there seems to have an LCD or LED clock/programming/standby light feature that will constantly suck electricity (nevermind that the digits are so tiny that they're virtually unreadable). My old Krups had ONE tiny light that was only on when the machine was operating. Other than that, i could leave it plugged in all day without any power being consumed. So far i've only found one, but the design seems a bit tragically sleek-o for me: http://www1.bloomingdales.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=111191&CategoryID=8173&PageID=8173*1*24*-1*-1*5 Plus, its a bit too tall and the indicator light is a bit too hidden to quickly check that the thing has been turned off (as i'm running out the door, late for work as usual). I've already got a French Press and i've found that i really do prefer the electric drip machine. Any ideas out there for a decent electric drip machine ? Or am i just being a cantankerous, curmudgeonly coot? Oh, and i'm in the U.S. so it has to be available/work here. | |||||
| There are fakes and there... | 1 Relevance | 16 years ago | Cloudburst2000 | General discussion | |
| There are fakes and there... There are fakes and there are knock-offs. There is a difference. A fake is a product that is being sold as something other than what it is whether it be furniture, purses, shoes, etc. An example would be someone selling a Burke pedastal table as a Sarineen or someone selling copies of Burberry purses as the original thing. A knock-off is a product designed after another product but not trying to sell itself as the product it is designed after. For example, selling a Burke pedastal table as a Burke table is not a selling a fake. The person is making sure that the person knows it is not an original Sarineen but a knock-off. Personally, I saved my money for the original tulip table, but they are alot more expensive and someone on an extremely tight budget might go for the Burke. Not everyone can afford an authentic Sarineen table. Does that mean that they should just give up hope of ever having any mid-century modern furniture? I think people should buy what they can afford. I don't want to see people collapsing into debt to buy furniture they can't afford because someone else has made them feel scum for buying a knock-off. | |||||
| I've almost | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | SDR | General discussion | |
| I've almost got HP's drift but not quite. The idea is to provide a surface surrounding the actual workpiece (backrest) at the level of the face being veneered, so the overhang of the veneer is not bent by bag pressure ? It seems to me you'd make a bed of damp sand and place the backrest (first protecting the opposite face with a layer of rubber cement or something else removable, to prevent moisture damage) into the sand, pressing it in and molding the sand to the level of the face of the backrest all around. Then apply glue and mold the slightly dampened (?) veneer to the area and vacuum bag the whole thing. Tricky but doable. Did I follow your lead at all, HP ? Another way (something a repeat repairer of these parts would make, perhaps) is a hard device that provides the same effect: a form-fitting fixture that the part would sit in, with an extension surface all around that would be waxed to prevent adhesion of glue. What would we do without the vacuum bag ? I tried in vain to get my last employer to invest in one, especially when we got a warped front door with complex back surface that had to be re-veneered. He didn't "get it" and I had to devise a complex, cumbersome and marginally effective clamping method to accomplish the job. | |||||
| Vintage tulip tables | 1 Relevance | 16 years ago | Pegboard Modern | General discussion | |
| Vintage tulip tables ...were coated in rilsan which generally has a satin finish. It does mellow with age and that softer patina and eggshell color is cherished by a lot of collectors. I don't know how they are finishing current production tulip tables, but to my eye they are far too glossy and bright, cool white, and they have a plastic look to me. If your table base is in excellent condition (no chips or loss to the edge), you are very fortunate and I'd encourage you not to paint it at all. There are environmental factors that can cause it to yellow. Smoke, like Barry said, is a common culprit. You might want to try cleaning it with some common household cleaners if you want it to not look as yellow. I've used Scrubbing Bubbles and Soft Scrub with good results. Soft Scrub usually has some bleach in it, and is mildly abrasive so I'd go easy on it, and try an inconspicuous area like under the top before doing the whole thing. It's also easier to control than dupluted bleach. Diluted bleach as well for that matter 😉 Oh, and all of this assumes that the base was supposed to be white in the first place. Knoll actually made Saarinen pieces with a very soft, light gray colored rilsan and also an ecru or tan color ( as well as black, of course) by special order. | |||||
| How we do suffer for our art. | 1 Relevance | 22 years ago | deedee9:14 | General discussion | |
| How we do suffer for our art. I had to experience once of these first hand recently. "Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others." I discovered that two artists recently stole my web site design. While they swapped out the images with their own logos and paintings, the silly buggers forgot to remove info embedded in the code such as my personal meta tags, tracking data, and server side generated info that clearly identified it as my site. I am not one to sit around and let my work be ripped off. I've been a professional web designer for too many years and I've long surpassed the days of seeing my work being ripped off and finding it flattering. It wouldn't have even been such a big deal had they removed the elements that said it was mine, but that was just plain laziness. The thing that peeved me the most was seeing them use my name to steal my web traffic. Searches for me were directing people to their sites! When confronted, one of the persons merely said they'd be happy to give me credit as a designer but they weren't going to take their site down. Ahem. Needless to say both parties were promptly slapped with lawsuits which showed blatant evidence of their theft. I won. Damages as well as the complete dismantling of their sites. Pity more designers and artists alike can't find such restitution. | |||||
| Eames Experts! Is this a real Eames chair. Part 1 | 1 Relevance | 16 years ago | schef MCM | General discussion | |
| (read this story)(check out pics)..(DWR and I believe the chair is authentic, but we need help...send thoughts)This is the most confusing thing yet. I am an Eames enthusiast, I know Pretty much everything about the 670/671 and all of there other chairs. I recently Drove to Maryland From Boston MA to pick up a Herman Miller Eames Lounge Chair. When I arrived i noticed that there where no labels on the chair, but everything looked perfect, the feet pads where the right size, the arms, the leather...you get it. So I decided after 8 hours of driving I had to take it. When i got home i found that the shaft from the spider broke off in the base and it was swiveling in the spider base metal to metal....NOT GOOD.I contacted herman miller and they had never seen anything like this so they sent me a new base... they were exact in size and everything fit well, there where a few things that were a little different though which made me start to think if it was a real herman miller or not... take a look at these, the one on the right is an Authentic Eames spider, the left is mine(the one on the chair): But in this pic they are exactly the same from the top so I decided to take apart the whole chair here are the pics of it without the Cushions and some pics of the cushions off.... Uploaded with ImageShack.us In the Next pic it is showing that the foam on the base cushion is doubled just like the authentic 670s foam is, i dont know of any fakes with this. | |||||
| CH24 or not... | 1 Relevance | 15 years ago | Clint | General discussion | |
| Hello, I have searched to find some difinitive things to look for when trying to identify whether These chairs I picked up at a Palm Springs estate sale are the real deal or not. I picked them up together with a table base and shelving unit that are late 1970's Danish pieces. They have a Carl Hansen sticker underneath, but I dont know how the stickers have changed over the years, or if they ever have. There are also some penciled marks on them to identify a craftsman perhaps? The only other thing I have found is measurements and a solid wood backrest, which all seem to check out. I will post some images later this morning. Thanks for your help! Clint | |||||
| I'm kind of leery of buying | 1 Relevance | 10 years ago | Spanky | General discussion | |
| I'm kind of leery of buying this kind of thing on Amazon because who knows what they're comparing it to when they say it's firm, or whatever. It's all so relative. Look at foamorder.com's breakdown of the different foams they sell---way more information! http://www.foamorder.com/upholstery-foam.php#rebond I don't know that you need their most dense foam, since it's only 1" thick and it's going over springs, but at least you'll have more choices. They used to have a description of how density and resilience are measured ---might still, I haven't looked since they redid the site. I would seriously consider their latex foam mattress topper in the softest density, though---you don't want your back cushion to end up feeling as firm (or firmer!) than the seat. If you use exactly the same density material in seat and back cushion, the back will always feel too firm (or the seat too soft, either way). Since your seat foam is kind of an unknown, and the back springs are kind of an unknown too, I'd err on the side of soft. Even soft latex will hold up better than urethane foam over time. http://www.foamorder.com/latex-mattress-topper.html You can get away with a twin size since it's only the back cushion. | |||||
| cont. | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | koen | General discussion | |
| cont. He then refines the detail by using the length of the leg to position the low end of the grip in the doors making a well balanced "Z" with the leg the horizontal part of the box outside the leg and that part of the frame that ends visually under the grip. Looking for self evident solutions more than for elegance he also decides to avoid such sophistication as 45 degree joints in the panels of the box. In traditional woodworker's tradition he continues the horizontal panels and put the vertical ones in between, no high flying joinery there. The woven structure of the doors is intriging. I suspect that he uses the "natural" look of thet weaving for two reasons. The first one is that it tends to make surfaces homogeneous. A typical wooden texture in a large surface like that would have a life of it's own. It is obvious that Wegner find this a distraction. The woven structure is also a relatively simple added value. It adds a "Craft" aspect to it that brings this very rational piece of furniture back into the "handmade" sphere of things. Yes the whole thing looks self-evident and consistant with Wegner's vision of good craftmanship, down to earth and simple beauty...he just has a very sophisticated way to achieve it. I hope you understand that I will put as much thought in your garlic baker.... | |||||
| Londonboy you've been misinformed. | 1 Relevance | 17 years ago | Modern Love | General discussion | |
| Londonboy you've been misinformed. "....would possibly even be a side-shell, something that Zenith Plastics never made." Sorry, but with respect, that is just NOT true. It is a well known and documented fact that Zenith Plastics made side-shells. Plenty of them. To quote the book Eames Design (Neuhart, Eames, page 142): "1950-1953 Plastic Side Chair After the successful adaptation of the stamped metal armchair to plastic, the metal side chair submitted to the "Low-Cost Furniture" competition was developed by the Eames Office for production by Zenith Plastics." Also watch this film (link below) by the Eames Office about the making of fiberglass chairs. You will see many many many sideshells. But the most important thing is the credits at 8.34: "With appreciation to Century Plastics" To quote the book Charles and Ray Eames (Kirkham, Eames, page 234): "Zenith Plastics (now Century Plastics) of Gardena, California, which had used fiberglass during the war, worked in conjunction with the Eameses and with Herman Miller Furniture Company on the new project" | |||||
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