Search result for: the-last-thing-you-aquired-
| # | Post Title | Result Info | Date | User | Forum |
| I'm with glassartist | 1 Relevance | 13 years ago | M_Dennis87 | General discussion | |
| I'm with glassartist If you insist on doing this yourself, first things first, this piece likely doesn't even have varnish on it, but rather an oiled / rubbed finish. Secondly, always read the ingredients of the products you use. Lastly, I do think you can clean it up nicely...with time. First go buy yourself some odorless mineral spirits, #3 steel wool, 100% PURE tung oil, rags, and #000 steel wool. Oh an probably an entire weekend, maybe make it a 3-day weekend because this is going to be way more involved than you thought... Take the whole thing apart, doors, hardware etc. You can clean / lightly strip the finish using the mineral spirits and #3 steel wool. When it is fully dry, the wood should look very pale and dry but you don't want to see any blotching or discoloration in the wood. If there are any scratches, they you can lightly sand (w/ a sanding block) with 220 grit sandpaper, but be sure not to go through the veneer. Your main goal here is to just make it look better because some of those scratches on the doors look too deep to completely repair without causing irreparable damage. I typically like to lightly sand the entire piece with the 220 and clean with a 50/50 blend of rubbing alcohol and water (in a spray bottle) before applying the oil. The alcohol / water blend will also mimic what the wood will look like with the oil applied and will highlight any imperfections that may need to be addressed. Once the wood is completely dry, you can flood the surface with the Tung Oil. 100% oil is basically a wipe on wipe off process, usually requiring a couple wipe offs as the wood absorbs the oil. You can finish the wood by lightly rubbing it with #000 steel wool (always rub sand paper / steel wool with the grain). Good Luck... | |||||
| Green Light...part two | 1 Relevance | 20 years ago | Olive | General discussion | |
| Green Light...part two 1. Use CFLs for lights that will be on for long periods of time. 2. Use low wattage incandescents for lights that will be turned off and on frequently. It's a fallacy that the on/off cycle creates a power surge. 3. If the color of the CFL is causing a problem for you consider changing the lamp or lamp shade to one that has a warm tone to do the 'GE Reveal' concept. I've done that using IKEA paper lamps and the yellowish rice paper works very well to temper the CFL. Oh and IKEA's CFLs are great. They are OEM'd from Osram according to another DA-er, Gerrit.be I think it was. The thing I like about them is that they have a 'normal' bulb shape. 4. remember your father/mother yelling at you to turn off the @#%*&% light/stereo/computer? Do it! The more you turn off the more you'll save. 5. Try to turn off anything that has a time/clock/LED on it. Anything that glows when the appliance is supposedly 'off' is using power. Things like DVD players, battery chargers, transformers. If you're not using it unplug it. In the renewable energy trade these devices are called 'vampires' cuz they are sapping power when you're not looking. 6. Go buy a switched power strip with multiple outlets. Plug all of your charger doohickeys in it. Cell phone, iPOD, bluetooth headset, electric razor etc. Turn the power strip on only when you need to charge something and try to charge several things at a time. Then turn off the strip. Now all those 'vampire' chargers are truly off and not sucking power. 7. Don't run out and buy LEB bulbs yet, the technology is not really consumer friendly yet. They're expensive and the overall intensity is low since LED spotlight instead of broadcast it. One exception is some of the small task/desk lamps that use multiple LEDs grouped in a row. tey are pricey too, though. OK, that's all I can think of for now. | |||||
| Just saw this... | 1 Relevance | 22 years ago | Olive | General discussion | |
| Just saw this... Sorry Jessica, I've not been keeping up with my Forum reading of late. Black leather sofas can be a tough one to integrate well into a room, they can negate space like nobody's business. Therefore, all other elements on a room must pay homage to the big black thing or the room looks unbalanced, especially if the room is small or oddly shaped. So. First off, you should not base the color you select on the tones of the woods or on the black sofa. You should base your selection on what you like. Take cues from your wardrobe, the rest of your house, your car...whatever. But select a color that you really enjoy. I'll pick green as an example since it's my favorite color. Now that we have a color we look at the room. Is the light coming into the room from a particular direction, N/S/E/W? East ligh is very soft and likes soft tones to bounce off of. If the light is from the North it will be diffuse and tend be bluer due to atmospheric diffraction. South and West light are brightest and let you play with stronger tones in a room. Next, when is the room used? All day long, mostly morning mostly evening, What? If it's a night time room you can deepen the shades, if morning or all day then choose lighter or mid-range. And finally, how do you want to feel in the room? Engergized? Mellowed out? Romantic? Hungry? Sleepy? The clarity of a color's hue greatly affect these moods, softer, birghter greyer shades give you very different feelings. So let's say the room is a basic rectangle with Northwestern light and you use it mostly in the evening to watch TV and the TV is on the opposing wall from the sofa. If the TV is in a cabinet that balances out the mass of the sofa, then you're off to a good start. If not you might consider that the wall the TV is on gets painted an accent color to establish a focal point. | |||||
| Karl Springer | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | LRF | General discussion | |
| Karl Springer I think Karl Springer gets so abused on 1 st dibs it is sad . The poor guy is spinning in his grave and being pissed off. I am the proud owner of 3 Karl Springer lamps that i have had for a long time , I check ebay on a daily check to see if any cool lucite lamps pop up cause i love looking for cool lamps. These jerks and that is what these a people are, are buying Lucite lamps for 75 to 225 for a set putting them on 1st dibs and telling the world that these are Karl Springers, and asking 5000 grand for the pair. Now I know what Karl did in the 70's and 80's He died in 1990 at the age of 60 of AIDS he was a good designer and did the high fashion apts and did three in my building when i lived in the New York city on CPW from 1979 to 1989 Karl never manufactured a thing in his life , he was truly the designer to stars at the time, He would have stuff made up for people in workshops around the city, He was not George Nelson, Milo Baughman,Mies, Valdime Kagan, He was a DESIGNER and a good one like Billy Haines, or Robbsjohn Gibbons , for his time, he was not in the manufacturing buiness like knoll. He loved cocktail tables and sideboard and was crazy about haveing them done in exotic skins. I have one of his tables . This guy is not here to defend himself and say i never made anything that ugly or saying copying a piece of my furniture is the sincerest form of flattery . This is what really started getting me so pissed off with first dibs casue these guys/gals were listing anything that they thought the public would think was Karl Springer and telling innocent dimwits that " This is a original Karl Springer" I hope now you see why i like to be the one to post the 1st dibs rip of the week. | |||||
| Possible Ilmari Tapiovaara Bench & Cleaning Tips | 1 Relevance | 13 years ago | minimalman | General discussion | |
| Hello Addicts, Stumbled across a misidentified piece for what I believe is an Ilmari Tapiovaara Bench for Edsby-Verken at a small thrift/antiques shop. Everything looks correct (dimensions, spindles, etc.) and the only real pertinent information I've stumbled across online is here at Deconet: http://www.deconet.com/decopedia/template/seating/benches/Bench-by-Ilmari-Tapiovaara-id-132912 It doesn't look like the piece is produced anymore nor for sale anywhere. Kind of tough to really track down and correctly identify because it doesn't seem as known or is in any photos showing his collection of pieces. I believe it's related to his Fanett Chair with the molded seat edge. Unfortunately, this particular piece isn't listed at Artek either or attributed to him... http://www.artek.fi/company/designers/40 I think I'm right according to Deconet but would love further confirmation. Lastly, you can see how they've performed a lovely turquoise stain and wax on the thing. Ugh. Any suggestions for cleaning that up or is it more of a professional job? Thank you all. Cheers. | |||||
| DM escaped post modernism more intact... | 1 Relevance | 21 years ago | dcwilson | General discussion | |
| DM escaped post modernism more intact... than did what you call case study modernism (Eames, Mies, Saarinen, etc.) Post modernists like Venturi found case study modernism lacking in complexity and contradiction, especially contradiction. They hung their ornaments on case study modernism to get away from some of the sterility and humorlessness of case study modernism. They tended not to do this sort of thing to DM. Why? IMHO it was because Danish Modernism's Frank Lloyd Wrightish warmth of materials made it less sterile and more earthy. In turn the conceit of post modernism (sincerely ironic counterpoint to case study modernism's humorless sterility) didn't make its counterpoint as keenly with Danish Modern. Likewise, retro modernists seeking to get back to cleaner lines and forms and less counterpoint have gotten back more to case study modernism than they have to Danish Modern. As a result, one can look at Danish Modern with a lot less theorectical abstractions (epistemic pollution?) filtering ones appreciation of Danish Modern than one can with case study modern. Hence, Danish Modern cruises along in our senses as it always has tended to do: it is rational, subtlely pleasing, tasteful, sometimes a little too severe but always redeemed from being crucified on its own ideological abstraction by its warm, soft woods and earthy fabrics, hides and colors. Part of me dreads the next brilliant designer who figures out how to invert Danish Modernism for the sake of counterpoint. I kind of like that it has avoided being a reference point for anything but itself. Of course maybe there is a bunch of riffing off Danish Modern going on in the design world that I just don't know about. Post Danish Modernism anyone? | |||||
| thomast, I agree that the... | 1 Relevance | 18 years ago | Gustaf | General discussion | |
| thomast, I agree that the... thomast, I agree that the PK line is overpriced, though probably not much more so than many other classics. The PK collection needs a lot of manual work to get the finish required by PK. You also have to factor in the labor cost as these are made in Denmark, while most cheap replicas are made in China or some other low wage country. Despite this price difference, my answer is still 'yes', I think it is worth paying that much more money for FH, even if it is well over what I could or would pay. One reason is the opportunity cost of buying replicas or knock-offs, something that I think often gets overlooked by people trying to rationalise their purchases. While a share of Fritz Hansen's profits is used to reward its top management and shareholders, other parts go to research and development so that new designers can have their furniture made. If you devote some time to study the history of furniture making, you will find that it is full of examples of ventures that would never have been possible without considerable investment in developing the skills, materials and equipment needed to put a new product on the market. Increasingly, responsible manufacturers also find that they need and want to invest in manufacturing methods that are good for the environment and their employees. Where do you think the money for all this comes from? Conversely, most companies churning out replicas or knock-offs are interested in one thing only: profit. They cut all possible corners to achieve their goals. And if you seriously believe that their executives do not "drive around in huge expensive cars and live in houses bigger than you would dream of" then you are the biggest fool of all. But when you go ahead with your purchase, as you seem intent on doing, at least spare a thought to those paying 17 times more so that you can bring home a cheap replica. If they didn't, there would be nothing to replicate. Edit: Typos. | |||||
| Eames Chair combo | 1 Relevance | 12 years ago | rogerdunn | General discussion | |
| Hello, first time poster. Just wanted to get the members opinions on which Eames molded plastic chairs should i get for my dining table.I ordered the Herman Miller Eames chairs in white with chrome legs, but after pairing it up with my Crate & Barrell Galvin table (has galvanized steel top), it looked off a little bit. I own an imitation Eames patch work end chairs as shown in the photo, and i am planning on replacing that with a HM orange/red end chair (which takes about 6-8 weeks to order). The second photo is a quick photo shop of what the orange chair would look like with steel legs. So here's my design delima. I would like to keep the orange/red end chairs with chrome legs, but would like replace the side chairs with white and dark walnut wood legs instead of the chrome. What do you guys think? is this a good combo or should i stick with all chrome legs?Oh and another thing, the table fits 8 chairs, but 6 is more comfortable. Should i get 2 more white side chairs or keep the current count of 6.thanks again.Roger | |||||
| pt2 | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | dcwilson | General discussion | |
| pt2 This sounds like mastering the obvious, but it is actually a very powerful (and assumed) first principle of deductive logic that allows us to make a lot of fairly reliable estimates about what human beings will do regarding pricing real estate. Of course in real estate, there can be no two totally identical properties, because no two properties can occupy exactly the same location. So appraisers try to find sales of the most comparable properties they can and "adjust" them for price differences that their comparable sales suggest exist. For the sake of discussion, let's say sales price per square foot might indicate that people pay about the same price per square foot for all comparable collectible house sales that are with in a few hundred total square feet of floor area in size. This suggests that buyers are buying Wright houses, more than the specifics of any particular Wright house. So, an appraiser might estimate that the price of the property being appraised is the same price/square foot as the comparable sales, because the size of the property being appraised is within the range of the sizes of the house sales surveyed. The principle of substitution is assumed to be at work both in the minds of the buyers and is in fact used in the method of the appraiser. And if you stop and think about how you make buying choices, it is hard to say you do not at least compare properties and would substitute an equivalent one with another for approximately the same price. One always compares one thing with another in buying. Even if one says: this Wright house is utterly unique even among Wright houses, then you are saying I am trying to substitute and can't find anything to substitute to make it make sense. | |||||
| Simplymod listed one of these | 1 Relevance | 11 years ago | leif ericson - Zephyr Renner | General discussion | |
| Simplymod listed one of these on ebay, and posted his documentation along with it. The Illums Bolighus shows it uncredited. But he also shows an Anton Dam (?) that credits it to "Magnus Olesen." Perhaps I was too harsh with Simplymod up above. But it would have been nice if he had posted this documentation here for us to see. I suspect that the Magnus Olesen credited there is not the Magnus Olesen of the company by the same name. Owners of companies often designed for themselves. Witness Helge Sibast, or the entertaining example of Aage Pedersen for Getama, N.O. Møller. But they were always designing for their own company. And in certain cases, it is uncertain whether the design was "designed" by the owner of the company, or if it was an "in-house" design, copyrighted by the company, but drafted by an independent, and often, well-known designer. In short, if this this would be the first documented example I have seen of the owner of one company designing for another. And I am pretty sure the evidence at hand is well short of precedent setting. Denmark is also famous for many people sharing the same name. I would also think that the owner of another company drafting designs for Brdr. Dalsgaard would be memorable enough that the family would not have forgotten. Alternatively, it might just be a typo in the Anton Dam. There always has to be an allowance for that sort of thing. Perhaps, DrPoulet, you should ask the son if the name "Magnus Olesen" rings any bells as the designer? | |||||
| Part 2 | 1 Relevance | 20 years ago | dcwilson | General discussion | |
| Part 2 He drops a rotund, electric coolaid acid test blue building in the middle of it. Old Los Angelenos bitched and moaned (and still do) but for me (and others) it is something that bouys my spirits and orients me spatially within the seemingly infinite continuum of two story LA. Its the only building in LA, and one of the few in the world, that evey time I drive by it, I have to resist the urge to park my car, jump out and run over and touch it. I'm serious. I actually have gotten out of my car a couple of times just to run over and lay my hands on it. Its not like Il Duomo in Florence where you have to touch the scaredness. Its that you have to confirm that the Blue Whale is not one of Hollywood's illusion. Laying on of hands is the only thing that can donfirm its reality to me. Am I the only person who has to touch amazing buildings with his hands to come to grips with them? I think not Well, I hope not. The Blue Whale is incongruous in a most wonderful and edifying way. So much modernist architecture tried to jar one's sensibility through juxtaposition, but the jarring was not ultimately pleasant nor optimistic. Pelli, more than any other nonlocal architect embodied the playfully hallucinogenic quality of LA's dreamy quality. Not all dreams are nightmares. Most dreams are kind of sanguine. They just occassionally have amiably absurd events or things in them. The Blue Whale is like that. No matter how many times I drive by it, it is like something out of a dream. Bluer than blue. Rotund. Out of scale and all proportion. And yet, as in a good dream, it does not worry me. Its just inexplicably and wonderfully there. Its a helluva first act as they say in Hollywood, but script files are full of good first acts with nothing to follow. The green building near by is like a lot of second acts. It doesn't get much respect. It is work man like. Its job is to bridge the first and third acts. To fill out the plot. To keep'em in their seats for the third act. | |||||
| Here's another example of... | 1 Relevance | 19 years ago | finch | General discussion | |
| Here's another example of... Here's another example of real vs crap Many people are buying flat screen LCD TV's these days. Many stores carry "no name" genetic TVs that look as good as the big names brands, but are priced 1/3 to 1/2 less...I was in the market for a 32" LCD flat screen TV and i hated the idea of spending so much money for a Sony or Panasonic, but then again, I didn't want to buy a lower end model that looks goods but won't last very long... TVs are one of those appliances that straddle the line dividing durable goods and disposable goods these days. Save your money and wait for green lasers to reach production stage. Then you can project large, hi-def images onto your wall with a device the size of a modern day cell phone, meaning then no big black boxes on the wall. When it comes to, say, the Womb chair, Knoll isn't just selling something pretty. They're selling Saarinen's design and years of study on how to manufacturer the piece properly. Even with the demand to change the fibreglass material to an envirnomentally sound plastic shell, the current Knoll chair is MUCH more likely to stand up to use than the knockoffs... Will they? Are there the equivalent of crashtest scores for this sort of thing? Too many variables at play to say for sure, in every single instance, that this is true. And again, if there is one single instance, it's enough to arouse some skepticism re the prices of the Real McCoy. I'd stick to the real McCoy's when it comes to furniture... Generally speaking, agreed. You can cheat by buying knockoff wall art, but don't skimp on getting high quality furniture for your home... Disagree. Quality is not absolute? | |||||
| Eames Lounge Shockmount Removal DIY guide | 1 Relevance | 8 years ago | danielali | Repair | |
| This is my second vintage Eames Lounge chair that I am restoring. The first one being a 1978 Herman Miller production, the shocks on that were pretty brittle and came off easily with only a little bit of nudging. This time around I was working on a 1985 production and only one of the shocks came off by itself. The rest were either stuck in place or at some point been reglued and even drilled into and screwed in place. One particular shock mount was in a precarious position where there had been previous damage to the 'ear' and a crack was evident in the veneer. I was particularly concerned about removing that one so as to not fracture the backing further. But using the method outlined below I was able to take all of them off without any issue. Most of this guide is based on knowledge that I gained from this forum itself. In addition I used a 'Shock Adhesive Remover' that I had sitting around from my previous repair. I had bought it from Modern Conscience. The bottle says it is a debonding agent for cyanoacrylate but it worked well on what appeared to be black (2 part) epoxy of some sort. I am certain that at least one of the mount still had the original factory adhesive. The adhesive remover definitely made the epoxy 'melt' within a few seconds, and you can feel it turning from brittle and crystalized to almost gooey in texture. You can see in the photos too, how it has stuck on to my putty knife after being affected by the adhesive remover. Thing you will need: 1) Hair Dryer 2) Shockmount Adhesive Remover 3) Exacto knife or box cutter 4) Putty knife Time required: 30 minutes per mount Method: My approach was to use a hair dryer at the highest setting and focus the heat on to the edges of the shock mount for a few minutes. Be careful as the shock mount and the frame would be hot to touch at this point. After heating the area well, I used the Shockmount Adhesive remover and applied it along the edges of the shock mount. All the way around and let it sit for a few minutes. Next I took the box cutter and using the sharp blade I pressed in between the shock mount and the veneer, begin careful as to not cut into the veneer. Just gently trying to form a gap in between the shock and the veneer right where the glue layer is. Since the glue would be already malleable due to the above steps, you'll find it easy to create this gap for the next step. Using the blade carefully cut into the edge of the shock mount all the way around as pictured. Now for the hard part. Using the putty knife approach the shock from the side as pictured. Wedge it in between the shock and the veneer. Once you've done that start applying consistent yet careful pressure to have it move forward. You will find a clockwise/counter clockwise motion would be the most affective when you do this. Slowly wedge the putty knife further and further. You will feel it cutting through the epoxy. At this point, depending on how strongly the shock is attached, you may need to re apply the adhesive remover and let it soak through in to the wedge OR even use the blow dryer to heat the area a bit more. At one point I was stuck and the putty knife wouldn't go any further and I used a gentle tap to the handle of the wedged putty knife to force it further and thereafter continued with the clockwise/counter clock wise method. With all that being said, just remember to be patient and not be too forceful. Once that putty knife gets wedged in between it is only a matter of time that the thing will come off. Also, resist the urge to snap the shock off by hand when your putty knife has reached the other end of the mount. This can result in the veneer being pulled away with the glue, damaging your chair. Just be patient and let the putty knife cut through all the way and the shock will come off. As apprehensive and concerned that I was with the one particular shock glued on the 'broken ear', I have to admit that this method worked for me on that area too. I am attaching a photo so you can see. This was just my experience and I thought I share it with you guys, hope it helps someone out who is setting out to do it for the first time. | |||||
| Knoll Saarinen Tulip Table - Authentic or Fake? Please help? | 1 Relevance | 1 year ago | Jaeyong | Identification | |
| I’ve purchase this Tulip Table by Knoll (Eero Saarinen - 137cm, Sahara Noir Marble table top ) second hand and have Found things on the table that are unusual compared to tables I’ve seen online. Normally, there should be only 2 “layers” only (Table top and base). But with mine, there are three (3) “layers” of the table from table top to pedestrial base. And this is how it looks like with my table: A) Metal Base with a wooden panel/plate and three screws. B) Middle plate almost as big as the diameter size of the table top. Made of dark wood. This middle plate/panel also has two bolt holts that I cannot identify what it is for. The bolts also has threads inside. C) Table top which is the Sahara Noir marble. But it has a sticky mesh on the bottom of the table top. I have more pictures but can only upload 1 it seems. 🙁 Based on what I’ve found, these are my questions. (1) Generally asking, is this table real? (2) I’ve never seen a “middle plate” between marble top and base, which is also almost as big as the marble layer. Can anyone tell me if this is supposed to be there? (3) Not sure also if these plates should be made of wood? I always hear it’s also metal. (4) The bolts/holes inside the middle layer plate/panel are for what? I can screw anything into those holes. Seems like they have no use? But why would Saarinen design such thing? I hope you can help me answer those questions because I’m quite frustrated right now. Thanks so much in advance. Attachment: IMG_8872.jpeg | |||||
| There are different ways to | 1 Relevance | 11 years ago | Spanky | General discussion | |
| There are different ways to finish the ends of an back/arm like that, and often the only way to know for sure how it was done is to undo it. But that's kind of beside the point. It will be tricky to use stripper on the chair with the fabric in place, and it sounds like you're not sure you even want to keep the fabric. I think the next step is to take one chair around to a couple of upholsterers in your area and get an estimate for reupholstering completely. The good news is that you don't need much fabric at all (about 3/4 yd per chair) and that it's possible to get really good, durable, beautiful Danish upholstery fabric online for less than wholesale. So that part won't set you back much at all. And a huge advantage of redoing the fabric is that you can pick a color and texture that will hide not just bigger stains but also just the everyday grime that accumulates on dining chairs with normal use! I will never understand why so many are done in light colors! It's so impractical. I hate worrying about what family and friends are doing to the furniture during a meal, y'know? I just want to enjoy the food and company. Anyway, always ask to see the upholsterer's work and pay special attention to details, even when they are the kind of thing that your chairs do not have. There should not be any ripples or puckers in seams, no tucks in the fabric around dining chair seat edges (except a few small, neat ones on square corners), no blobs of hot glue showing, no lumps in the padding, and on welt you should not be able to see any of the seam stitching (i mean welt should be sewn into the seam right up to the welt itself). Grain should be straight---meaning, the crosswise and lengthwise threads of the fabric should be perpendicular and parallel to the sides of the piece. Sometimes one will be off because the grain itself is skewed but if both are off then it's a sign of sloppy work. And lastly, the padding or cushion thickness should look appropriate to the piece. Also, upholsterers' fees vary a lot so if the first quote you get seems really high, get another one or two. You never know. | |||||
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