FLER love

Ever since missing out on an original FLER chair on e-bay (ummm by $1 in the last 4 minutes - but no, seriously I'm over it, just!) I have become a bit obsessed by finding myself a FLER arm chair! I can see myself reading a good book in one of these.

Fred Lowen was a furniture designer and founding partner of Fler Furniture, creating his wonderful furniture in the 50s and 60s. Originally from Germany, Lowen was influenced by the scandinavian style. It's no wonder they are so popular today! And ... I have come across the name 'TH Brown' before but was super pleased to find out they were an Adelaide firm! They released a range of furniture in the 60s made from moulded timber with natural oil finishes.

I have my eye on a Fler again - wish me luck!

Image: 1) Retromiko, 2) Antiques Plus

beautiful bright bentwood

My bargain $20 Bentwood is now ready to make our bedroom it's home, after two coats of paint and plenty of sanding and priming! Here is the BEFORE. I even like it in white..

I'm glad I'm now able to tick this project off my 'to do' list. It brightens up the bedroom and works in well with the Bespoke Press print.

black, grey and a touch of mid-century

On Friday night, I missed out on a 1960s FLER chair on e-bay by $1 dollar in the last 4 minutes of bidding. I was gutted! I would have put in a higher bid but I was in a yoga class and well, not cool to check your i-phone mid yoga pose! I had visions of reupholstering the (very similiar looking) chair like the one in the above photo (with the grey sheepskin rug).  Incidentally, I would also have this as my lounge room any day! Oh well - I will have to keep searching and waiting..

p.s this is my 50th post - yay to me :)

Image - via Desire to Inspire

a revamped bentwood - from drab to (almost) fab!

I decided to get my act together this weekend and finally do something about my Bentwood chair....4 months after I first mentioned it! I'm very good at getting inspired, not so good at finishing a job. I get lazy and unmotivated. Maybe it's that 'nesting' pregnancy thing but it had been bugging me that I seem to be good at starting projects but not finishing them. So with some free time on the weekend, I got cracking.

Here's what the chair originally looked like. I had done some sanding months ago here (told you I'm slack!) so this is what I was left to work with.

First step: sanding. I hate the prep work associated with painting! I'm so impatient. 

Once the sanding had been done (which I gotta say I did a pretty good job!), it was time to add 2 coats of primer. I used British Paints 'all in one' sealer/primer/undercoat.

Two coats of primer and I'm ready to paint the first coat of my chosen colour which I blogged about here. I find it really hard to pick paint colours (am I the only one?) but in the end, I went with Taubman's Solar Burst. It's not a sunny yellow, more of a citrus lemon/lime colour which at first I wasn't sure about but now I'm loving it.

Ta-da! After 1 coat of Solar Burst the chair is almost ready to rock and roll!

L is making the chair a new seat cover (from an old laundry door) which I have to prime, clamp on then paint 1 coat. 1 more coat all over and it will be ready to grace our bedroom with its presence! I can't tell you how good I feel for achieving something this weekend...woo hoo :)

decking out the nursery part I

Turning our second bedroom/study into a quasi nursery has got me thinking about how I want to deck it out. We're not going to paint, it's already painted Dulux 'Antique White USA' so it's a blank canvas for us to add finishes and textures - a rug, Eames hang-it-all, shelving...

ikea egeby sisal rug ($99)

eames hang-it-all (replica - $69)                       eames rocker (replica in white or red - $125)

 

i have wanted this for ages and now i have a great excuse! i heart NYC.

muji new york in a bag (USD $15)

prints from printspace which I already have (bought at Bowerbird Bazaar).
i have a thing for giraffes.

Not sure about the eames rocker, in red or white? Fibreglass or plastic? Plastic (replica) is much cheaper. What do you think?

images: (1) ikea, (2, 3) matt blatt, (4) moma online store, (5, 6, 7) printspace

a bentwood work in progress

This is how far I got on my Bentwood. Really rather pathetic, right?! L took the seat off for me and gave me some bench space in the shed to work on it (which is a small miracle in itself. Never mess with a man's shed...or so I have learnt!). The sanding, which I started last weekend, is going to take a while, then I have to apply primer a couple of times, then the colour which I chose here. Thanks to you guys for helping me decide what to do with it. Now I just have to get cracking on it and stop procrastinating! Yeah! Have a great weekend x

mellow yellow bentwood

I really hate picking paint colours. I'm scared I'll get it completely wrong and eventhough you can paint over, who wants to spend more time painting? Painting is fun for the first 5 minutes, then it sucks. My husband and I painted our home (with help from family), and a couple of years later repainted our bedroom in one weekend. Both times I wished we'd had the money to pay someone to do it. But, it doesn't quite suck painting a chair, that's fun! I suppose if I get the colour wrong I can paint over the Bentwood quite easily. I quite fancy a slick black Bentwood anyway as I love everything black (I want black walls - L.O.V.E).

I've chosen Taubman's Solar Burst - what do you think? I know the actual colour will differ from how it displays online but I have tried to match it as much as possible with the example here. Now that I've put it out there I've got to make sure I start this project this weekend!

how to revamp a Bentwood

I have always had a thing for op-shopping, whether it be for clothes and shoes or furniture as I now seem to be obsessed with (although I can never usually find the time for op-shopping or revamping! Is it just me who has this problem?). It must have been one of those lucky days that I decided to check out a junk shop on my way home one day - and sitting outside was this bentwood chair! I knew I had to have it. It was $25 but I got it for $20 - bargain! Now my dilemma is how to revamp it...

I have a few ideas. Here's what I'm thinking (after sanding, and replacing the awful seat):

1. Leave the chair in it's original colour - like this one

2. Paint the chair white, perhaps using Porter's Paints Milk paint (and if I get creative, I'd like to create a cushion insert for the seat using a nice fabric) - like this one here and here

3. Paint the chair a canary yellow - like this one

What do you think? What would you do if you owned this Bentwood?

I look at it every day as it sits in the corner of our bedroom, crying out for me to do something to it, so I'm hoping to for some Monday inspiration..

tolix tonic

I have been sick the past week and feeling a bit sorry for myself (that's why I haven't been around much). So sick I forgot to share my excitement about our new Thonet Tolix stools that arrived last week! With wedding money we decided to buy some Tolix stools (we wouldn't have been able to afford them otherwise) which we had been coveting for a while. L.O.V.E is an understatement when it comes to these French stools. This isn't the best photo, and this is our ugly kitchen...you can see why we want to get rid of it soon!

Here are some better photos of the Tolix stool .. also check them out at Viv from ish and chi's kitchen...

Image 2 - Kelly Green Interiors via My Villa Life, Image 3 - Caffe Paparazzi

reading chair dreaming

On my 'must have' list for a long long time has been a reading chair. I love to read and figure I need a dedicated reading chair to do it in, instead of reading on the couch (being distracted by the TV) or on the bed (where I'm likely to fall asleep!). I love the idea of having a little reading nook complete with side table, cup of tea and nibbles to devour while reading a good book! So I was inspired to rediscover a book I bought years ago at Aptos Cruz Gallery here in Adelaide. 'Fusion Interiors' explores design and interiors from different cultures around the world. I discovered the book has some pretty cool chairs...in the right setting any one of them would make a good reading chair. For now, I'll keep dreaming of one day finding a perfect reading chair to plonk myself in..

It also showed a gorgeous picture of the late President Kennedy and (then) Jackie Kennedy on the cover of Life magazine - with the title 'Senator Kennedy Goes A-Courting'. So old fashioned! And such a gorgeous photo..

All Images - original photos taken from Fusion Interiors authored by Martin Waller and Dominic Bradbury, published by Andrew Martin.

Lizzy on Bentwood on 'Desire to Inspire'

My girl Lizzy is a star already - she featured on Desire to Inspire's weekly pets on furniture post! Here she is...on my Bentwood chair which I picked up for $20 (it's the chair in my profile pic). It needs a lot of TLC, and so does Lizzy.

(Ahem, I promise this blog won't all be about Lizzy but then again...that's not such a bad thing!).