Mother Dammit

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SOLD // Steelcase Office Arm Chair

Vintage Steelcase upholstered office arm chair on castors. Good overall condition. Some minor discoloration from the arms to the rest of the fabric, but fairly negligible. Does have a centering mechanism if seat is pivoted. Rolls nicely.

Non adjustable seat height. Marked Steelcase, 1985. Measures 25” wide, 25” deep, 35” tall. Seat height 21”.

Free pick up. Brooklyn and Manhattan delivery $45. Other areas please inquire.

Steelcase Office Arm Chair

House Industries Eames Collection

Received the latest promotional font booklet from House Industries a few weeks ago and have been meaning to share it on here ever since. Beautiful graphically and as a sleek promotional object, this awesome and inspirational booklet is sure to stay on my shelf for some time. Inspired by Charles and Ray Eames' designs, the pages mercilessly show a thousand beautiful ways to use their new font collection "Eames".

See my previous post on their cute poster and free fonts.

Herman Miller Shell Chair Rehab Part 4

Continuing... Finally got around to the JB weld portion of the rehab after some lengthy procrastination, and first failed run.

Materials gathered to epoxy mounts. That's my Kevi reupholstered stool under there.

JB Weld epoxy: super strong, but slower to dry than I would have thought, and surprisingly forgiving in prying off my first attempt. Looking back at the original tutorials, I should have opted for the JB Weld Kwik that sets much faster.

Grey and black modernist goodness.

This would be the second try at attaching the shock mounts. The first time, I was too impatient and did them all at once. The back mounts on the seat curve slid as they dried, and didn't line up correctly with the chair base. Whoops. The new epoxy was easier to pry off than I would have thought. These pics are of the first impatient go round.

Drying mounts.

Post-adjustment, happily remounted chair hanging out.

Sticking together.

See here, here, and here for past HMSC rehab entries, including the method I used to remove some seven layers of paint from this poor chair. Also need to get a new drill to get the last of the old feet out of the legs to install the replacements (our cheapie has lots of miles and now only holds super huge bits).

Coming up next, an attempt at creating some sort of seat cushion to deal with those pesky holes...

See original Chair Fag and Brick House DIY tutorials for full break down on their process.

Sold // Sam Avedon Pink Shell Chair

I've finally broken down and am putting this one out for sale. Some aging and slight discoloration to the plastic, and some scratching to the legs. Three of the four feet missing, but still is quite comfortable to sit in. Especially nice line around the hip area, the way the inner and outer forms contrast. Unique, rare, and kitschy midcentury find.

Spike Jones' "I'm Here"

Apologies for the movie centric and merch andise centric postings lately, but here's another movie post. Anyhow, Spike Jones' short film "I'm Here", is quite an amazing short film (30 mins), and although it was featured on ISO50, it somehow seems to have escaped the rest of the blogging world, or at least the circles I run in. Regardless, it's charming, delving into the innocent romance of happy times, moments of devotion, and expressions of sincerity without a hint of triteness (my favorite line: "You're a good dreamer."). The cinematography is anonymous feeling, casual, and humble, while at the same time masterful and thoughtful. In all, it is worth watching. Plus I'm a sucker for a love story.

Lastly, I didn't really read this into the film until I read the wiki, but "I'm Here" is based on The Giving Tree, which while that may conjure mixed feelings for some people, the way the theme is woven into the film is more satisfying and endearing, and less unsettling than Shel Sliverstein's story, which is a good thing in my opinion

Check out the full movie, complete with cute interactive website here. Screen shots below:

Audrey Hepburn and Givenchy in How to Steal a Million

Having Roman Holiday as a long time favorite movie, I was so happy to discover How to Steal a Million, also with Hepburn, but with the dreamy Peter O'Toole, and an amazing wardrobe by Givenchy. It is completely charming movie both in the story and cinematography in Paris, perfect for spring--I think I may like it even more than Roman Holiday.

I could see a whole editorial based on these looks, the lime green, skinny patent belts, just-so hats; O'Toole's looks could even inspire some menswear looks--Even Hepburn's bouffant is so classic and yet fresh feeling. Everything looks so mod and timeless and je ne sais quoi, Parisienne.

Cool Blog: .Speck

XYQ over with .Speck in Portland has left us a few nice comments through out the blog. She's got some great style and seems very much the West Coast Deluxa counterpart--great vintage furniture for sale, posts on design and interiors and whatever strikes her fancy. She even has Bill Stephens chairs in stock. I certainly look forward to keeping tabs on her blog and site to see what finds she comes up with and what inspiration she'll dole out. Just check out this bookshelf on her "about" page on her site:

Super cool.

DIY Herman Miller Shell Chair Rehab Part 3

So, yes. It has been forever. Like eight months of forever. But I'm back at it. The Herman Miller Shell Sidewalk Find H Base Chair of Doom (see older posts here, here, and here).

What happened you ask? Holidays. Burn out. And moving. And a place to stash it where I can forget about it. But it is back, and hopefully for the last and final round.

After pulling the shell chair out, even though I did Penetrol the sucker a bunch of times, the surface just didn't look so great. The paint remover really did a number on the fiberglass, making the texture pretty wonky and pitted, rather than sexy, modern, and sleek. Lucky for me, I now have an orbital sander, which improved things vastly, but is nearly impossible to use in the curve where your butt goes...so at this point, I really am just going to say that having the vast majority looking better is--sigh--good enough. Besides, there is a seat cushion that goes in there anyway.

The last of some pitting that will just have to stay.

Clearer shot of the three holes used (somehow?) to anchor the chair pad. I'm thinking of using some kind of rope or strong yarn to tie through the holes, but if anyone knows how the originals were attached, please let me know!

Close up of what is often mistaken for drill holes to let water out, cushion attachment holes.

Much glossier and smooth than the sanding by hand, but still not quite perfect...

So now we're back in the Penetrol stages (round 2 to be exact) and in a few more days, on to the final final stage of actually putting the shock mounts on, which, I feel like considering all the prep work I've done so far, should be relatively easy. Here are the original links to Chairfag and The Brick House.

Oh yeah, and I caved in on those eBay glides. Crossing my fingers they arrive soon... For a free chair on the street, the investment into the shock mounts, glides, paint (for the legs) and paint remover, foam for the seat, and ridiculous amount of hours is adding up fast, but I guess I can't turn back now...

New shock mounts, ready to be mounted.

In the mean time, I'm thinking about what fabric to use to make the seat cushion. I'm thinking a print could be a cool touch, but a hard sell.

Here is a sneak peak of another project I'm working on at the same time. Really just paint and refinishing, but I think it is going to come out pretty cute as my skills and patience are improving.

Still needs work, but coming along nicely.

House Industries Poster and Free Fonts

PLINC Banjo Serigraph, $40, at House Industries. Yes, please!

While you're there, sign up to get the following free fonts:

I'm thinking of maybe using Spaceage Round on an upcoming poster for the next Luxa show--just announced--with a great line up (and a great poster image in the works). Full post coming soon.

Also, never got to recap after our show with Ulrich Schnauss and Mark Van Hoen: an amazing, wild, inspiring, and blizzard filled night. Thanks to all who made it out (and then had to make it back!), and I'm sorry if we didn't get to chat long. It felt like I talked to everyone for five minutes each!