I am in full swing designing as many cool graphics as I can come up with. The one design I wanted to pay tribute to was our original 1950’s atomic fish wallpaper we had in our pink bathroom of our old house. After days and days of trying to recreate it, I have finally finished.
Though it is not an exact copy, I think it captures the spirit of the original.
If you dig this and are interested in seeing the products this design can be printed on, head over to Redbubble.
You can also purchase fabric, wall paper, or gift wrap of this design on Spoonflower.
This set came with a hutch, table, six chairs, one leaf and table top pads to protect the top.
Mel and I acquired this set recently and are soo excited about its condition and how it will look in our new place.
We were thinking this set is probably manufactured sometime in the 50’s. This is the second dinning set we own now. We purchased a Heywood Wakefield dog bone table and chairs that I still have to refinish.
I searched online and was only able to find one other set (link). Modern Craft Furniture Mfg. Co. also made a matching sideboard. I guess Mel and I will have to keep our eyes peeled for that piece.
I am now on the hunt for new upholstery for the chairs. I want something really atomic.
Here are a couple of cool Jaru pieces chillin on the new table.
I love all the wood grain on these pieces. If I didn’t know who the maker was I would swear they were made by Brown Saltman. I can just imagine what a large Carlo will look like next to these pieces.
The best thing about this set is the only thing I have to do is the upholstery, no sanding or staining!
These chairs were designed by John Hauser Sr. for Ironworks, Kitchener, Ontario, in 1955. These chairs need some sprucing up, and I am the man for the job!
You might remember we picked up a couple of these chairs a few posts back. I thought it would be a good time to refinish them.
My first stop was to swing into Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up some tasteful pink pleather fabric to recover the seats and back rests.
Once I got home with the fabric I started on the deconstruction of the chairs.
These chairs only had 8 screws total holding the seat and backrest to the frame. That took just a couple of minuets to remove.
Here are the cushions removed. Some might say, “what is wrong with the current fabric”?? All I can say is that it isn’t pink.
I laid the cushion on the fabric and outlined it with about a 3 inch space from the edge of the cushion and cut it out.
Here is the type of stapler and staples I used on these chairs. I picked them up at my local home improvement store.
The trick is to start on one edge and staple the fabric down. Then start on the opposing edge pulling fabric tight and staple it into place. This is how it should look. Make sure to cut off any excess fabric.
The backrests were upholstered on the front and back. I first had to remove the staples and material from the back of the backrest. The next step was to recover the front of the backrest. Recovering the front of the backrest uses the same process as the seat portion of the chair above.
After the front of the backrest was recovered, I started on the back. I decided to make it look nicer than just staples as it had originally. I cut a piece of fabric roughly the same size with about 1-2 inch excess to fold under. I used black upholstery nails to finish the back. The trick is to keep constant pulling on the fabric as it is nailed. This pleather is stretchy so that helps pull out wrinkles.
Now that the upholstery is done it is time to focus on the frames of the chairs and getting them painted. As you can see there is a lot of surface rust on these.
A great way to sand pieces like these is to use a foam sanding block. They come in various grit and conform to the area you are sanding.
I used Rust-Oleum black appliance paint. This stuff has a nice finish and is durable.
After a good coat of paint I let them cook in the sun.
I was able to pick up some new black rubber feet for the chairs so I replaced the old ones.
Here is how they turned out. We are very happy with them, and it will just add to the mid-century feel of our backyard alongside our mid-century BBQ!
I think the upholstery nails look soo much nicer than just staples.
Mel and I had a few good finds, let me tell you about a few of them.
It’s the end of another weekend and Mel and I were able to squeeze in a little picking. Here is what we came across!
A couple John Hauser, circa early 1950’s iconic “clamshell” chairs aka “hoop” chairs.
These are in good shape for their age. We plan to recover them in either aqua or pink Naugahyde. The frames need to be sanded and repainted. These will look soo cool on the patio with the vintage Royal Chef BBQ!
We were able to score a set of these really cool Grundig speakers for $40! Although, my stereo repair guy Luis at “Stereoadvisor” told me if you’re going to buy any vintage electronics, he recommends Telefunken. He said the sound of these German units are unbelievable. I have one Telefunken table top and 3 floor counsels and I have to agree with him. But, I’m a sucker for pointy legs and couldn’t resist these Grundig speakers. These will be pretty easy to restore…just some stripper, light sanding, a little bit of stain, and semi-gloss polyurethane for the wood. As far as the speaker fabric, I’ll remove it and clean the stains with “Awesome”.
The final item we got was this fantastic tension pole lamp. I have never seen this style before and really dig it. This is a keeper.
All this light really needs is to be cleaned up and put into the perfect spot!
I really dig this table and think it will be a nice addition to our pad.
Mel and I acquired this table from our friend Vic. I wanted one of these tables so we could set our aqua colored phone on when we get into our new place. I liked the styling of this phone table but the fabric was soo blah that it needed something that would breath new life into it.
Here it is! I think it turned out great!
This phone is made by Bell System Western Electric.
I can just see us chilling on the chair talking to family. It will be a cool experience.
Right now is a pretty active time for me. I have lots of projects that are being worked on and will be coming together soon……..hopefully. Anyway, I thought I would give you a sample of what is coming!
Vintage Desk & Chair
This is what I am starting with.
I have eyeballing this piece for a while because I am a huge sucker for unique Formica from the 50’s. This was at an antique store we frequent often and it had been there for some time. The only hitch to getting this piece is there was no chair for it. After cruising Craigslist for a week or so, I found a chair that when re-upholstered will look like it went to this desk. The desk is marked but the mark is unreadable :(. Here are some pics of it before it gets its refresh!
I can’t put my finger on what era this desk is from. It is either the 40’s of 50’s. I really wish the makers mark was more legible, but it is an ink stamp that bled out.
I fell in love with this desk because of the tapered leg, and of course the Formica that I just go ape for!
Here is a close up of the Formica.
With my chair upholstery choice, I will have to paint the drawer pulls gold to pick up the gold in the fabric.
The upholstery has to go, but what I love about this chair is the styling. I will have to paint the wood black so it ties better to the desk.
I searched for a while for fabric I though would look great with this desk and I found this ultra atomic fabric! I will be dropping the chair off at B&T Upholstery as soon as my fabric arrives.
RCA Victor Stereo Orthophonic Mark XIII
These units were produced in the 50’s.
I found this piece on Craigslist in San Francisco. I used to own one of these in a cherry finish and always regretted getting rid of it. I am a huge audiophile and would fill a warehouse with audio equipment if I had the chance. As you can tell, this unit needs some work. I am going to refinish the wood on this piece, but will have to re-veneer the top of the lid. I plan to use the champagne Heywood Wakefield stain to finish the cabinet. I will need to get it over to my audio guy to get it running perfect again.
As you can see, this unit needs a refinish. I do have the gold metal legs too!
It also needs some detailing and a good cleaning. My stereo guy said that these have such great sound when working properly, so I can’t wait to get it back!
RCA Victor Stereo Orthophonic Mark III
The next unit I have I got off of Craigslist as well. I had to drive to Walnut Creek to pick this unit up. This unit is very clean and just needs a tune up! I can’t wait to play some Como on this sucker.
The cabinet just needed some oil to bring back the luster of the finish.
The radio has a green “Cats Eye” that brightens as you tune into a radio station. The dials light up when on as well.
Here is a cool advertisement educating us about the “New Living Stereo” technology of Orthophonic!
Heywood Wakefield M590 China Cabinet
As you can see, this cabinet was well used. I plan to refinish it to go with the Heywood Wakefield dog bone table and chairs we picked up that I will post later.
This is such a cool hutch when restored. I have the shelves and glass doors in storage. The cabinet doors look rough but after sanding, they will look like new.
I have a lot of work ahead of me and I will keep you all up to date on my progress. We are going to be moving soon to hopefully a mid-century ranch style home, so there will be a whole lot to cover in our new place.
This bar didn’t need a lot of work. All I needed to do was repaint all the metal, redo the Formica, recover the seats and replace the bumper strip on the top.
Mel and I drove out to Clovis to grab this really cool bar. As you can see, the bar stool cushions needed to be recovered. The bar top was warped and curled upwards on the ends. The metal feet on the bar and the stools had to be repainted as well.
To fix the top of the bar, I flipped it and screwed it down which helped flatten out the top. Once that was done, I sanded the surface to prep it for new white Formica.
The Fabric matches the bar really well!
I added simple little details like gold tips to the bar and the bar stool feet.
I had to recover the stools because the fabric was so old that it was brittle and cracked. I used some of the cool aqua colored frieze fabric that Bill from B&T Upholstery gave me from a couch he stripped (THANKS BILL!!!!). The frames of the stools just needed a quick repaint.
I think the fabric really goes well with the bar!
After a long search at Lowes, Home Depot and local cabinetry shops, I was unable to find a replacement bumper strip (t-molding) that goes around the bar top. I had to jump on eBay and order a strip of it to replace the worn old strip. After a few days it arrived and I popped it on and BANG! The bar is done.
This quick little freshen up brings this bar back to its former glory. This will end up in our booth at Midway Antique Mall in Sacramento.
As you can see, the top is as good as new.
On a side note, we finally found a total of four super atomic “Old Forester” decanters. These will stay in our collection.
Mel and I hope whomever ends up with this bar will enjoy it! On to the next resto.
