CHAIR TOWN {leather, linen, chrome, wool, and sling!)

Have you noticed that vintage stuff travels in packs?  Some weeks I'm up to my armpits in lamp after beautiful lamp.  Some weeks everything is marble.  This week, the vintage world is trying to tell me to take it easy...by sending me chairs.

I have a pair of these chrome beauties.  Yesterday I designed and sewed up the blue felted wool sling to sleek them up.  The previous upholstery was a huge, thick padded affair done in mauve (or "private parts pink" as I like to call it) RV fabric.  Now they are lithe and sexy, like chrome and wool ballerinas!

I'm not joking-these are SO comfortable!  I am thinking of designing a narrow built-in pillow at the top.  What do you think?

Because they're slings, they don't look deep enough until you sit in them.  Kind of sculptural, no?  I have to iron those suckers, but I couldn't wait to show you!!

This heathered blue wool is my new favorite fabric.  Like soft focus lighting, it makes everything else around it look gorgeous!  It looks SO GOOD with my "trick, it's not a Beni Ourain it's from Pottery Barn" rug.

I also ran like the wind a few days ago to pick up these handsome chrome chairs.

The upholstery has that great, streamlined Mid Century version of tufting.  The color is caramel with a hint of orange?  But not TOO orange.  I understand everything better when put into food terms.  How 'bout you?

These suckers are HEAVY.  Neat-o, thick chrome frames.  I'm thinking Milo Baughman (pronounced Bowman if you're new to the game, Boffman if you're in-the-know, and Boggman if you're a retarded estate sale lady).

I have to verify this, though.  Seriously Baughman, you designed so many chairs.  Help a girl out-make a master list?!

Speaking of Boggman, did you know DWR is reproducing his recliner?  For $2800???  For a less-well-made repro??

Do people buy these things?  I can't imagine why, with beautifully restored originals going for half that!  Now that I mention it, I have one that I'll be listing this evening.  What a coincidence!

This is documented Milo Baughman, but a very unusual piece.  It took me weeks to authenticate because, well, there is like one other one out there.  The arms are really wide, sculptural, solid walnut, and the upholstery is much more substantial than on the more common version.  It's been profesh redone (meaning, not by me) in a nubby off-white material that makes you fall asleep when you touch it, and the mechanics have been cleaned, oiled, and checked for smooth reclinability.  Mmmhmmm,  that's a word.

Furthermore, there is this chair:

It looks like Paul McCobb, but "looks like" is as far as I got in the authentication process.

I had it rebuilt and re-done in a heavy, charcoal grey linen.  It is brand new, but better.  Because it is brand new old, which means it will last for 300 more years.

It pairs well with a sheepskin and an ethnic pillow.  Probably any ethnicity will do.

Bleached out-looking because Instagram, y'all.

So, one may ask, "Where can I get all these fine sitting devices?"

Well, only the off-white Baughman/Bowman/Boggman recliner will be in the shop tonight.

The others will probably be listed soon, but you can also email (modernhaus@gmail.com), text, Tweet (modernhaus), or Intsagram (modernhaus) message me if you just can't wait.

You probably want to get your hands on my creations now, before I totally blow up.  I'm already super-big in Upstate New York, the gateway to design fame as we all know.

Over and out.

Things I always wanted, now I have them, but I can't keep them (and I'm not talking about my kids)

There are only so many walls in a house and so many times you can tell your husband the lounge chair is your new "reading nook" before a room is really, totally over-furnished.
So, Mr. Cado and Mr. Eames, it's been a pleasure having you but you really must find lodging elsewhere. Oh, don't worry. We'll find you a beautiful home. Somewhere with a wall of windows that looks out over the xeriscaped yard. There may be BMW's involved. Don't worry...the children will not be allowed to touch you.
In the shop now.

Gerald Thurston for Lightolier-Rare Swing Arm Pulley Chandelier/Light Fixture

I absolutely love this 1950s Asian-inspired piece by Gerald Thurston for Lightolier.

It has a very cool weighted pulley that allows you to adjust the height, and the arm can retract or extend to adjust how far it projects into the room...typical brilliant, flexible, multi-purpose Mid Century design, especially awesome for older homes where you require overhead light but have no ceiling outlets (we've still got a few rooms like that over at our house, although my house was built before matches were invented, so....)

Available tonight over at the Modernhaus storefront, along with a smattering of beautiful new art pieces and more lighting options!

Eero Saarinen inspiration and more good design for children

I love this lounge and ottoman set-a sort of cross between Saarinen's Womb and Organic chairs. Simple, curvaceous, and a little Space Age but warmed up by the nubby-textured cream fabric. And since my mind always seems to veer off onto the subject of design for children, this elephant toy/sculpture is a lost goodie by Ray and Charles Eames, designed way back in 1945 if you can believe it. They had children, which I think really informed their desire to produce simple, solid, and affordable good design. Parents are such smart people. Crazed innovators, really. Because we have to be.
And just because I can, I'll create my own little nursery design on the spot, with a Stokke crib and my favorite Scandinavian textile designer Josef Frank's "Green Birds" print from 1944. Wow, just noticed the connection between all these designs. I guess we could call this nursery "Post War Optimism".

fabric photo from Remodelista