Merrow Sideboard

This stunning Merrow Associates sideboard we sold last year now sits opposite a Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona chair in the entrance of an equally stunning property in Cheshire.

Needless to say this isn't the only Merrow Associates piece at the property as with most Merrow buyers, one piece just isn't enough.

We currently have a couple of Merrow Associates pieces for sale; the lovely nest of tables and the ultra rare luxurious leather and chrome daybed.

Its always nice to see where the pieces we sell end up. We go on a mini journey with each one from buying to research, restoration/upholstery, imaging to finally offering the finished piece for sale.

The journey end is when we deliver and say 'goodbye'. For the rarer pieces we often drive away wondering if we will ever be lucky enought to find another.

Yellow Wonderwall

We LOVE the lime-yellow wall in our back room!

Three things inspired us to use this zingy shade; the yellow aprons worn by the cooks on Lucienne Day's 1959 design - Too Many Cooks, tea towel; an abstract tile by Ann Wynn Reeves, Kenneth Clark Pottery for H & R Johnson circa 1960 and Designers Guild upholstery fabric - Alchemilla in Brera Linen which we used on the 1950s suite for sale on our website

Even though we had a long old wait before we could finally paint the plaster, it was worth it. Over a year has passed and we still love the colour on this wall!

In Autumn it was mellow and peaceful and picked up the colours of the falling leaves; winter it was warm and cozy ...looked so beautiful with our morso wood burning stove; Spring sprung and it made us feel cheerful and optimistic and when the long hot days (wishful thinking) of Summer finally arrive, it will be cool and calming.

We are just about to embark on a major restoration of our front room...wonderwall will happen there...?

A SLICE OF NICE

Early last week I was inspired by a room shot which featured a very bright yellow 'Slice' chair. Designed by Pierre Paulin and manufactured by Artifort in the early 1960s. It reminded me of the pair we bought a couple of years back. They were original 60s editions covered in a rather drab nondescript not blue not grey contract hopsack - so wrong for these exuberant cheerful smiling chairs. They were in a sad and sorry state from sitting in a dank and fusty spot for years and being the chairhounds that we are, we knew exactly what to do to to give them a new lease of life.

Blessed with our genius upholsterer, they were stripped right down to the bare frame which is shell of pressed peach wood , stainless steel frame and very few fixings. They were rebuilt using fire retardant high density foam core and recovered. We absolutely had to use a typical 1960s orange wool for one and allowed ourselves to get carried away with the other. We chose to pay homage to the fabulous 1960s design 'Circuit' by Barbara Brown for Heals Fabrics Ltd.

They worked our rather well, don't you think?

Both sold rather quick, the Circuit Slice now lives in a penthouse apartment in Taipei, Taiwan, the Orange Slice is somewhere in London.

Thank you to Paul @retrorumage and @obsessilicious for providing the inspiration to write the blog.

A flock of ERCOL armchairs

Hello everyone especially our two new followers. Put on POSITIVE head this morning; done 'work', finally joined chairsmith.blogspot.com - it's a wonderful dose of inspiration which gives me a dose of blog inadequacy every time I read it, but it also inspires me to try harder. Then I decided to show you some of the vintage Ercol armchairs we have taken under our wing. These are just a few, there are too many to show in one go and now I will get told off by Josh for only ever blogging about Ercol...sorry Josh!

Here we go..feast your eyes...I think my favourite is the solid elm seat 503 tub chair upholstered using the tea cups fabric...whats yours?

Ole Wanscher Armchairs - Before and After

A while ago we gave a pair of Ole Wanscher Armchairs the Love Vintage treatment, here are the results.

Before

After

They didn't make it onto the website as friends of ours snapped them up for their lovely flat in The Barbican, where the chairs look completely at home along side the lovely G-Plan Sofa Bed. 

Thought it would be nice to show a few pieces in a more natural environment than the blank studio ...... I will also add a few images of the Merrow Sideboard in situ which ended up as part of a fantastic renovation in Cheshire.

Robin Day - Design Hero

Robin Day's highboard featured in Elle Decoration

The highboard in our studio

The lower version may be an even rarer piece

One more Robin Day sideboard blog.....we promise!

Really cool exhibition highlighted in this month Elle Decoration. From March 26 - June 26, you can see Robin Day's rare early pieces and key furniture from the Festival of Britain in the exhibition 'Robin and Lucienne Day: Design and the Modern Interior' at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex. Among the furniture on display will be a very rare highboard on loan from Target Gallery London "The sideboard, dining table and chair are represented in this exhibition, the only examples to survive intact and complete" ... well there's definitely one more highboard and a lovely low version to.

These very rare early designs were Robin Day's first pieces of work for Hille. Very few were produced and I have really struggled to find any detailed information about these pieces. What is clear is they were a little ahead of their time and didn't take off as expected. It's great to see they are being shown and appreciated as pioneering designs.

The sideboards will be available to buy on our website from next week.

Ship Ahoy!!

Thank you thank you to our new blog followers ... not that there will be much ....we are bad bloggers its a case of life interrupts us!

But today I have to made the effort to say a great big thank you to Minimoderns for giving us such a lovely credit on the new opening page of the website....which looks gorgeous, by the way..

We met Minimoderns at Tent last year and our paths crossed again recently. Our furniture and their products are such a perfect fit we were happy to team up our very rare Robin Day sideboard (still coming soon!) and their new Whitby wallpaper.

By the way have you seen the Robin Day feature in this months Elle Deco...there's the sideboard...the other one of the pair we have coming soon ...

ROBIN DAY HILLE SIDEBOARDS COMING SOON...

....coming soon we have a pair of exceedingly rare Robin Day sideboards. Thought you may like a sneak preview of them. They have been fully restored and look simply stunning! What do you think..?