furniture

  • A Norwegian Wood – Would You?

    From time to time, we allow advertisers and friends to supply articles for inclusion on Hewn & Hammered; the following was contributed by our friends at furniture seller Argos.

    Norway2

    I went to Norway last March with my brother Jack and two friends – between getting lost in Oslo and seeing the Northern lights, we spent two weeks eating prawn paste in the drizzle and getting ice-burn from ski-lifts. It was wonderful.

    I’m moving into a new flat next month and have been looking to Jack’s photos for décor inspiration. Norway’s distinctive style is big, bold and homely, a nice mix of fixed-up old stuff and modern conveniences. And it’s colourful: the tradition in Norway is to paint the wooden panels of your house red, blue, green, or yellow – every shade has a shape and size. The country’s alternately startlingly white with snow or lushly green – every season creates a perfect backdrop for their rainbow roads.

    I want to bring their outsides inside, have the same bright white and colours with natural textures. The marriage of cold winter white and warm yellow wood is celebrated in Oslo’s opera house, finished 3 just years ago. It was designed to look like an iceberg, floating on the Oslofjorden, and this inside wall represents a wave.

    I’m already the proud owner of an eclectic mix of vintage and crafted tables, shelves and cupboards. What I need is modern colour to offset all the warm woody tones – large blocks of deep sea blue, red and turquoise. I’ve bought one of Argos’s bright sofas, and am currently on the hunt for the haphazard details that make it cosy: floral cushions, a woven blanket, a pale sheepskin rug, an intricate glass vase – and some tubes of prawn paste for the fridge.

  • Peepshow Bookcase

    Peekabooshelf

    The beautiful Peepshow bookcase is $2800 (!) from Lekker Home. Lekker claims this is made from "Dimn wood" which I assume is a misspelling of "dimb," a protected type of tree found only in Senegal which is illegal to harvest without a special permit. Permits are issued only to salvage wood from a single naturally-felled tree at a time, which makes me wonder about the provenance of the wood – but which also explains the high pricetag.

  • the appeal of the wooden library card catalog

    My parents met while students at UC Berkeley and I was born while they were in graduate school; my father stayed on at the university, eventually becoming a faculty member and administrator there. It's no surprise, then, that I spent a lot of time roaming libraries and their stacks.

    One of my fondest memories of that time is of the wooden card catalogs that used to document the holdings of the graduate and undergraduate libraries – vast, long room-fulls of tiny little drawers, all in cases polished smooth by generations of student fingers and hands.

    Since then, I've always loved these things; it might be that they offer an ideal of secure compartmentalization of everything, with each item having its own correct place, certainly an ideal for a perfectionist like me. Or it could be the inflexible grid that they are designed along, which appeals to my technician side. The grain of the wood, the warmth of it, always seemed to match that beautiful Craftsman finish, the fumed oak look that has become the hallmark of the Arts and Crafts movement.

    Whatever the reason, these things are beautiful, and you don't find them in good shape all that often. Certainly, you get them more often than a decade ago, with so many libraries going all-digital, but they're still hard to find.

    Here are a few that are up for sale right now:

    • a 60-drawer catalog in Palm Beach Gardens, FL ($300)
    • a gorgeous set of 3 60-drawer catalogs in Minneapolis, MN ($150 ea)
    • an interesting and well-kept card catalog / file cabinet with inconsistently-sized drawers in Minneapolis, MN ($800)
    • a small tabletop 15-drawer unit with pretty brass hardware in Detroit, MI ($299)
    • a "library bureau card catalog" that is actually a refinished/restored printer's cabinet – drawers for type and cuts and sorts (although not full-size type drawers); inclined top for composing – absolutely beautiful! – in Long Island, NY ($900, and a good deal at that price)
    • an "immaculate" all-cherry 70-drawer cabinet with pull-out shelves in Cleveland, OH ($975)
    • an interesting 60-drawer unit, looks like 1930s or '40s design, in San Antonio, TX ($1500)
    • a table-top 15-drawer cabinet with attractive stainless steel or nickel hardware in Milwaukee, MN ($250)
    • A good looking, circa 1930 20-drawer unit on top of a pretty, decorative stand/table in Annapolis, MD ($800)
    • a small unit with large drawers, this 4-drawer piece is rather original, in Sarasota, FL ($145)

  • this weeks’ Craigslist finds!

    Plenty of gorgeous bits & pieces of furniture on sale around the country this week; here's a rundown of some Stickley pieces that stood out:

  • a Greentea Design remodeled kitchen in Ottawa

    3361465414_4b7b334ccb_b[the finished kitchen; photo by Kim]

    Last week, in our post on Greentea Design, I made a quick mention of
    one specific old-house kitchen remodel using their cabinets. Since
    then, Mike Ramsey at Greentea was kind enough to supply me with
    comprehensive background information on this particular project, and I
    thought it would be of interest to all of you – not just those
    considering a kitchen remodel, but anyone interested in how this
    Asian-influenced cabinetry can work in a Craftsman home.

    The
    kitchen in Kim's turn-of-the-century Ottawa bungalow was originally
    attractive, I'm sure, but long before she moved in there, someone with
    a surfeit of love for Formica ripped out the original cabinetry and,
    unfortunately, expressed themselves all over the room. Fast forward to the both modern and at the same time classic finished product – but don't worry, we'll spell out the whole process for you below; you can read even more about it on Kim's own blog.

    Kim
    had already decided to remove the non-bearing wall that separated the
    kitchen from the living room, which made the previous owner's kitchen
    cramped and difficult to use. In doing the demolition, she found all sorts of interesting things – layers upon layers of wallpaper and newsprint dating back to 1903. Other demo-related discoveries included what appeared to be horse hair – possibly used for insulation in the ceiling – found when removing wood paneling to allow for can lights,

    Next, Greentea interviewed Kim regarding what she wanted and what she needed from the new kitchen, and produced a rough sketch of what would be possible in the new room. Kim picked out which pieces she wanted, and Greentea rendered them in Google Sketchup for confirmation of sizing before they submitted the order to their factory. Pieces included 2 single and one double Mizuya
    upper cabinets    , three Mizuya
    base cabinets     – two 3 drawer versions and a smaller one
    with chopstick drawers in place of the third drawer – and finally a standard 4
    foot Mizuya Pantry.     Google Sketchup,
    the (free) savior to the design/build industries and with a learning
    curve that allows anyone to pick it up, is again called into use, this
    time to generate a full render of the finished kitchen.

    Soon after the demolition and basic structural changes were completed, Kim received the (very well-packed) cabinetry
    from Greentea and began to put things into place. Appliances were
    brought in, base cabinets were installed, and whatever minimal
    modifications that were needed for plumbing were made, then sink, lighting,
    and countertops came next; at this point, it was really starting to
    look like the kitchen she'd been waiting for – certainly a feeling
    we've all been very happy to have as a remodel starts to actually
    resemble the picture we have in our heads. One neat addition at this
    point: Kim had a cat hole made in the hatch to her basement, which was mounted on shock absorbers to let it move up and down smoothly – a really nice feature worth emulating.

    And voila: it is done! Finally, you can see how well everything fits into the new cabinetry; her four-foot Mizuya pantry is especially spacious. Kim even made a short video tour
    of the finished product, which really shows how well these cabinets
    define the tone of the room, but don't overpower the rest of the house
    at all.

    Again, if you're at all interested in a really good deal on step tansu – my single favorite piece of cabinetry – note that Greentea is running their Step Into Summer promotion, with large discounts on all step tansu, for another two weeks (it ends on June 15!).

  • Greentea Design: spectacular custom kitchens

    Toronto-based Greentea Design has a special place in my heart: not only do they design, build and sell some of the most beautiful kitchen cabinetry available anywhere – in beautiful Japanese-influenced styles that are a perfect match for any Mission or Craftsman home – but they also carry a range of both antique and contemporary reclaimed-wood furniture, some in historic Craftsman and Japanese designs and others in more contemporary shapes. And the prices, even including the (very professional and speedy) shipping from Canada are surprisingly low, making them competitive with any of the larger semi-custom cabinet makers out there, even while using better materials like a clear coat for kitchen cabinets and sturdier building techniques..

    While many of their signature pieces – step tansu and other room-defining wood furniture items – are gorgeous, it's that line of kitchen cabinets that I keep coming back to. Sold as custom kitchen sets or as individual stock pieces, the grain of the wood, beautiful (and exclusive to Greentea) hand-forged hardware and trim detail is both Asian and Craftsman at the same time, with enough character to be beautiful and enough attention to design to be eminently useful. Their Loft Kitchen custom design, above, is a combination of the various Mizuya cabinets, including an island and a full range of wall cabinets and accessories; other past custom kitchens have included the simplified Asian Bistro, minimalist Zen Modern, and Chalet Chic, which was tailored for a more open, airy space. Of course, each piece is available by itself as well – all the islands, hutches, wall and base cabinets and pantries you could possibly need are available piecemeal should you wish to design your own kitchen, amd all can be installed in a fixed position or left free-standing (for a movable island, for example). The custom design services offered are impressive – Greentea's staff of furniture and room designers are more than happy to assist with your own custom project or do the work for you; their staff worked extensively with Kim Johnson, owner of a 100-year-old home in Ottawa, on her recent remodel, and the results were very impressive; Kim blogged the entire process on her website, Design to Inspire.

    I'm very happy to have a piece of theirs up in my own modern Craftsman kitchen, and I hope to have a few photographs of it soon; a smaller version of the Dana cabinet (pictured above; mine is a similar to what sits above the glass cabinets on the right and left of this unit) completes the rear wall of that recently-remodeled room in my 1925 Mission Revival bungalow in Sacramento, California, and it's a perfect complement for the bamboo floors, stone countertops and glass tile backsplash that round out the project. Some day, I'd like to own one of their step tansus, which I have always maintained are the perfect bridge between an austere Asian design style and the earthy workmanship of the Craftsman aesthetic. And they're running a special "Stepping Into Summer" promotion right now, with 20% discounts on these unique pieces, including the Elm Burl step tansu, shown below.

    Owner Dale Storer has worked hard to make sure that Greentea's products complement a wide range of architectural styles, though, and much of their more contemporary designs would look at home whether in a traditional Japanese home, a Craftsman bungalow, or a modern high-tech apartment. The Lattice TV Stand, pictured below, hides components behind a latticed sliding door that still allows remote controls to function, and is just as good a match for an urban loft as it is for a 90-year-old brown-shingle Craftsman bungalow. Every one of these pieces is made from reclaimed wood, and all come in a variety of finishes with different types of hardware available as well. Mike Ramsey writes that the reclaimed wood usually comes from "aging rural structures that are being taken down to make way for Asia's rapidly expanding urban centers. The Maru tables are the best example since they're turned into tables directly from being reclaimed. The original supports are cut into legs who have correspondingly sized holes cut in the base of the slabs of floor."

    Their antiques stock, some of which is on hand at their Toronto showroom, is also worth checking out; I'm partial to the large selection of all sorts of Japanese tansu, but they also carry plenty of Chinese and Korean pieces as well.

    I'm not so used to giving such praise to a business – as regular readers know, I'm pretty stingy with compliments and generous with criticism, which is certainly a fault. However, after dealing with this company myself and going gaga over their website, I just wanted to make sure you were all as familiar with them as I've become. After seeing so many (primarily) Japanese antiques blend so well with the large shingled Craftsman homes of California, but noticing the absence of same elsewhere in the country, I thought perhaps most people didn't realize that the two styles matched so well.

    If you're in or near Toronto, definitely check out the Greentea showroom; otherwise, spend a few minutes browsing their website, or call them at 1.866.426.7286 to talk with someone about your kitchen design or furniture needs.

    I've made a small Flickr album for photos of their work; I'll soon add a good shot of the Dana cabinet in my own kitchen; those of you who already have Greentea cabinets, please do send me your photos, and I'll add them as well!

  • Strictly Wood Furniture: a warning to consumers

    Several times in the past we mentioned Strictly Wood Furniture, their excellent prices and the seemingly high quality Mission Revival reproduction items they sold. However – and I have to admit I'm definitely behind the times on this since the complaints date back four years – I found this thread on Gardenweb detailing dozens of people's very serious problems with the company. Some have waited years for furniture or refunds that never came, others took delivery of obviously broken or incomplete orders; all had one thing in common: that they were unable to get any kind of honest answer from the seemingly friendly folks who worked for Strictly Wood. SWF went so far as to give completely fabricated fedex confirmation numbers – meant to maintain the illusion that a refund check was on its way to the customer – on multiple occasions. What a scam! And, as of last year, their flagship showroom in New York City is shuttered.

    The good luck is that they have closed down; the bad news is that they've only closed down under that name, and keep reappearing under others: watch out for their other fronts (they are apparently still selling, or rather promising to deliver, via constantly-changing Yahoo stores and various auction sites, too).

    Ralph Jones helped them go into receivership and writes that most of the customers who never got their money back or the furniture they ordered were eventually given something; however, after contacting a half dozen people who had posted in the Gardenweb thread, only one had received any communication at the time Strictly Wood closed down. The Turkish company that made the furniture, however, was never guilty of any wrongdoing, and still makes excellent furniture and sells via other vendors – these problems were completely the fault of the American vendor, Strictly Wood. Furniture.