Pretties

[akirlu]

For anyone who had admired our Deco couch and chair, here's the first set that's even vaguely similar that I've seen for sale:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/fur/762174382.html

It's much swoopier in the lines, which makes it less practical, but that burled wood sure looks fancy in the pictures. And the price is pretty darn good, if anyone's in the market in the area...

Comments

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I like the broad, flat wooden armrests on yours, although I suspect that would accumulate Stuff in our household.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Possibly because we have enough other spots designated for the shoals of kipple to accumulate, we don't get that much on the armrests. The odd coaster or remote is usually about it. And the armrests are so damn versatile and handy. You can rest your drink on them, or your laptop, and in cases of somewhat smaller parties, where the conversation is more general in the room, the armrests can also serve as extra seating. I just love those wide, flat armrests.

[lasirenadolce.livejournal.com]

I was noticing the couch and chair but was too deep in conversation to pull away and ask about them. They are wonderful.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

It's actually a rather sad story, the fact that we have those pieces. They used to be part of the furniture of Suburbia Coffee, a lovely little coffee house and hang-out down on Meeker Street in the old part of Kent. The owner, Adrienne, has a wonderful design sense, and collected furniture that was all period-appropriate to the old streamline late Deco building that Suburbia was in, including that couch and chair, which her husband and his boss reupholstered for her in their art furniture shop. Hal and I much admired that couch and chair.

When we bought our house about a year ago, we had the idea of working toward furnishing and refurbishing it in the direction of the era when it was built -- in the late 1940s -- with a focus on late Art Deco. Nothing I was finding on craigslist was quite as handsome as that set -- I particularly like the broad wooden waterfall-style armrests that are so multifunctional -- and so I asked Adrienne where she had found it.

Turns out it was another craigslist find, but she had hunted for months before and after and never seen another like it. Also turns out that the reupholstery job she had done was by a guy who normally makes thousands of dollars for a single chair, and the work was all mastercrafted, hand bound, and completely unobtainable on our budget, even if I did find a piece I wanted to re-do. So I resigned myself to the prospect of a less-spiffy set.

Then, alas, Suburbia hit the breaking point. Various external disasters in that part of the business district had put them in debt and kept them there for too long, and Adrienne put the business up for sale. When she couldn't find a buyer, she closed up for good and sold off the furniture, and very kindly remembered us when she did. She really wanted that particular set to go to someone who would love and appreciate it, and so we got the couch and chair. But in truth, I would rather still have Suburbia to hang out in and have a latte and settle for a lesser couch and chair.