The BB's Profile

Here is my tip:
If you look up an estate sale the night before and see a picture of a piece you plan to try and score, look up information the night before for what an authentic piece will look like.
There are some dodgy people running estate sales these days. They'll say something is Knoll or mid century when it isn't. And consider real pricing when comparison shopping. Not 1st Dibs or Ebay.

I watched a reseller today pick up a saarinen coffee table today at an estate sale. (I know she was a reseller because of the conversation she had with the company owner when checking out. She paid $295 for a pretty atrocious fake, which she will undoubtedly flip on to someone else as an authentic piece). The estate seller had marked it knoll, but a few preliminary checks would have confirmed it wasn't. It was a vintage table, but particle board, screws which showed underneath and a white plastic top with a white plastic rim around it that didn't completely meet, and a square top to the tulip base. She didn't even do a magnet test to check the base wasn't aluminum. She didn't even pull out a measuring tape to confirm that the measurements weren't right for an authentic tulip table. As it was, the measurements were written on the particle board underneath and she could have read the measurements were wrong and still missed it!

There are a lot of people competing for the mid century market and the bar to entry has never been lower. Etsy, Ebay and craigslist are all crawling with resellers. Most of them think they're being terribly clever, but the reality is that many of them do not know what they are doing and you will buy their mistake if you aren't careful. Just because an estate seller has marked something as authentic, don't believe it unless you've done your own homework.

Most people will find a Cintique C5 chair in the US. Here is the price list.

http://www.lynplan.co.uk/pdf/Cintique%20Covers%20price%20list.pdf

http://www.lynplan.co.uk/?page_id=85

As a new alternative, I suggest one of the gorgeous chairs at room and board. They are all wood frame types like this for around the $900 price point and made in USA!

Happy MCM hunting my friends.

I too thought about picking up one of these chairs and recovering it, but ebrown is right...they are not comfortable. After much investigation I found the Cintique chair was the mcm wood chair to have. It's also a two cushion, but the spring back and seat are great. Cintique advertised their spring system as "indestructible" and I think they are right as I see many from the 50's and 60's where the springs are still in perfect working order.
In addition to the two cushions, cintique chairs have a piece of fabric that cover the back springs down the back, but it is held in place by small staples and easily replaced.

Bonus: lynplan.co.uk actually still makes covers for the old cintique chair-even the one from the 60s and 50's and will ship to the USA. You can pick your own fabric.

As they were made in England, there are super popular collectors items in Australia and New Zealand. This New Zealand blogger recovers them a lot. Check out her design ideas. The hawaiian print is interesting, but perhaps specific to the pacific mcm "tiki" look. The swan print on the 30's dark cintique was a good choice as well.

http://esdesignwellington.blogspot.com/2012/02/cintique-progress.html

Not per se, but I do believe the local consignment shop is doing a brisk business. Baby boomers are downsizing and let me tell you, there are some rich pickings down the street. And I have utilized their service. It's been a big help to get rid of inherited pieces of furniture that didn't work, mistakes, etc. Getting down to bare bones now and it feels good. I would utilize a swap, but stuck with CL and consignment stores. Sadly, scammers and spammers and ruining CL.

I like it a lot when it's in an eclectic setting. Not so much in the formal settings. In photo number 2,3 &4 it looks like the new neutral. Love the way the wood and antiques plays in with the brown undertones of the sofa in 2. Really like it in three as well. By the time we get to photo five, I'm like "too much" with the cherry blossoms. I like one, but not a fan of pink and white. Like it a lot with the brown. Wouldn't it look gorgeous with oak flooring?
It's hard to say without knowing what you're pairing it with.
The only thing I'd be sick of is another damn brown sofa.

This bathroom needs these:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/108084972/antique-wall-mounted-chromed-soap-dish?ref=sr_gallery_29&ga_search_query=chrome+bathroom&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_vintage_rewrite=vintage+chrome+bathroom&ga_orig_facet=vintage&ga_original_query=2&ga_search_type=vintage

$290 on etsy for a sink not nearly as cool as it's wall mounted.

The belgian linen/renovation hardware/rustic french look finally gets stolen by Ikea. Meh.

The information about this song is about a year or more old. Posted this on FB way back. A bit behind the times aren't we AT?

Someone holding up tiles doesn't do much as far as informing. How about some more education as in...if "intricate" works better in a small space why not show us why? Describe the theory behind it. And saying the pigment goes down 1/4 of the way so it will last??? Really??? Maybe it is more appropriate to say it won't fade. Pigment has nothing to do with clay tiles lasting outside by the pool as she suggested. Pretty sure they would still get water in the pores, freeze and expand in some climates. That's the kind of advice designers give without thinking about it or consulting at the expense of their clients pocket book.