Furniture Reporter

I spent my morning working with a client looking for the perfect chairs to complement her vintage find, a Florence Knoll Desk/Table by Knoll. Some of you may be familiar with this piece designed in 1961. I often find myself undecided on this table or the Saarinen Tulip dining table. Both are beautiful, but the Knoll Table/Desk is rarely seen in residential interiors.  So you can understand my delight when she told me this was the table that she needed help with for her breakfast room. As with everyone of my clients, I dove right in to help come up with a solution. After a long discussion, I found myself wanting the table more than I did in the past. I too had almost forgotten its understated beauty, and as Florence Knoll was quoted saying, “the meat & potatoes” of the Knoll Collection. In a perfect world, I would complement this table with these chairs.

Florence Knoll Table/Desk

Last night I was store hopping again, looking for houseboats and yachts. (Someday.. someday.) The very first place I landed at was Unique Shabby Chic Furniture, which I had not heard of before. True to the name, the first thing I saw when I got there was a dock with a row of ‘shabby’ looking houseboats lined up out front. While these aren’t the sleek and fancy boats you normally see around SL, they exude a sort of quaint charm that made me fall in love with them.

The interior of the boats vary, depending on the model. Some of them are cuter than others, but that gives you the choice depending on what plans you might have for them. I personally love the White Wood Houseboat. They do come unfurnished, but a couple of them are decorated on the inside to give you an idea of how they would look furnished.

The dock is attached to the Shabby Chic furniture store, and although my partner and I were on our way to do something else, I told him I wanted to peek inside for just a moment. The first thing that struck me when I entered was how colorful and cozy everything looked. There were lots of overstuffed chairs and cushions, all done in shades of pinks and pastels, with lots and lots of floral prints. My next thought was, ‘Hey, I’m at Grandma’s house!’ Thats the feel that you get when you look around this store- this could belong to anyone’s Grandma.

The funny thing is, even though this style of furniture would never fit in with the modern/contemporary style of my own home- I fell completely and head over heels with everything here! I only meant to spend a minute or two.. but I kept telling Keeme, ‘just one more room.. let me just peek upstairs really quick.’ I think we ended up spending at least a half hour here, and I instantly decided to bump Shabby Chic to the very top of my list of places to blog about. I couldn’t wait to come back today and spend some more time looking around. The great thing is, even though most of the furniture wouldn’t really work with my house, they have lots and lots of potted plants that will. I’ve been on the search for really nice potted plants and vases for awhile now. I’m very picky, and I’d like the planters to be as pretty as the plants they hold. I see a lot of planters and vases out there that are either too plain, or that have textures that just don’t look right. Hellest Aabye has created some of the nicest ones I’ve seen so far, though. I especially like this ‘fiddlerpalm in blue square pot’, and just had to buy one while I’m here writing this article.

They do have a group available for updates, and also an outdoor and garden center that has lots of super cute pool, lawn and beach furniture. Even a little bridge/dock! But it gets even better.. they also have several lucky chairs, both inside and out in the garden center. From what I’ve seen, they have a wide range of items from the store. And not just the smaller items or decorations, either. I picked up a bookshelf last night, and Keeme got a Beaniechair. Outside just now I saw one of the chair prizes was the dock. And I’m not positive, so please don’t quote me on this one.. but I THINK I even saw one of those houseboats as one of the prizes inside, when I first got here. (You can bet I’ll be stalking these chairs to find out!)

Hats off to Hellest Aabye for making some of the cutest furniture in SL. I totally love this place, and will be back here often!

Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mobil%20Danmark%20Fyn/108/147/26

Travis delivered our pile of lumber this afternoon – and will you look at that, he seems to have turned it into a table of some sort!

We couldn’t be happier with the whole process – from sending him our initial ideas, to stopping by his shop to see the progress, all the way to carrying the finished table into place.  Travis said almost everyone who came to his shop gave it glowing reviews, so Missy and I have our fingers crossed that he’s not too busy building duplicates to make us an office table in a few months.

Also, I mentioned in the last post that we still need to find a worthy piece of pottery for the top.  My sister mentioned in the comments that my aunt is a potter (pottress?  potterette?), so I e-mailed Krista to see if we could commission something.  She seems really happy to make a piece for us, and refuses to let us pay her for it.   She’s exceptionally talented, so we can’t wait to see what she does from the pictures I sent.  (But I’m still buying that four-buttress Teco vase someday, even if TOWWAS disapproves.)

Final details:

Material: Quartersawn white oak from Poy Sippi, WI (storm-felled in 2001)

Construction: glued mortise-and-tenon, zero screws/nuts/nails/other metal joinery

Finish: Minwax Golden Oak, three coats polyurethane, two coats wax

Wood Furniture Care – Looking After Your Patio Furniture
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Adam_Peters]Adam Peters

There is nothing nice than sitting out in the garden on a nice summers day, sipping a refreshing, cooling drink and letting your cares simply drift away. So what better way to do this than to do it on wooden patio furniture?

Wooden patio furniture can make any garden look cozy, warm and homely. It allows you to enjoy your garden and to feel a lot more relaxed, especially after a hard days work. In order to feel happy in life you need to have a space in which you can go to feel relaxed and free and wooden patio furniture can allow you to do just that.

Adding Wooden Furniture to Your Patio

When looking for wooden patio furniture you may be wondering what to go for. One popular choice which many people love is the Adirondack chair which has a smooth finish and it is extremely comfortable to relax into. It also adds a little color into the garden and that can make the garden seem a lot more welcoming.

Basically when choosing what wooden furniture to have, you need to know what it is you are trying to achieve. You ideally want to make your garden look spacious and at the same time you want it to be a little retreat. Perhaps adding a small wooden swing into the garden would be a good idea. Imagine just sitting back with a loved one on the swing slowly letting your worries go as you enjoy the summer night’s breeze.

If you are looking for wooden furniture which is truly elegant then teak furniture is what you should be looking for. It looks beautiful in any garden and it gives off a slight exotic feel to it. Generally you are looking to find the best quality wood that you can and teak is one of the most beautiful along with cedar that you can get. They have excellent weather resistant properties and that means that they do not take as much looking after as other wooden furniture does.

No matter which furniture you do decide to get for your patio, it would be a good idea to add a finish to it just in case. This helps to protect the furniture and it ensures that you have not wasted your money on something that you will have to replace in the near future. You can also wash the furniture a little with warm soapy water every now and again to keep it looking clean and tidy.

Overall wooden patio furniture can make an excellent addition to any garden and it can help you to enjoy your day/evening. Just make sure that you get good quality furniture and then you can even work out whether you want to add further decorations to the furniture such as umbrellas to block the sunlight out or rugs to make the whole space just that little bit more beautiful.

Adam Peters is the author and editor of many outdoor decoration articles and newsletters published on Internet. A website with [http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com/magazine/wood-furniture-care.html]tips on how to maintain wood furniture.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Peters http://EzineArticles.com/?Wood-Furniture-Care—Looking-After-Your-Patio-Furniture&id=650114

Designed by Doug Garofalo, the FireOrb hangs suspended from the ceiling. Groovy, non?

I like the unexpected curviness of this fireplace – it challenges the staid square fireplace-with-a-marble-mantle-centered-on-the-wall expectation. You can sweep under it! It rotates in a circle – a full 360°! I suspect that cleaning it out might be a bit messy (could you dustbust the ashes?), and I wonder if the outside gets hot to touch (bad with kids and pets), but i still want one. It comes in black ($5800) and stainless steel ($6900) versions.