The hard (back)yards - sourcing product

Before we can sell this to you, before we can have the oddly masochistic fun of restoring, before all this we have to source interesting items.

Trade Me has made that easier for sure. In the old days we would be out at 6.00am, circling the neighbourhood, tracking down garage sales to get in on a bargain before anyone else was having breakfast.

In the past year, we have been getting all our base material from Trade Me. Problem is, so does everyone else. And we have been joined on Trade Me by a number of regulars, all chasing the same pieces.

Its oddly expensive, this hobby. Given that the typical sofa consumes around eight metres of fabric, there is up to $400 in that alone. Finishing materials for the timberwork are around $50 a piece, and the labour is just too expensive to think about. Good thing its a hobby, 'cos at minimum wage we are loosing money!

So when we buy, it has to be cheap. Or free. Nothing else makes sense.

With scandi-style and 50's retro/kiwiana being so popular at the moment, its tough getting nice pieces to work on (we are down to our last six suites!).

So, if you have something that needs "doing" get in touch - we could be in the market, or could give you a great deal!

Mareta has a bath

Mareta has been sitting on our covered deck for the last couple of weeks waiting for us to clear other stuff out of the way. Today was her day - bath time!

Steel wool is wonderful stuff. Not the "steelo" type you get at the supermarket - go to the paint and decorating section of your hardware store and you will find it in a wide range of abrasive-nesses. The thing about steel wool is that it cleans and removes old paint and scuff marks, but unlike a course sandpaper it doesn't score the timber.

As you can see from the images, Mareta is still in good structural condition, but her surface finish is, franky, knackered. As we scrubbed, layers of dirt, oils and finishing products peeled away revealing a really nice grain structure.

I got a bit excited at the end of all this scrubbing and so I grabbed the squabs that we intend to sell Mareta with and took a couple of images to get an idea of how she will look. Hope you like it - our lady in red.

The black sheep

Ugly huh? You are soooooooo shallow!

This ugly duckling suite is going to be a serious (black) swan. OK, so some damn fool has applied a layer of acrylic black paint over the frame - so what?

With a couple of days of sanding and preparation, this frame set will be ready for refinishing and we are thinking that the ebony look is actually pretty styley.

So sit back from the screen a bit, squint a little and imagine an ebony frame with grain detail just coming through, and a set of subtle squabs in a beige heavy weave fabric - plain at a distance, but highly detailed close up.

I reckon ready to go by the end of September - post a comment if you have suggestions for a different finish.

Dumpster diving!

Inorganic rubbish collections - you gotta love them!

Today, I spotted a very sad Don concorde-arm sofa in a pile of inorganic due for collection. The folding frame looks like a number of very ADHD kids had spent five minutes jumping on it, and there are no cushions, but the base frame is good.

I'm going back for it tonight!

UPDATE: The frame is a wreck, not worth saving. Makes me feel a bit sick actually. However, it does have a host of good hardware that will be donated to other not-so-damaged pieces so they can live another day.

The rest is firewood.

Mareta, the Mangere sofa

Mareta arrived a few weeks ago. She came from the Auckland City Mission by way of Mangere Bridge, or Pont de Mangere for the more pretentious.

Mareta is a Morgan but is a little different. She folds down and is four-seater - so far, so typical. But her back rest is vertically doweled instead of sprung. Her seat uses the typical sofa suspension system with springs running front-to-back.

She is timbered in the sapele mahogany that was the norm for these units, and is currently showing the signs of her recent past - a few street scars and grazes, but nothing too damaging.

We will be pairing her up with a set of vibrant red squabs that we recently (We??? Jos...) recovered on spec for another sofa. The buyer for that sofa decided on a different upholstery, so these became spare.

Mareta is going to look great in these squabs so watch out for images on here and on Trade Me when we start to look for new owners for this classic lady.

Peggy gets new cushions

Peggy is our current lady in distress - she needed new covers on her squabs.

The foam on the seat squabs is still in good condition. It has held its shape and hasn't collapsed anywhere. Its clean and has retained its loft, so its going back.

We recently bought a roll (around 20 metres actually) of a soft grey/blue/lilac wool upholstery fabric. This is great looking - really simple, very light and soft feel, and should wear well.


Jos has the upholstery in hand. While I do all the hard work writing this blog, she is idling away making new covers. Its ok - I'm keeping her supplied with wine and coffee in equal quantities.

what is happening in Wellington?

We sold the aztec suite last night - thanks missfrivolous!

But here's the thing - the buyer is in Wellywood. So that's the second suite we have sold to a Wellington client in three weeks. We are really pleased that you think so much of our product that you feel the need to go long distance, but I have to ask: is there a shortage of good retro furniture in the lower North Island?