Lane "First Edition" Bedroom Set *edited*

 I originally had this titled and labeled as a "Scandia" bedroom set from Lane.  I have found a number or references on-line that use this name.  My friend midcenturymike came by today and saw them and told me the line was actually named "First Edition" by Lane.  He had bought and sold some of the pieces in the past and one of them had an original brochure in it.  I tease Mike sometimes because he picked up the nickname "Guru" for knowing a lot about mid century furniture.  Sometimes I help him I.D. a piece, sometimes he helps me.  Thanks Mike! 

This beautifully restored mid-century modern bedroom set can be the star of your modern bedroom. The "Scandia" line by Lane features sculpted wood pulls that have a louvered effect and have bookmatched walnut veneers across all the drawer fronts. The milled case edges and faceted legs have been dyed a slightly lighter color for a nice contrast. The nightstand was custom made to match the dressers. It was so well done I didn't realize it wasn't made by Lane until I looked inside. It provides great extra storage with a drawer and open storage behind the doors. The low dresser has 9 drawers and has a trapezoid shaped mirror that mounts to the back. The upright dresser has 5 drawers. As a bonus both the low dresser and nightstand have custom cut glass tops to add extra protection. Although it is 50 years old the design of this set is very "today" and looks like it came from the pages of a Room and Board or DWR catalog.

I didn't have great photo conditions to work with so not my best effort there.  However, these pieces came out beautifully.  I've done a highboy from this line before.  It was one of my favorites then and still is.  The veneers on these pieces are awesome and the design of the drawer fronts and legs do not give it a dated look at all.  I would definitely put these in my bedroom if I had the need.  I don't think this set will hang around long.

Dimensions: Low Dresser 66"W x 31"H x 18"D
Highboy 38"W x 45"H x 18"D
Nightstand 18"W x 29"H x 22"D
Mirror 32"W x 44"H

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Low Minimalist Walnut Coffee Table from DWR

I don't often get to restore new modern pieces but when I picked up this piece it was a bit more worn than I would like, so I went ahead and completely refinished it.  The owner told me it was from DWR however I do not know the name of the line or designer.  It looks very similar to the Matera line by Sean Yoo.  It is a nicely made piece with solid walnut frame supporting a thin walnut veneered top.  The table sits very low at only 9" high, accentuating its minimal lines.  I would look great in a modern loft or paired with the Baughman sofa and chair I have posted.

Dimensions: 51"L x 29 1/2"W x 9"H

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Ingmar Relling for Westnofa Leather Sling Chair

Ingmar Relling is probably better known for his "Siesta" lounge chair that Westnofa produced for many years.  This chair is much more rare and similar in design to Sigurd Ressell's   "Falcon" chair or Odd Knutsen's "Luna" chair.  Like those, this chair has a canvas sling that is supported at 4 corners of a wood frame.  The sling has some support sewn into it and it supports a padded leather seat surface.  The frame of this chair is more elegantly designed than the X-frame of the Luna and is sturdier than that of the Falcon.  The wood itself is a Rosewood colored laminated ply that was often used in the Scandinavian sling chairs.  There was a chrome tubed version of this chair as well as a high back version.
I acquired this chair from the original owners who had it nearly 40 years.  Originally this chair had a camel colored naugahyde seat covering.  This covering started to stiffen and crack, so a few years ago they had the seat cushion completely redone in new, soft leather.  With this change I'd say this chair is now better than new.

Dimensions: 31"W x 31"D x 28"H
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Stanley Theme II "Cosmopolitan" Dresser

Life (and vintage furniture) is full of little surprises.  I've had this piece in my garage for over 2 years.  When I first acquired it, I didn't pay much attention to what it was made of.  It was dark brown, I assumed it was walnut, the design was interesting, I loaded into the car.  It didn't take long to realize it wasn't walnut.  The case and drawer fronts are all Pecan.  Pecan is considered the same as Hickory in woodworking terms, Pecan is the fruit-bearing variety of Hickory.  Hickory and Pecan are very strong, sturdy woods that are great to make furniture from.  However, they are not as easy to finish and give them a "modern" look.  With clear finishes they tend to look very yellow and "rustic".  They do sometimes have interesting grain patterns and color variation.  I knew if I just stained them, that variation would disappear.  With all the pieces I do I try to use a finish process that takes advantage of the inherent qualities of the particular material.  Walnut, Rosewood and Teak are no-brainers.  Their natural coloring makes them beautiful by themselves.  Less-is more is the right approach for those.  Pecan was going to take something else.

I finally decided to pull this piece out and start working on it.  My next surprise was that the decorative "carvings" on the front could be removed and, they were plastic.  This would make the prep easier but eliminate the possibility of staining them.  I was starting to get some ideas on the design direction I would take. The next surprise came when I removed the carvings.  They revealed that the fronts of the doors were a veneer patchwork of burled wood!  Being a materials kinda guy this was like finding a pot of gold.  Burled woods are incredibly beautiful with their swirly grain and coloring.
Now I was going to have to try to find a way to visually tie the painted carvings and the burl to the pecan.  Contrasting the burl with the surrounding materials would really put the focus on the burl, but I didn't want to just paint everything else and wanted to show the grain variation in the pecan.  I was lucky enough to have an old pecan end table that I got with some other pieces.  It didn't have much design interest so I decided to use it as a finish test piece.  After playing around with a number of techniques and finishes I came up with a process that gave the Pecan a bleached look and still showed the grain.  Painting the case edge and carvings white would enhance the bleached Pecan and offer the needed contrast for the burl.  The results are what you see below.

A couple of year ago Stanley Furniture released their "Heritage Collection" at the High Point Market trade show.  Stanley acquired a number of their mid-century pieces and restored them at their factory.  Among them was a "Theme II" credenza.  The designers at Stanley choose to paint the entire doors and carvings white and finished the case in a contrasting brown.  It is a handsome combination but I have a hard time knowing that under the white paint is beautiful burl veneer work.  The collection was very well received and sold almost immediately.  Pricing on the case pieces was $2000-$6000.

http://www.virtuelreel.com/restored-vintage-stanley-furniture-heritage-collection-an-interview-with-randy-wells-22-photos

Here are a couple articles with copies of the original catalogs.  In the description they offered a finish named "Maltese" which was "like that of a frosted blue mink".  I have not been able to find any pictures of this finish.  Perhaps mine is a modern interpretation.

http://www.justinteriorideas.com/vintage-stanley-furnishings-topic-ii-line-10-web-page-catalog-from-the-firm39s-archives-retro.html

http://retrorenovation.com/2014/03/12/vintage-stanley-furniture-theme-ii-line-10-page-catalog-companys-archives/

The "Cosmopolitan" dresser has 6 large drawers behind the 4 doors.

Dimensions: 72 5/8"W x 31"H x 19"D
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I'm not normally good at taking before pics, but as I discovered the burl, I snapped these photos.  Note the original muddy brown color with "wormwood" effect.

Blog Navigation Improvement

I just added a feature that should hopefully help navigate the blog and find available items more quickly.  On the right side there is a new menu labeled "Modwerks Items".  You can now click on the "for sale" label and go directly to all the items that are currently for sale.  The items under the "sold" label have been sold (hopefully that is obvious).  This will eliminate having to scroll through each item to see if it has been sold or not.  Sorry it took a while to add this!

Milo Baughman for Lane Burl Front Dresser and Mirrors

I don't like making major design changes to pieces that have some design significance.  However, this piece had some issues that forced my hand.  The original pedestal base had damage that was beyond reasonable repair.  The top also had damage and also had previously refinished, which left it slightly different from the rest of the case.  I tried a number of brown stains but did not find one that I thought complimented the burl instead of competing with it.   Black seemed to do the most to compliment the burled olive ash drawers.

Baughman's designs excelled because he took classic, simple geometric modern lines and added beautiful, luxurious materials such as velvet, rich leather, chrome and in this case exotic burl wood.
The addition of the chrome legs and glossy black finish follow his design methodology.

High gloss black finish is probably the most difficult wood finish to perfect.  There are few craftsmen that can achieve the finish quality you see on Steinway pianos and the like.  A neighbor of mine restores vintage Steinways and his restorations go for about $30k.  He has traveled to Europe and Japan to learn the techniques and has been doing it for 30 years.  I don't have the skills or equipment to do that level of finish.  However this finish is very complimentary to the piece and is more than a simple paint job.  The process involved dying, then staining, then using black tinted clear coat followed by numerous clear coat applications.

This is a large dresser and the 9 drawers offer great storage capacity.  The matching mirrors attach to the rear of the dresser and are rare and beautiful pieces on their own.  Together they will make a great statement to the room they are in.

Here are some similar ones currently available on the web.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/192815511/milo-baughman-for-lane-dresser-credenza
http://www.metroretrofurniture.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?item=8849&cameFrom=505

Dimensions:  78"W x 32"H x 18"D
      mirror:     47"H x 21"W

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Broyhill "Forward 70" Triple Dresser and Mirror

Many of the pieces I acquire are in pretty good condition.  Most vintage furniture galleries or resellers would simply polish them up and put a "for sale" sign on them.  I like to refinish them because I like them to really shine and be a focal point in a room.  I refinish them to look how I'd like them if they were to stay in my home.

This piece is not one of those.  When I pulled it into my work shop to start working on it I questioned if I should have even bought it.  The original finish was in very rough shape.  There were burn marks, water rings, missing lacquer, yellowed and dingy finish, etc.  Most resellers would have run.  The good news was that structurally it was in good shape.  Most of the veneer damage was superficial.  In the end it cleaned up nicely.

The "Forward 70" line was the Broyhill designers' 1960 vision of what 1970's design would be.  The pecan trim around the edge of the case and the 3 center raised decorative panels echo similar designs from Lane with their Acclaim and Perception lines.  These lines were very popular well into the 60's and had similar looking oak trim matched with walnut veneers, so in some ways the Broyhill people had it right.  This triple dresser has 9 drawers, 3 of which are behind the center mounted doors.  Simple brass pulls are used on the 6 exposed drawers.  The case is hardwood pecan wood with walnut veneers.  The pecan is exposed and milled on the front edges to echo the 2-tone look of the decorative door panels.  It is a nice, integrated design and one of the lesser known from Broyhill.

The weather has been good for photos and I had some time to take advantage.  The mirror is a day or two behind on the finish schedule.  I've included a pic from the web that shows the same mirror that is included in the set.  I'll post a pic of the mirror when I get a chance.

Dimensions:  66"W x 31"H x 18"D
         mirror:  42" x 22"

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