Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Vintage chairs and appliance shopping

Wanda Sykes was doing a comedy show at the coast the same weekend as my mom's birthday and she offered to babysit so we could go. Unfortunately by the time I had secured a sitter the concert was sold out. My mom was still willing to have the boys for the weekend so MR. W and I took that opportunity to go to appliance showrooms to look for a new range, fireplace insert, and he decided to look at refrigerators as well.
The stove we have now is a hotmess. I think that she swapped this out with one that was in the house into which she was downsizing. I knew I wanted to get a slide in range even though the current one is freestanding. I figure the counter top is a white corian so it should be relatively easy to get a small strip to match at the rear, if not we could use some angle iron and a stainless steel strip.  I would prefer the slide in becasue it will have a lip that will prevent crumbs from getting trapped between the stove and the countertop.  We had this problem at our old house and it was pretty gross. I know a kitchen renovation is FAR in our future, but if the stove is still good by then, I'd want to have a slide in application.
We started our search at BASCo. We pretty much narrowed our search down to an Electrolux dual fuel range and the JennAir Prostyle duel fuel range. When I had been looking at stoves online I was interested in the new feature for adjustable oven racks which allow you to have two levels on one side and then one on the other half. I thought it would be a great alternative to a double oven for Thanksgiving dinner. One coudl have a turkey roasting pan on one side and room for two sides on the other. However once I saw it isn the showroom I realized that the rack doesn't go all the weay back so a roasting pan couldn't fit on one side. (This is probably confusing to understand without a picture.) In any event, I was able to eliminate this feature as a requirement.
We both prefered the styling of the JennAir Pro versus the European styling; it is more expensive, but in the big picture not by much. I prefered the control panel on the Jenn Air and Mr. W favored the Electrolux's. For some reason I'd rather have more manual knobs than a digital control panel. 
 
We both liked the pretty blue interior of the Electrolux, although I feel bad for it, it will never stay that clean in our house. It also has a lower oven vs just a warming drawer on the JennAir.  (Probably because of the placement of the control panel on top near the cooking surface. Having them up top is certainly advantageous at the age our children are now.) Two ovens is definitely an advantage.  At this point, I will leave the final decision up to Mr. W. He's mush more particular when it comes to cooking than I am; I'd be happy with either model.
 
We drove out to the Eighty deuce to check out Standard TV & Appliance also. They had a smaller selection of slide in ranges, and the prices were slightly higher.  The did have more refrigerator options for our dimension limitations.  Our favorite was the Kitchen Aid.  It is a french door model which Mr. W really wants, but the freezer section has a somewhat solid bottom, which is a big deal to me.  I really don't like the open wire bottoms, it seems like a mess just waiting to happen.  We both really liked the full width deli drawer. We're big cheese and meat eaters so they extra space will be great.
We also visited Gordon's Fireplace shop to look at gas inserts for the fireplace. We learned that what we probably need is just a gas log unit rather than an enclosed, proper insert. We don't need to heat that much space as an insert will generate. We also don't have enough room to fit a modern insert in our Victorian firebox. More on this later.
On a whim, on the way back from the Eighty deuce, I asked Mr. W to stop at the Monticello Antique Mall. My mom has seen some large garden fountains there a few weeks ago, and I just wanted him to take a look so he could visualize what I was thinking about to eventually use in the triangular shaped parch of grass outside the bay windows of the tower.  They were having a big event with new vendors and all the fountains I had seen a few weeks prior were gone. I was ready to leave, but since Mr. W said he'd never been to this mall before, he wanted to go into the main section to look around. As I followed him in, the very first booth I saw had a pair of Art Deco channel back side chairs.  I've been looking for something like this for our Drawing Room for months.  I've been searching craigslist with not much luck in finding pairs of chairs.  I have seen them on ebay, but can't bring myself to pay for shipping costs.
Here are few images I have been saving. I simple adore these ones!
 
Isn't the fringe detail on these chairs wonderful?!

These ones needed some serious love, but I liked the channel back, low profile arms, and the brushed fringe.

So when I saw this pair, in green, in Portland, and for $125 each I was beside myself with excitement.  We're definitely on a budget right now, but as I told Mr. W I have been searching for months. Plus the original upholstery on these is in such good shape that I wouldn't need to (or have an excuse to) reupholster them for a long time. Fortunately for me Mr. W agreed that the price was right. And since we had no children, or their car seats, with us we had room i the car to get them home.
So here they are in their new home:
 
I think they fit in perfectly with all the other Deco furnishings in our Drawing Room. They even have the same self welt detail on the base as the davenport and arm chair. You can get a better look of the nubby fabric here.

 I am so excited about these two chairs.  I have been sitting in them constantly. I don't think they'll replace my favorite seat in the house, but I feel they really complete this room.  They fill in the bay window, but are lightweight enough that they can easily be pulled forward into the conversation circle. They were just what I was looking for, and I can't believe the deal I got!
  
That photograph is of my Great Grandma Thelma and the nude lamp belonged to my Great-Great Aunt Frances. That textured glass is on original.

2 comments:

  1. (I swear I posted a comment but it apparently didn't stick)

    I vote for the stove with the blue interior and controls on top - beautiful!

    The Art Deco chairs reminded me of the ones at my Grandma's house that we used to spin in - ah good times :-)

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    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure the blue one will be his pick. :)

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