Heywood you look at this!

[helicaldrive]

Forgot to mention

In addition to Boomerang, check out Strictlyheywake.com -- he's in Hagerstown, MD, about a 45 minute drive from DC. He does a really good job refinishing in Champagne. He has a very large stock of furniture -- and you can buy it as is, or have him refinish it.

In St. Louis, Rayfield Furniture Restoration does a great job.

The original finishes were opaque, and somehow muted the woodgrain to emphasize the curvaceous lines of the furniture, and no refinisher I am aware of has ever figured out how to replicate that effect as well as the original. The good refinishers can replicate it to some extent. Those who don't know what they're doing ruin the piece because the woodgrain stands out and wages war with the lines of the furniture -- and both sides lose.

The original finishes were far superior. But it's challenging to find pieces with original finishes in satisfactory condition. Scratches, blemishes, and old finishes with a patina can sometimes lend character to traditional furniture, but somehow they make H-W look incredibly unattractive. So more often than not, you have to settle for refinishing.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Ugh!

I've died and gone to heaven! I LOOOOVE the Heywood Wakefield...

I have some vintage furniture of my own... This Bedroom set was purchased by my grandparents in 1949, for $382.00.
I think it was in 2002 that my grandmother was ready to get rid of it, and I was ready to re-do my bedroom. I chose a vintage theme... and I was able to talk her into letting me have the set (she kind-of scrateched her head as to why I would want the stuff)... It's all birdseye maple, and the pictures don't do the pieces justice.

I can't even begin to put into words how much it means to me... to have been given these pieces of furniture.

In 1949 they paid:
$78 for the bed (headboard, footboard, frame)
$116 per dresser (they bought two of the same dresser)
$36 per nightstand (two of these)

I also have the mirrors which can be hung above each of the dressers, and glass tops for the nightstands and dressers. (One of the dressers is in my closet, as I didn't have enough floor-space for the second one.)

Here's the bed and nightstands:

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Pillows Removed

Pillows Removed...

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Matching Footboard...

Not currently on the bed... I need to get a frame which will allow a footboard, and conversion-kit brackets to attach it with.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Dresser...

I Love it! There's not a day I wake up and don't *swoon* over this stuff.
The other (matching) dresser is in my closet.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

While I'm at it...

Here's my desk... Which was also my grandmother's. They owned a Jewelry store for 35 years (retired in 1985), and this was her desk and chair from the beginning.

 

[Versatronic]

Wheeeew

Steve, awesome stuff. I like that Kohinoor piece with the top with the two thin drawers. I don't have that piece.

I agree with you 100 percent about the Wakefield finish. In my opinion, very very few refinishers get it even close to right. Usually there is way too much wood grain showing through and you're right, it takes away from the great lines. In my case, I have always held out for pieces that had good original finish. I don't have any refinshed pieces at all. But, if I ever did need to refinish a piece, I have two of the best refinishers in the U.S. in reasonable close proximity. StrictlyHeyWake being one of them.

 

[hooverwheelaway]

Yet another...

This guy seems to know his Heywood Wakefield, also...

http://www.springdalefurnishings.com

 

[veg-o-matic]

OMG!

I just had to go change my panties.

veg

 

[gansky1]

Steve - -your home and furniture collection is beautiful, everything is so well put together too, you've mixed the new and vintage wonderfully. Do your antique radios all work?

Fred - that bedroom set is fantastic, and even better that it comes from family. It sure is a tribute to your grandparents that it's in such mint condition too, you're very lucky! Nice lamps as well!

 

[Versatronic]

The Modern Office

Here is a picture of my home office. It is a bit cluttered at the moment. There's a Heywood Wakefield kneehole desk in wheat. The entire lenth of the top front is actually a huge drawer. Nobody realizes that by looking at it. The old Heywood Wakefield hidden drawer trick.

To the right of it is a huge side table. Wheat. This table is highly sought after because it's great for holding a TV on the top while there's an open shelf under the top for a VCR or DVD player.

Finally, on the right, you can see my HW revolving cocktail table. The entire top spins around. I believe this is the same table that Estate Sale Gary has in one of his pictures. This is not marked with the finish for some reason. I suspect it's a wheat finish.

 

[estatesale_gary]

Same coffee table Versatronic

That is the same coffee table that I have in the rec room. My brother's kids kept treating it like a merry go round - one would get onto it and the other would spin it around. A while back, my partner got some really great vintage furniture from his aunt. I had the bases refinished to match the Heywood Wakefield and the tops re-silvered (mirrors). It's the gayest living room in the neighborhood. The sofa and chairs were estate sale finds and recovered in vintage fabric.

 

[helicaldrive]

Hi Greg

Yes, the radios all work.

Unlike Robert, I'm not talented enough to know or learn how to fix them myself. However, I discovered that St. Louis has an antique radio club called ARCH (Antique Radio Collectors & Historians). So I popped in on one of their meetings, and rubbed elbows afterward until I found a retired guy who liked to do radio restorations for fun and supplemental income. He fixed radios and TV's for a living all his life, and in his retirement, he spent his time restoring radios, TVs, and console Hi Fi sets. He collected them at estate sales, etc. He had a huge basement below his ranch house, and the basement was completely full of steel shelving crammed with radios, all of which he had restored to mint condition. I don't know how he did it, especially with the plastic bakelite ones, because he did NOT paint them like most people do. Later I heard that he passed away, and I always wondered if his wife kept his collection.

 

[helicaldrive]

Absolutely love that pink living room!

You have a brilliant mind for decorating. Maybe I'm just weird, but it gives me the same sense of delight and amusement I get from the sort of pissy elegant women who would wear power red fingernails and lipstick and bellow, "Don't f#$% with me fellas! This ain't my first time at the rodeo."

 

[frigilux]

Here, here! I love your gaygaygay living room. It's really quite perfect.

 

[dalangdon]

I LOVE your Living Room, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that sofa!!!!!

 

[Versatronic]

Oh my God

This is now officially my favorite thread of all time. Who knew that so many people here had such beautifully done midcentury homes? I just love looking at these works of art! Fantastic!

 

[gansky1]

High Airflow...

This thread may be the death of me....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140031661733&fromMakeTrack=true

 

[jasonl]

Dan

What's that big dial on your hifi that say "Versasonic?"? BTW, nice stereo, Moto had some good ones back then.

 

[dalangdon]

Jason, that's actually a "Vibrasonic" - as far as I can tell, it's a reverb chamber. The idea is that you can use it when listening to records to give it more of a "concert hall" feel.

I don't use it much, but it can be fun at times. The only bad thing is that sometimes it turns on when you are listening to news or something (I think there may be a short in there somewhere)

There's also a third channel speaker in the center, but I don't like it: I don't know if it's blown or what, but it muddies things up too much for my taste.

But all in all, it's a great stereo. I use the tape input for my satelite radio/iTunes, and it sounds magnificent.