My "new" 50's modern sofa comes tomorrow

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petek

petek

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I found as close to new perfection 50's modern sofa today at the Mennonite Thrift Shop. Couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in, there it sat and as I got closer fearing a big price tag it was only $40 for all 3 pieces. It's one of those low slung squared off, flat broad arms L shaped sofas, the middle section that forms the L is rounded. The colors a snappy Lime ish green made of that rough feeling 50's indestructable nylon or whatever they used with a design cut in it. There's not a wear mark on it and no fading. I can't wait to go pick it up tomorrow, I'm feeling like a giddy schoolgirl *ett*ng her *ants over Bobby Sherman.
 
Congratulations Pete! Can't wait to see some pixs of the sofa.
That material did wear like iron. I don't know the proper spelling,but it was called "frezsay"

Good luck with getting that baby home!
 
It's here

and in as new condition. No fading, no tears other than the dust cloth on the bottom which needs retacking on. Now I have to decide what new colors to paint the walls and or get rid of my bent glass coffee table. From what I can see it doesn't even look like it was ever sat on. The small swivel chairs in front of the window are 50's as well, we used to have them in our living room and I rescued them a couple of years ago from my folks basement.They've faded awful in all the sun in front of the window so I'm going to have to get some protective film put on the glass.
 
And another angle

Not bad for $40...$32 US. I was so disgusted with our old 10 yr old sofa & loveseat. They were sort of retro modern but too big and bulky even though the living rooms pretty large and they were falling to pieces. No more new junk for me.
 
Great Couch!

My foolish suggestions.....

Light grey on the walls, square Heywood Wakefield coffee table. Rectangle may not work, hard to tell if one side of couch is longer....some ideas....

http://heywood-wakefield.com/detail.cgi?m905g?tables
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6546973437&category=63588&rd=1
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6547107496&category=63588&rd=1
On the ends of each couch arm, if you have room:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6548441018&category=63588&rd=1
 
Duh, missed the 2nd picture!

It is NOT hard to tell if one couch "arm is longer", should have scrolled down.

You can also get Wakefield in darker stains if you don't care for the blond.
 
Nice sectional sofa set Pete! It really looks like it came in from a time warp! Like brand new. It must have been from a seldom used period living room. Those will serve you well for many years to come!
 
Gotta do some thinking

Kevin, those step tables are much what I was thinking, I think everyone had those in the 50's. I'll have to phone home because for the life of me I can't remember if our originals are still in the moms downstairs rec room where I rescued the two swivel chairs
Thinking that a round table suits it better, I like the idea of one with a planter in the middle, the mosaics though might be a bit much because of the fabric pattern Dan.

Now the wall color..hmmm gray you say Kevin? I need to find one of those websites you can load the picture in and play with the wall colors, anyone know one? Why do you think gray, it's just that I lean towards bright almost primary colors. Most of the upstairs is stark white and it's getting a bit boring. Nice for chrome and metal furniture though. I was almost thinking some sort of yellow/gold as the sofa has gold in it..but if you think that would be pukey, don't be afraid to say so.. I wont' be offended
 
I forget to mention

The other one who lives here HATES it!!!! LOL
Sez it looks like something off I Love Lucy...hahahaha
I did however mention that it's probably as old or older than he is, and in better shape as well.
 
I won't be offended....

and hopefully you are not offended by my suggestions. This is YOUR home! Anything you do, I just want to see how it comes out!

As for the grey, I love it...my wife got me into it, although I typically do 99% of the designing. We went for a light but "bright" grey, if that makes sense. Grey sounds drab, but this was a very upbeat grey, not a "stormy" grey.

Grey tends to not offset anything negatively, and you have a nice print and other furnishings to bring colors in, plus the couch itself is intensely colorful, in a great way.

In the color test site (I am trying to remember it too, I thought it was Home Depot but I guess not) you can try that yellow--maybe a light one. Yellow is a funny thing, and I totally agree with you, if it is not absolutely right, it will clash like a son of a gun with the couch. My mom picked out yellow for her house, and I was shocked, but when we painted it, it looked great. Yellow is funny. Super pale green is a relaxing color, but I question using it in a living room, and you again have the same challenge of it not quite working with the couch.

I love the high ceiling. If you stay with white or grey, there are tons of things you already have that will bring color in, and you can add more.

Pete, is your carpet grey or almond?
 
The carpet

Well it was beige 10 years ago now it's the color of having put up with 3 dogs, a cat, birds, shoes worn in the house etc. I did shampoo it today so that helped somewhat but it's far gone and needs replacing with laminate or something other than carpet.
I'll head to Home Depot and get some samples of different colors. What do you think about a salmon color?
 
Great sectional!

You do have the luck when you go looking, Pete.

Another idea--I'd consider doing a whitewash (heavily diluted semigloss) over that Berry wall.

Just my .02.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Berry wall LOL

so nobody likes my Berry wall color... LOL
I'll have you all know that I paid $5 for a gallon of that paint in the "off match" section of a local paint store. And it took me 5 coats to cover the the existing white wall.
Painting walls is one of the few chores I really enjoy so if it comes out bad I'll just shrug it off and start again.
 
Painting. Ugh!

I am the exact opposite of you when it comes to painting. I love colors, but I always dread painting. I'm too much of a klutz, and always mess it up.

I like the idea of your salmon non-carpet flooring choice. And the grey wall. Salmon and grey are very "50's" colors, and they will make that nifty sofa of yours really stick out!
 
Oooh oooh oooh!

Pete, I'm w*tt*ng my pants even MORE than when I think of Bobby Sherman!

The Better Half doesn't like it? Is he out of his freaking mind? You need to get rid of him and hook up with someone who would appreciate it. Someone whose last name is o-matic, perhaps ;)

veg
 
Paint and Bobby Sherman

Painting: Few things in life I hate more. In our old house, we had acoustic ceilings, and I guess I am one of the few people left on earth that still like them--nostalgia thing partly for me, we always had it growing up.

Anyways, before we sold that house, it needed painting inside. A roof leak, which I had fixed, left a brown stain on the acoustic ceiling--which had become dingy over time anyways. This was our dining room, which I would say would have been an average size of 14x16.

Because the ceiling was old, alot of the acoustic pieces came down as you rollered the paint on. In addition, it was such a dry surface that it sucked up the paint like crazy. Imagine this: You are painting with a roller---you can't use a stick because it flexes too much to put enough pressure on the roller, which you got to have. So you use just the short roller handle, and of course, you must be on a ladder. As you paint, pieces are launching off the roller into your face and hair. Your roller fills up after a few passes, and you have to get down and wipe the pieces off, or replace the roller. And you have to paint at all different angles to get the coverage to cover the bumps, or you can see spots of old paint.

The ceiling took 7 GALLONS of paint. About 5 hours of work. HORRIBLE! When I had to then paint the walls in a room the next week, it seemed so easy.....

Bobby Sherman: The last family vacation we had we went to Disneyland, I was about 16. My dad and I got seperated from my sisters and mom. So my dad let the couple behind us go ahead of us because my mom and sisters were right behind them. The couple was Bobby Sherman and a girlfriend.

I always liked Bobby Sherman and David Cassidy. I just thought they were cool. And what amazed me about Bobby Sherman is he looked EXACTLY like he did on TV. It was a long line, so basically I stood next to him for close to an hour. He was just polite and smiled and I tried not to stare. Of course my sister was tripping out, but we are not autograph hounds, and we left him alone. I can't imagine the autographs he signed that day, but surprisingly, no one was asking that I saw. Perhaps it was because it was the late 70s, and he was really hot in 1970.
 

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