Hewn and Hammered

for sale: Stickley Settle, c. 1907

This beautiful L&JG Stickley settee is on Ebay right now. Asking price is a bit over $5,000.

How to Make the Most of Space in Your Bedroom

From time to time, we run short guest articles for friends and companies we like. This short note on space-saving bedrooms is one such:

Small bedrooms in which manoeuvring is difficult are not usually synonymous with comfort, luxury and relaxation. For those without the option of physically expanding their bedroom space, making the most of what is available through innovative solutions is the way forward – and here are a few examples:

Sliding wardrobe doors
Unlike conventional wardrobe doors that swing out, sliding wardrobe doors don’t require any extra room to open or close. This means you can utilise space close to your wardrobe rather than having to leave it clear. You could position bedroom furniture, such as a bed or bedside table, close to your wardrobe without having to move it every time you need to get some clothes.

Mirrors
Mirrors not only reflect light, making a darker room appear lighter, but in reflecting the contents of your bedroom they will help make a room appear to bigger. Get creative with mirrors by hanging them above headboards on beds or opposite the window to reflect the most light possible. Even sliding wardrobe doors can benefit from a mirrored front and makes this particular item of furniture multi-purposed.

Storage beds
With clothes, shoes, bedding, make-up, jewellery, toiletries and all your personal belongings crammed into one room, it’s safe to assume that bedrooms require ample storage. Smaller bedrooms can prove problematic in our quest to store all our belongings but storage beds could have the answer.

Doing two jobs in one, storage beds not only provide a place to lie down and sleep but they also give ample room for clothing and bedding to be stored. Divans are the most common form of storage bed but there are plenty of boldly coloured options which are ideal for children.

Shelves
Even in the smallest of bedrooms there is bound to be some space on the wall that can be used for storage. We all have books, ornaments and other treasures we want on display and this is where putting up shelves can prove to be invaluable.

However, this doesn’t have to be excessive and whilst shelves offer great storage solutions, fitting too many in one room can be overpowering. Shelves don’t have to be big or deep, just as long as they provide ample room for a few essential items. To create a seamless look, opt for bracket-less or floating shelves and stagger their height to add depth to your design.

For bedroom furniture such as mirrors and sliding wardrobes, see the range of space-enhancing furniture offered by Betta Living, specialists in innovative interior design features.

Creative Commons-licensed photograph
by Jeremy Levine Design

ed & alice syszynski: ready to build

We've been big fans of Alice Suszynski's cabinetry ever since we first saw a small cabinet of hers at a bungalow show in San Francisco. Now, Alice has teamed up with her engineer husband Ed to produce a line of ready-to-build kits - small chests, cabinets and boxes intended for jewelry and other precious small items - showing off some of her signature styles. Dream Mountain Studios' ready-to-build line currently includes almost a dozen different designs, all firmly part of the Arts & Crafts tradition - Alice's prairie, bird and floral motifs are my personal favorite.

While you're at it, take a look at Alice's larger (and often custom) case goods.

reclaimed wood tables

From time to time, we allow a company or craftsperson we know and trust to place a sponsored post here at Hewn and Hammered. This particular piece is from Arcadian Lighting, who have been selling home lighting fixtures and lamps online at a deep discount for over 15 years.

Today's guest post is from Susi, a writer for Arcadian Lighting. Visit their website and cool blog for more information about interior design, lighting design, and beautiful light fixtures. A green trend in design is using reclaimed wood for furniture and floors. Reclaimed wood tables are probably the most common type of furniture where you can find reclaimed wood being used. Here are 8 examples of reclaimed wood tables, from contemporary to traditional, that demonstrate green design can be gorgeous design.

 

Pinterest (via)

Reclaimed wood can be used for console tables, side tables and bedside tables as well as dining tables and coffee tables. Reclaimed wood is a great, green option for any type of table.

Pottery Barn (via)

Reclaimed wood is such a hot trend right now that major retailers are getting behind it with their products. Look for dining tables, coffee tables, and console tables all made of reclaimed wood.

Cote de Texas (via)

A reclaimed wood and steel coffee table looks right at home in a traditional/farmhouse living room. Reclaimed wood tables work well with a number of styles and decors.

Southern Hospitality (via)

Dining tables made of reclaimed wood mean you don't have to worry about every little stain or scratch. This reclaimed wood trestle table has an antique feel to it. Always aware of a room's light fixtures, we love the lamps and drum pendant light in this room.

LA Times Blogs (via)

Reclaimed wood paired with metal bases has contemporary clean lines that almost feel industrial. These clean lines mean the reclaimed wood table can work in a variety of dining rooms or kitchens.

Apartment Therapy (via)

Slabs of reclaimed wood have a more contemporary feel to them when used as tables. Paired with sleek modern or contemporary chairs, this slab table recalls the designs of mid-century design master, George Nakashima.

LA Times Blogs (via)

A sleek coffee table lets the character and charm of the reclaimed wood be the star. Looks great with the modern style sofa, but could also work in a more traditional room.

FFFFound (via)

Reclaimed wood has built in charm and age. Knicks, gouges, patina, color variation and rustic finishes are all part of the charm of reclaimed wood tables. Vintage pendant lights are perfect above reclaimed wood tables. Content provided by Arcadian Lighting, a site that specializes in top quality lighting fixtures at extremely affordable prices. If you like this post, be sure to stop by the Arcadian Lighting blog and say hello!

A Norwegian Wood – Would You?

From time to time, we allow advertisers and friends to supply articles for inclusion on Hewn & Hammered; the following was contributed by our friends at furniture seller Argos.

I went to Norway last March with my brother Jack and two friends – between getting lost in Oslo and seeing the Northern lights, we spent two weeks eating prawn paste in the drizzle and getting ice-burn from ski-lifts. It was wonderful.

I’m moving into a new flat next month and have been looking to Jack’s photos for décor inspiration. Norway’s distinctive style is big, bold and homely, a nice mix of fixed-up old stuff and modern conveniences. And it’s colourful: the tradition in Norway is to paint the wooden panels of your house red, blue, green, or yellow – every shade has a shape and size. The country’s alternately startlingly white with snow or lushly green – every season creates a perfect backdrop for their rainbow roads.

I want to bring their outsides inside, have the same bright white and colours with natural textures. The marriage of cold winter white and warm yellow wood is celebrated in Oslo’s opera house, finished 3 just years ago. It was designed to look like an iceberg, floating on the Oslofjorden, and this inside wall represents a wave.

I’m already the proud owner of an eclectic mix of vintage and crafted tables, shelves and cupboards. What I need is modern colour to offset all the warm woody tones - large blocks of deep sea blue, red and turquoise. I’ve bought one of Argos’s bright sofas, and am currently on the hunt for the haphazard details that make it cosy: floral cushions, a woven blanket, a pale sheepskin rug, an intricate glass vase – and some tubes of prawn paste for the fridge.

Peepshow Bookcase

The beautiful Peepshow bookcase is $2800 (!) from Lekker Home. Lekker claims this is made from "Dimn wood" which I assume is a misspelling of "dimb," a protected type of tree found only in Senegal which is illegal to harvest without a special permit. Permits are issued only to salvage wood from a single naturally-felled tree at a time, which makes me wonder about the provenance of the wood - but which also explains the high pricetag.

Freestanding Shelving from Ragna Gutschow

"Schrankbox," a freestanding shelf and drawer unit, was built by Ragna Gutschow in Hamburg.

the appeal of the wooden library card catalog

My parents met while students at UC Berkeley and I was born while they were in graduate school; my father stayed on at the university, eventually becoming a faculty member and administrator there. It's no surprise, then, that I spent a lot of time roaming libraries and their stacks.

One of my fondest memories of that time is of the wooden card catalogs that used to document the holdings of the graduate and undergraduate libraries - vast, long room-fulls of tiny little drawers, all in cases polished smooth by generations of student fingers and hands.

Since then, I've always loved these things; it might be that they offer an ideal of secure compartmentalization of everything, with each item having its own correct place, certainly an ideal for a perfectionist like me. Or it could be the inflexible grid that they are designed along, which appeals to my technician side. The grain of the wood, the warmth of it, always seemed to match that beautiful Craftsman finish, the fumed oak look that has become the hallmark of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Whatever the reason, these things are beautiful, and you don't find them in good shape all that often. Certainly, you get them more often than a decade ago, with so many libraries going all-digital, but they're still hard to find.

Here are a few that are up for sale right now:

• a 60-drawer catalog in Palm Beach Gardens, FL ($300)
• a gorgeous set of 3 60-drawer catalogs in Minneapolis, MN ($150 ea)
• an interesting and well-kept card catalog / file cabinet with inconsistently-sized drawers in Minneapolis, MN ($800)
• a small tabletop 15-drawer unit with pretty brass hardware in Detroit, MI ($299)
• a "library bureau card catalog" that is actually a refinished/restored printer's cabinet - drawers for type and cuts and sorts (although not full-size type drawers); inclined top for composing - absolutely beautiful! - in Long Island, NY ($900, and a good deal at that price)
• an "immaculate" all-cherry 70-drawer cabinet with pull-out shelves in Cleveland, OH ($975)
• an interesting 60-drawer unit, looks like 1930s or '40s design, in San Antonio, TX ($1500)
• a table-top 15-drawer cabinet with attractive stainless steel or nickel hardware in Milwaukee, MN ($250)
• A good looking, circa 1930 20-drawer unit on top of a pretty, decorative stand/table in Annapolis, MD ($800)
• a small unit with large drawers, this 4-drawer piece is rather original, in Sarasota, FL ($145)

Rago Arts & Auctions: Highlights

 

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Rago Arts & Auctions recently updated and enhanced their website, offering a more complete catalog of available "passed lots" - items not sold at previous auctions - as well as memorable highlights from recent auctions. Some amazing stuff, there; kind of neat to see price records for really excellent examples.

The most recent Early 20th Auction was this past Friday, October 1 2010. Some highlights are pictured above.

this weeks' Craigslist finds!

Plenty of gorgeous bits & pieces of furniture on sale around the country this week; here's a rundown of some Stickley pieces that stood out:

• relatively new settle, sideboard, and other pieces in Phoenix AZ, all for $5600
• signed drop-front desk in Burlingame CA for $850
• model 370 Gustav Stickley ladder-back side chairs in Manhattan, $1250 for three
• signed Gustav Stickley Morris chair in Lodi CA for $2100
• signed L&JG Stickley rocker with what looks like the original leather seat in Rochester NY, $750