Hard rubbish

This weekend passed was Hard Rubbish in our suburb. I had absolutely no intention scouring the footpaths looking for mid-century gems which we really don't need and can't fit into our shoe-box of a house. But, shortly after 1:00pm on Saturday, I had to race out to pick-up a print that I'd had framed with the framers closing at 2pm.

The second I turned into the main road I saw the above set of chairs. I pulled over immediately and started to panic knowing I'd stumbled onto something special but I had no one to help me put them in the car. I couldn't even remember how to flatten the back seats I was in such a fluster. 

So I rang home and called in the cavalry who had to walk to me because I couldn't leave those chairs unattended.

We managed to fit the chairs in the car, drove them home and then walked back to carry the table home by foot. Worth every agonising step.

The chairs are plywood and have been upholstered at least twice. That upholstery has to go and I'm seriously thinking of getting the whole setting re-sanded and re-stained. Look at those curves and oblongs!

The table extends but the extension has seen better days so that'll be ditched. A clever Instagram follower suggested we'd found ourselves a set of Arne Jacobsen Pre Prop chairs for Asko dating about 1968/69. If only. Google Pre Prop chairs and you'll see what she means.

The Solid Gold Dancers have adopted the setting for themselves. They love it.

I visited the owner today to thank her for the setting. She said the set was hand-made for her family in about 1968/69 by a local furniture maker called Peacocks Furniture. She said she was too old for it now and we had to be careful not to sit at the front of the chairs because they'll tip-over under us.

I haven't been able to find anything about that Peacocks Furniture, but have never seen anything like these chairs before and I think it's fab to have some mid-century locally-made furniture. They're heavy and solid and slightly chipped, but with a sympathetic repair I think they'll end-up looking smashing.

Spurred on by our first find, we headed out again in the car. The Solid Dancers have now fine-tuned design-sensors and were picking-out furniture left-right-and-centre. The above is a perfect replica Max Breuer with its replica tell-tale "Made in Italy" sticker.

We then relieved an old lady of her replica Butterfly chair. It's metal but not as heavy as the usual Butterfly chair so in the next thunderstorm it'll blow across the road and take out a geriatric neighbour but, again, with a new cover it'll look fab.

And finally, the husband spotted this concrete planter. I scrubbed it with bleach and it matches perfectly with the concrete-sprayed walls. Yes, our external walls are sprayed concrete.

And the print that caused it all? A print which used to hang in my parents' room during the '70s of an Aboriginal stockman or tracker with his daughter. It's sat in a dusty old shed for the last ten years or so. So another bit of old junk to add to the collection really.

I love the old stuff better than the new stuff.