The Ridiculous Things that People Do to their Perfectly Good Furniture

Critiquing people's design choices sometimes involves treading on thin ice. Something that I might think is a great idea might be anathema to someone else, or vice versa. Just because I in my infinite wisdom think that something is great doesn't necessarily mean that anyone else will, and likewise, just because I think something is god-awful doesn't necessarily mean that anyone will share my distaste.

However, having said that, there are some things that people do to their furniture that I really feel would make anyone with any aesthetic sense whatsoever smack their heads and say "what were they thinking??" Case in point: this beautiful Danish teak dining set that we recently acquired, which was...painted...yellow. Sort of a light custardy yellow. Below, you can see some "before" pictures of the chairs. We don't have any "before" pics of the table because we pretty much started stripping it just as soon as it got into the shop.


The person in question must have really HATED the sight of beautiful, glowing teak wood, because while putting paint on is definitely easier than taking it off, painting a big dining set like this is still quite an endeavor. In total, it took us about a week and a half to strip the whole set (for perspective, the table took about a day, the chairs took over a week).

However, it was more than worth it, as thankfully, the teak was in almost perfect condition under all that paint. The only downside is that it was virtually impossible for us to remove all of the paint that had sunk down deep into the pores of the wood, the result being that there are still a few flecks of yellow paint remaining here and there. However, this really doesn't distract from the beauty of the set, as you can see below!



There are several details that I'd like to point out about this set that distinguish it from your "standard" Danish teak dining set. Although it was made by a rather obscure company (Funder-Schmidt & Madsen? Anyone? Anyone??) and I have no idea who designed it, the fact is that some serious thought and consideration was put into the aesthetics of this set. Let's start with the table - note how when the leaves are tucked into the table, the apron of the main table top completely conceals them so if you didn't know any better, you would have no idea that the leaves were even there. Also note how the corner of the table top kicks out at a very subtle angle, and how the leaves are beveled to match that angle exactly when the leaves are pulled out. Nice.



Now, on to the chairs - apart from the obvious fact that some really nice quality teak was used in the making of these chairs,


my absolute favorite detail about them is the fact that the bottom rung on the side of the chairs, in addition to being artfully and seamlessly sculpted into the leg of the chair, actually TAPERS a subtle 1/4" from the back to the front of the chair. At first I thought it was an illusion, but then I measured, and sure enough, the rung measures 1" at the back of the chair, and 3/4" at the front.

Now, this may not seem like all that big of a deal, but in practical terms, it means that each rung of each of these chairs had to be shaped by hand to ensure the accuracy of that detail. These were not chairs that were haphazardly slapped together in some factory - these were lovingly created by some extremely skilled craftsmen.

It always brings me more than a little bit of joy to be able to take great pieces like this that have suffered such indignity and abuse, and restore them to their original glow and beauty (or, as close as we can practically get). This set will always have those few little flecks of paint buried in the pores, but that just adds to the story - or, as we like to say in the business, "it makes it better"!

The Perfect Danish Modern Sofa?

We have lots of customers coming through the store on a weekly basis looking for "that perfect sofa". Well, folks, here it is!

At 6' long, it's the perfect size; not too big, not too small. It's very comfortable, with clean, simple lines, and very nice teak accents on the arms and front, not to mention the stylish tapered teak legs.

Unfortunately, there's only one of them, so it's first come first serve on this bad boy! And, as ever, we have options for you! Let's just say that Janus Home is NOT like the early Ford Motor Company, where you could have "any color as long as it's black". No, we want your perfect sofa to be YOUR perfect sofa - so, with that in mind, consider these possibilities:

1) - Mostly as is. The original fabric on this sofa is actually not so bad, and although it would definitely benefit from a professional cleaning, it's actually in pretty good shape, and is a nice quality wool. The cushions are currently stuffed with a very low quality, low density foam that we would recommend replacing, which would also serve to give the cushions a fuller look and a firmer sit.

2) - Reupholster! While the fabric is in good shape, it may not be to everyone's taste, and the sofa would really look smashing brought into the 21st century with a modernized fabric. With this option you can choose from our large selection of designer upholstery fabrics, or in the unlikely event that we don't have exactly what you're looking for, you can bring in your own fabric.

3) -The full meal deal - reupholster AND refinish! While the exposed teak arms and trim are in pretty good condition and have a nice patina, they do show some scratches and dings. If you were going to get the sofa reupholstered, we would probably recommend refinishing the wood as well. The catch is, we can't refinish the wood without reupholstering the sofa, because it would be virtually impossible to refinish the wood without damaging the existing upholstery in some way.

So, you may be asking yourself, how much is this perfect Danish sofa? Here's the breakdown.

Option 1: $1550. This option includes having the existing upholstery professionally cleaned and having the cushions re-stuffed with higher quality foam.
Option 2: $2250 PLUS fabric. This option includes having the cushions re-stuffed, as above, and having the sofa reupholstered in fabric of your choice. As an extra incentive to buy fabric from us, we will offer a 30% discount on any of our in-stock fabrics to anyone who chooses this option (this does NOT include DesignTex fabrics).
Option 3: $2350 PLUS fabric. Same as #2 above, except includes refinishing of the teak arms, trim & legs.

Interested?
Give us a jingle; 503.449.5126.
Drop us a line; info@janushome.com
Come on by; 1324 SE Grand Ave, Portland OR, 97214!

Already have your perfect sofa? Pass this along to a friend who doesn't, or leave us a comment and let us know what you think of this one!

Rugs, Rugs, Rugs.

We all know the conventional wisdom about how a rug "ties a room together" - and unlike a lot of so-called conventional wisdom, this bit is actually true! A rug is usually the furnishing in a room that takes up the most square footage, and is simultaneously the piece that has the ability to take disparate colors and tones from all the other furnishings in a room and tie the whole thing together in a way that makes sense to the eye.

Unfortunately, rugs can also be one of the most difficult pieces of the puzzle to source, especially if one is decorating in a mid-century or modern/contemporary idiom. Although most things that are worth having are expensive, this seems doubly true for rugs. I often hear the same complaint from clients: "we went to XYZ rug store, and there were some beautiful pieces, but everything we liked was over $5,000!"

The paradox with rugs is that it's relatively easy to get fairly nice, decent quality "oriental" rugs (i.e. tribal designs originating mostly from Pakistan or Afghanistan or...dare we say...China) for very reasonable prices (say, $500-1500 for a nice room size rug). While it's certainly possible to integrate a tribal rug into a mid-century modern design scheme, the look is not for everyone.

The next thing that most people decorating in a mid-century scheme tend to investigate, naturally, are the "Rya" wool shag rugs that were produced in Scandinavia in the 1960s and 70s. While these rugs certainly have their appeal in certain situations, they were often executed in rather loud, garish colors that don't always blend well with a contemporary interior circa 2010. These rugs are also very much "of the period", and while it's relatively easy to reupholster or refinish a piece of vintage furniture to bring it into the 21st century, you can't exactly refinish a rug, if you know what I mean.

Then we have the melangs of styles that one is bombarded with upon entry to a contemporary rug store. Although it's certainly possible to find something reasonably priced and tasteful in such an establishment, it's likely to be the exception rather than the rule.

All of this leaves the contemporary rug buyer on a budget with few options, most of them located at the blue and yellow monster known as IKEA. If money is no object, high end manufacturers of custom rugs such as Kasthall will undoubtedly be able to fill the rug void in your life with aplomb. There are also many rug dealers that specialize in beautiful, contemporary hand-knotted Tibetan (or Tibentan-style: these days most "Tibetan" rugs are actually woven in Nepal or India - see Wikipedia for a thorough discussion of the subject) rugs - in the Portland area, we recommend our friends at Kush Hand Knotted Carpets (who, incidentally, just opened a second showroom inside Rejuvenation Hardware), and have a nice variety of gorgeous hand-knotted carpets (as their name implies) to choose from.

However, for those of us not willing to shell out the $5-10k (or much, much more) that is often required to procure a carpet from one of these vendors, we are happy to offer some alternatives. Just in to the Janus Home showroom are six fabulous small to medium room size Danish contemporary rugs that just might satiate the rug craving you've been having such a hard time filling! You can see pictures of all of them below, and then hop on over to our Bond & Bowery showroom to get all the detals (along with all of our other new arrivals)!