Baribocraft Salt & pepper Mill

We use this badboy every day. It's got better action than the Quistgaard mill we scored at the same Pembroke Value Village. This was cheaper ($1 vs. $2), and it's Canadian, so it's much cooler. That's that.

Baribocraft Slate Cheese Cutting Board Tray - Baribocraft The Leading Name in Woodenware

You'll see old hammered dryed-out wooden Baribocraft bowls in pretty much every Salvation Army housewares section across Canada. Rarely, if ever, does it make the cut. Here's my exception: this awesome slate cheese tray cutting board that came out of a westside Ottawa thrift. $5. The best part was the original tags were lying on top. 

There's a good link to the back story on Baribocraft here.

Pair of Thonet No.14 Bentwood cafe Chairs

It was 1/2 price Wednesday at the Ottawa Goodwill. I can't believe this set was still there at 2:30, and it was $9.99 for both. I believe they're Thonet No.14 cafe chairs, they have a very light stencil mark on their underside. Yay Thonet!

Vintage Handmade Cowhide Throw Pillow

$1 at the Prospector in Pembroke

Chalkware Bulldog & German Shepard dog banks

I believe these banks were giveaways from the old-school country fairs that are common out in Eastern Ontario. So far these are our two best behaved dogs. We got the Bulldog, Herman, at the Prospector, in downtown Pembroke, which went out of business last year, for $20. The German Shepard, Prince, came from a a small junk store on the other side of Algonquin Park, which is also out of business. Prince was $20 as well.

$4.99 flea market oil painting by Sarde

Sonya found this oil painting by Sarde in this overpriced Goodwill on the westside of Ottawa. I couldn't believe it was only $4.99. She also spotted my awesome new steel & oak desk for $29.99 (pic to come)

FDB Mobler Chair - Pembroke Value Village $5

 

It seems that the Pembroke Value Village rarely has the goods anymore these days. They cut back bigtime on furniture to make room for more overpriced Gap mom jeans. That said, I have had a few epic scores there so it always lures me back. I dropped the hammer on this beatup yellow chair for $5, it's paint splattered and has a dogchewed corner. When I was putting it in the back I scoped 'Denmark' impressed on the underside of the seat. I'm way miopic, so it wasn't until Sonya arrived that she said it had the initials F.D.B. on it as well. It seems these were designed by Folke Palsson for F.D.B. Mobler. The chair is really comfortable, it cups the back really nicely. Sadly, I missed out on a set of 4 these with their original primary paint scheme for $50 over the summer because we were too broke. Oh well.

Cool 1970's desk lamps

Who doesn't need another cool desk lamp? That's what I always seem to say when I buy one. I hardly ever use my desk at all these days (thanks laptop), but I find these things irresistible. I scored these three lamps in successive weeks at one of our local spots. This first one needs a new bulb (I guess) so I haven't managed to get it to work just yet.

 

We're going to putting this one up for sale in our new Etsy Store. It's made by Well-Lite in Hong Kong. The label on the bottom looks 80's, but I'm not so sure.

This is the only one we'll probably keep. It's all metal and really heavy and has this cool faux wood finish. It also telescopes up to ridiculous heights.

Canadian Bent Wood Chair

 

 

 

Sonya scored this little bent wood chair while we still lived out in Vancouver, from the awesome Cloverdale Sunday flea market.  We scored many, many awesome things from that crappy little flea (I'll post up a couple of examples later) like this chair. I haven't been able to ID a maker yet, but this is midcentury Canadian bent wood at its best. I love the curve of the back legs, the little handhold cutout, but most of all the underside of the seat! Sadly the dark staining isn't really matching up with the other stuff we have going on at the moment so this chair is unloved down in the basement graveyard.  

Walter Nugent Lounge Chair - circa 1960

  

 

It has taken me a few months to ID this Walter Nugent chair. I believe it's a variation on his C-15 lounge chair.This one has rounded legs and seem to have a lower stance than the one on the Canadian Design Resource site (which is the greatest Canadian design site around). There are another couple of different one on Flicker as well. I guess Nugent knocked these out for a decade or so, starting around 1960. The element that gives it away for me, are the chair's arms, there's a distinctive flair in the back 1/3 of the arms.

I love this little guy - we picked him up on the westside of Ottawa (home of best thrifting in Canada) one afternoon. The original upholstery was redone at some point with this jaunty grey wool stripe, there were no tags underneath. I think the wood is teak, but it may be oak or maple (actually it's made from walnut, Thanks John!).

Pair of Metal Emeco Navy style chairs - Canadian made by Simmons Limited, Montreal

Yesterday was a great day! This darling pair of chairs came from a 'secret spot' from down around the way from us for $1. I love Canadian metal office furniture. Canadians seem to have taken the time to elevate small details of the design that really make a piece sing out. These steel chairs made by Simmons Limited of Montreal are no exception. The chair style seems to be very reminiscent of the aluminum Emeco Navy chair. But I think these chairs are so much cooler. They're more refined. The legs struts have a beautiful inner curve to them that really compliment finer gauge of the steel tubing that was used. The Emeco chairs look brutish by comparison. I also love their institutional paint jobs, peach & pale yellow. We'll probably take them to some chair bodyshop and have them sandblasted and repainted something else (any suggestions?). The seat pads will be an easy re-do and then they'll be sweeeet, and cheap. This guy wants $979.00 (per chair!) for something similar.

I would ballpark these chairs for being made around 1959. Simmons would go on to become a major international mattress company with their 'Beautyrest' line of products (below is a 1959 article).

Simmons has brought Canadian homes, hospitals, hotels and institutions a beauty and comfort never before known. The products made by the company cover the familiar range of merchandise for which it is famous, such as mattresses, beds, springs, pillows, cribs, Hide-a-Beds, sofas, chairs, and other dual purpose furniture. Nowadays it also includes an impressive range of metal furniture, for hotels, motels, hospitals and institutions, and furnishings for ships (berths, bunks) and for lumber and mining camps. Indeed, Simmons is the pioneer manufacturer of metal bedroom furniture in Canada. Every detail, no matter how small, receives careful supervision and inspection. The Simmons' products combine the strength and durability of steel with the beauty and distinctive charm of the furniture makers' art. It is a simple job to keep Simmons' metal furniture lustrous for years because it has no cracks or crevices, and metal in itself gives protection against mice, vermin, warping and twisting. 

I need more of this furniture in my life.

Pair of 60's Canadian chairs with Stainless Steel frame and Wood armrests

We scored this pair at the Renfrew Salvation Army (great place, great staff) for $5. I'm not sure what kind of wood the armrests are from but I would guess oak. I'm not sure if the upholstery is original or not, it remind me of some beach towels we used to have. Sadly there's no tags on them, but the mix of stainless steel and wood is really appealing.

 

Danish Furniture Importing Company Ltd. - Pair of midcentury modern teak dining chairs

Actually I'm not sure if these chairs are teak or stained oak, but the label says they were made by the Danish Furniture Importing Company Ltd.. Google didn't generate a single hit on this Toronto based company, but the chairs look mid-60's or so. They kind of faintly remind me of Hans Wegner designs. At some point they were reupholstered and one chair is missing a back slat. I assume they're dining chairs from their high backs. We scored them from one of our 'down-low' spots way west of Ottawa, $10 for the pair. I don't think they'll get used by us, as we already have the sweetest dining room set ever made by a Canadian in the last century (and to be featured here later this spring, so please check back!).

$5 Eames fibreglass shell chair

Easy come easy go. We got this yellow Eames side shell chair for $5 from a now-closed thrift store in Barry's Bay. It had an old office supply sticker on its underside. Since then we had to sell it last year to a nice girl from Ottawa, oh well. I miss it though, it was comfortable

Moveis Corazza Brazil Teak Leather Couch & Chair set

Here is a teak couch & chair set we scored early in the spring this year for $40, at one of our favorite secret thrifts in Nepean. Sonya (sharp as ever, of course) spotted this as it was sitting in pieces outside in 2 feet of snow. We had to dig through the snow to find all the screws (and we're still missing one). But it was well worth the effort  - it took two separate trips to get it all back home with us - it looks great out on the back porch. This set is a monster, it's solid teak, with a great teak frame panel for the leatherette cushions. It's made by this 70's Brazilian department store company, Moveis Corazza.