Eames Lounge Chair !

Exciting news, as many of you know I've been looking for an Eames 670 Lounge Chair for some time. Given that they are very expensive I've been holding out on purchasing a new one and have been looking for a used one at a value price. Sunday night after having dinner with our neighbors John and Sam I sat down and did my daily searchs on craigslist. After typing Eames in the search query I hit enter fully expecting somebody to have posted their grandmothers ugly couch as an eames era sofa. As I read the heading Eames Rosewood Lounger $500 I clicked as fast as I could, sure enough there it was, plenty of pictures, and the Herman Miller tags on the bottom. One catch, no bottom seat cushion and no ottoman cushion. Not hesitating I immediately email the seller.....cursing gmail for opening so slowly....typing quickly....first I type that I would like to look at it...send. Then I start googling replacement cushions and I find a couple of sets that are reasonable (well as reasonable as an Eames Herman Miller replacement can be). Ok now I go back and scour over the photos looking for big scratches, breaks, looking for any sign that its a knock off. Then I email again.......I want it, please call asap, have cash....yadda yadda.......then I get a phone call about 20 min later....get his address and set up a time before he goes to work. Luckily the bank is open that early and I head off with cash in hand. Its as advertised, other than the cushions missing it shows normal wear and tear for a 40 year old chair. Here are some pictures of it with whats left of the 4" of snow we got on Saturday. So if any of you readers know of some replacement cushions for sale please email me, or even if you have a set of worn out cushions I only need the backs to have them reappoulstered.

A Mid Century Road Trip

House by Isadore Shank

Last weekend I took a road trip to St. Louis to check out the exhibit on Eero Saarinan. I went with a few guys from KC Modern, we met up with my college buddy Grant, and Dan Semar who frequents the lotta living forums as STLModern. We checked out all the local mcm's and several gutt busting meals along the way. I'm amazed at how many cool houses there are in STL. Apparently they are getting torn down at an alarming rate for mcmansions, most of the houses we checked out are in the nicer parts of town on large lots. The exhibit is really nice and Saarinan doesn't get the due he deserves in history. Its amazing the amount of work he accomplished in the short time before his early death at the age of 51. The most interesting part of the exhibit was looking for tie ins to David Runnells the architect of my house. He worked for Saarinan and Ralph Rapson ( a frequent collaborator) and many of the early projects that Saarinan did while at Cranbrook he could have had a hand in. We didn't find any specific ties although many of the early drawings and projects are very similar to some slides we have of Runnells early work. More on that later.

Harris Armstrong's Studio

House by William Bernoudy
Dan's House showing of his new landscaping

Naples Florida

Last weekend Jessica and I took a little vacation down to Naples, Florida. We had a blast, spent some time on the beach, went on an awesome sailing trip on a catamaran, walked through a swamp, ate some good food. We came back fully charged and ready to get back to work, we have been hampered somewhat by our washing machine. We came home to an error message for some part that takes a week to get, you have to love that a new washer only last 4 months before it breaks.