Anne & Gary have a lovely house in Oregon and updating it in true retro renovator style! They have a blog — now on the blogroll — and did a post on their dinette find recently. I love it! While, the popular chrome-edged ‘diner’ style tables and chairs are really great, there’s also lots of room in our decorating arsenal for the more elegant styled dinettes like Anne & Gary’s “Virtue Brothers” model.
Separately, I’d been on the watch for more dinette alternatives, and found this great 1953 ad for Arvins. This set was designed by Raymond Loewy — one of the most influential industrial designer of the era.
Along with Saarinen tulip tables – it’s great that there are a variety of possibilities for our kitchens and dinettes!
Thanks, Anne & Gary, for sharing! And, I’ll be doing more posts on your house moving forward, as you have a lot of interesting things going on!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
My parents had a set exactly Anne and Gary’s. It was in the kitchen in our 1963 ranch-style house in Memphis, walking distance from Graceland. I ate breakfast at that table before going to school every morning. What memories! Thanks, Anne and Gary, for sharing!
Just some background info: Arvin Industries was located in Columbus, Indiana, about 35 miles from where I live. Now called ArvinMeritor Industries, the company moved to Michigan a few years ago. Too bad I’ve never seen any of these tables so close to where they were produced!
By the way, if you are ever close to southern Indiana, you should tour the town of Columbus. It’s known as an architectural gem; the town benefactor gave the money to have many public and private buildings and sculpture designed by famous mid-century modern architects (I.M. Pei, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier, Harry Weese, Robert Venturi, Cesar Pelli, Romaldo Giurgola,
and Henry Moore). It’s an amazing place.
Wow, Femme 1. Someday…when we have our first Retro Renovation convention… we’ll have it in Columbus, Indiana. Sounds great!
Pam, thanks for the post on our dinette set and the link to our blog. The Arvin set in the ad you posted is way cool! It’s fun to see another set with black metal.
Palm Springs Stephan, how fun you recognize our set from your Graceland area youth. You must have had “our” chairs but is the table also the one you remember? We aren’t quite sure the table is from the same set.
How would i research an arvin dinette set i have?
Hi Tim, you could send me a photo, and I’ll keep my eye out for information. I know that I have seen them advertised in the 50s. We can start with that and see where it leads….
I have a yellow 50’s dinette set in wonderful condition. I am very eager to sell it! If you or anyone is interested please contact me at jordyerickson@hotmail.com I would really appreciate it. Price is very negotiable- I have no idea what they are worth!
I” have it for free