Retro Renovation» accessories, hardware

BREAKING NEWS: Two new, retro bathroom sconces — plus a bunch of new porcelain early 20th century — from Rejuvenation

pam kueber — Sun, 20 May 2012 15:21:47 +0000

Many thanks to reader Christopher, who spotted these two, new retro bathroom sconces just launched for sale at Rejuvenation — the press releases aren’t even out yet, Rejuv confirmed! There are two sizes — please note, I greatly prefer the aesthetics of the top design, the smaller one — the “Starlette” Get it with two sockets, mount it over your bathroom mirror, and you’re ready to rock. The second design, the Stella reads too… bulky in the middle… to me. These are not cheap, however: When I used the configure tool, I get $330 for the Starlette with two sockets. Rejuvenation tells me: The process to make these lights is hand-done… They are working with American vendors — way to go, Rejuv!…and I know they are very focused on quality — hey, you get what you pay for. That said, if you have time to wait it out to find true vintage, you likely could find a similar light cheaper; but sometimes, you just want the room done — and the Starlette sure is purty.

Rejuvenation just confirmed to me that, yes, these are brand spanking new online, and the catalogs ship later this week. Here’s what Rejuvenation says about these lights:

To recreate the unusual glass shades on these fixtures, we enlisted the help of an Indiana manufacturer that specializes in “slumped” glass. This labor-intensive process involves using ceramic and metal molds (into which hot glass “slumps”) to achieve the shades’ aerodynamic shape and frosted appearance.

Features:

Polished Chrome finish only

Opal shade with polished stainless-steel shade trim only

Can be mounted horizontally or vertically.

I wasn’t planning on posting surprise news today (Sunday), here are links to additional, new retro-style products coming out this week from Rejuvenation. When I asked, “Anything else that would interest Retro Renovation readers?”, the company emailed me:

Those are the only two MCM pieces this time, but we do have some great new porcelain bath fixtures and lights:

http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/categories/hardware-house-parts/bath/dunbar-collection

http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/haines?term=Haines
http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/hawkins?term=hawkins
http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/hannah
http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/hardy?term=hardy

Taking a quick glance — these all have a Steampunk looks to me. And yes, in line with contemporary 2012 trends: They come in gray porcelain (as well as black and white).

UPDATE: Here is a Monday followup from Rejuvenation. I had emailed them immediately to get clarification on the pricing for these fixtures, which as you can see from the initial comments, was confusing on their website. I also asked about the historical precedents for these lights. Tim Wetzel, product design manager, responded promptly:

First, our deep apologies to you and all for erroneous info about the new lighting fixtures. We just launched a new website a few days ago, and there are numerous bugs our web team is feverishly working to correct. Presentation of the new products is especially troublesome. Pricing on new products in particular is showing up wrong, and feature descriptions are confusing. To clarify:

Starlette, the smaller of the two bath light fixtures, has two light sockets. It is priced at $190.

Stella, the larger bath light fixture has three light sockets. It is priced at $290.

The only option on either of these is the type of light socket. The choice is between standard medium base screw-in, or GU24 socket, which is a pin-base type that we offer as a means to meet strict energy efficiency standards in California. This option does not affect price.

As with everything we produce, it is based either very closely or is identical – to the degree possible - to an historical design. We typically have to do minor modifications as needed to make for a compelling design that meets modern quality expectations and to comply with today’s UL standards. Sometimes we combine features of similar vintage designs. That was the case with Stella and Starlette. Attached pictures tell the story.

You can see the original 1962 Feldman (above) catalog images that were our primary reference.

We were also drawn to the angled ends of the shade as shown in the Progress 1960 catalog (above), so we added that feature.

We also found a very similar example by Moe (above). That’s the way it often goes—similar contemporary designs made by multiple manufacturers.Both Stella an Starlette have exactly the same shade profile (they are both formed on the same slumping tool) — it’s just that Stella is longer. In my view Stella is the long and sleek one while Starlette is the squat and chunky one, just by nature of the aspect ratio. We offer the two not so much for styling differences as to satisfy the needs presented in various spaces.

As for our new Dunbar bath hardware line, it too is based on an original design. Bath hardware is often an extra challenge because original catalog documentation is harder to find, and original examples are very rare. In the case of this line, we found just one vintage piece, a cup holder, and had to extrapolate design for all the other pieces. Pictures attached of that one piece — above. What we found appealing was the simplicity of the design, with the very subtle embellishment of the raised ring on the support arm. Steampunk is fascinating style — all about a fantasy merging of retro and modern tech, as an extremely quirky and not necessarily functional style. To me, Dunbar bath hardware and our new porcelain light family are all pretty much the opposite of that. All of these would be grouped in our Period Basics collection, based on styles that were very long-lived because of the simple appearance that transcended trends. While we don’t know the exact source or history of our reference piece for Dunbar, our view is that it’s a style that could date pretty much from any year in the first three decades of the 20^th century, and could look quite at home in a very broad range of homes of various styles and eras.

The porcelain light family was based on a series that was originally made under the Alabax trade name by Pass & Seymour in the late 1920s and early 1930s. See catalog page on that too.

I hope all of that is of interest.

Tim Wetzel, Product Design Manager, Rejuvenation

Thank you, Tim! I always enjoy hearing from you. I was calling those Dunbars “Steampunk” because they seemed like chunky, industrial/Victoriana to me — a look I associate with steampunk. But hey, I am no steampunk expert, that’s for sure!

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10 NOS Tub-Master accordian-door shower doors — for a vintage travel trailer or home

pam kueber — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:30:28 +0000

Dustin of the 170 New Old Stock (NOS) plastic wall panels in mind-bending colors mentioned that he also has 10 NOS accordian door shower doors available for sale. Of course, I asked for pictures, pretty please.

Here is one assembled. I like the yellow rails.

Close up.

Still in their original boxes…–> Readers interested in buying any of these doors: Please contact Dustin at sitdropspeak@gmail.com.

For reference, I first saw and featured one of these in 2008. Above is the accordian shower door in Carrie’s bathroom. See her adorable Cinderella ranch house here.

We also saw one of these accordian shower doors in a time capsule house that Mary Deluxe toured.

Dustin says that he remembers installing a door like this in his parent’s Winnebago. Indeed, this style of door would seem great for a vintage travel trailer because it is so lightweight.

Like everything else in midcentury America, it seems there was a goodly amount of innovation going on when it came to shower doors:

Check out my story on 10 styles of vintage shower doors we’ve seen in reader houses.

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Powder coated steel shelving, kitchen cart and desk accessories, new from Ikea

pam kueber — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:30:32 +0000

After writing about the classic String System shelving designed in Sweden in 1949, I am mellowing on my attitude toward writing about Ikea. In the past, I was kind of anti-Ikea because (1) I had a bad experience with quality about 10 years ago [office table that looked terrible after excrutiating assembly process] and (2) well, Ikea is not doing it “The Hard Way.” But thinking further about the String system, I decided to give Ikea and its current generation of Scandinavian designs another look-see. I went online shopping and my best find: The Ekby shelf, above — quite similar in concept to the String Plexi. In fact, I found a number of powder-coated storage solutions that I think are worth knowing about.

The Ekby design seems very similar in concept to the String Plexi system — except the sides of the Ekby shelf unit are powder-coated steel, while the String Plexi sides are plexiglass.

The Ekby shelf sides come in powder-coated white or green steel. That green is very nice — very 1960s, an ascendant color, for sure.

Size of this unit is 31″W x 23″H x 7.5″D. Strangely, the website indicates two different prices — one for $35 and another for $50 — for two almost-identical versions; the only difference I could find was in the way the shelves were finished, one had foil, the other, paint. In any case, you can only get these in the store.

I could see this little number doing duty in lots of place in the house.

Woah! You can also buy just the sides, a pair costs $20. Also available in white. Add… glass for a bathroom? Add stainless steel for a kitchen? Hmmm, these bits seem like good fodder for a hack.

Also new to the market: The Raskog kitchen cart in blue from Ikea. This is super cute. Also, how about considering it for the bathroom for toiletries and other small storage… for the mudroom for gloves… or for the office studio for art supplies.

Also available in dark gray.

Ikea seems to have identified powder-coated steel shelves, storage and accessories as a market that’s ripe. Which makes me happy, because things made from steel last a long, long time. Hurray for durability! Ikea also has a new “Kvissle” line of desk accessories, which is quite nice looking. This letter tray is just one piece – there are more.

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