Dwellings Issue X: Turtle Bay
My name is Marielle, and while you may know me as a Furnish Green employee, I’m a Furnish Green regular customer as well, which is probably to be expected… I’ve always loved vintage furniture. Growing up with my mom, who is an avid garage-saler and thrift store shopper, made me feel right at home at Furnish Green from the beginning.
I’ve lived in Midtown East Manhattan for about 3 years in a neighborhood known as Turtle Bay, and after working at FG for 2 years, I’ve acquired a good bit of stuff. My apartment is small, but the ceilings are high and it’s on the fifth floor of a walk-up building so it’s a pretty pleasant bright space.
As far as my design style goes, I definitely have a tendency toward the feminine and ornate with a serious focus on (possible obsession with) flowers… alive, dried, painted… you get the point.
Lampshade turned jewelry display and organization.
It’s a girly space, but I like to think that I haven’t gone overboard. I’ve recently started incorporating a bit of brass to offset the wood and upholstered pieces, particularly in my living room, i.e. the bold brass and glass coffee table and the compact and convenient brass record rack.
More FG stuff: The stained glass swag lamp above my kitchen island (featured above) is definitely one of my favorite, and earliest acquired, FG items. The rustic wooden clothing rack in my bedroom (featured below) was a necessary addition to the apartment, considering my rapidly growing wardrobe and the limitations of only one closet.
Since working at Furnish Green and getting a chance to see all of the furniture styles that are out there, I’ve become more selective about what I like and what works in my home. There are definitely some pieces that I’m looking to replace, but it’s nice to be able to wait it out and find just the right fit.
I hope you enjoyed getting a brief glimpse into my home! Stay tuned for future posts, and email us at furnishgreen@gmail.com for a chance to have your space featured!
P.F. Candle Co. at F.G.
We are stocking a new brand of candles in our showroom to keep your home smelling fresh for summer. With simple packaging, they will compliment any design style, and with a reasonable price point, you can get one of each! And boy, do they smell lovely!
We’re carrying 6 unique scents: Teakwood & Tobacco, Summer Breeze, Amber & Moss, Gardenia & Coconut, Neroli & Eucalyptus, and Sweet Grapefruit!
A bit about the company:
Pommes Frites Candle Co. is a small batch candle company owned by wife-and-husband team Kristen Pumphrey and Thomas Neuberger. Our soy candles are hand poured, labeled, and packaged with care in our downtown Los Angeles studio.
The inspiration behind our brand is simple: high quality candles at a great price. We believe that candles should be an affordable luxury. Each candle is hand poured in small batches into an apothecary-inspired amber jar with domestically grown soy wax, cotton-core wicks and phthalate-free fragrance oils. Candles are finished with a utilitarian label and twist-on brass lid.
They’ve got a great idea and some great-smelling candles. Purchase Here!
Furnish Green on Louie!
Our own 1930s Art Deco Iron and Jade Stained Glass Table Lamp was featured on this season of Louie! It’s a beauty so we’re very happy that it got a chance to make its big TV debut!
A Record Blog: Post 2
Harry Belafonte – Calypso RCA Victor 1956
I’m telling you all about this album because it is crucial to have for this upcoming summer season! Like windows open, rum in hand, friends by your side kinda crucial!
I have it priced at $10: the record itself is very clean, there should be little to no background noise and the cover is still in beautiful shape! This is a first print in mono. The colors of the cover have remained unscathed by sun and storage conditions after all these decades!
This is the third release from the Harlem-born Harry Belafonte and is probably his most popular record to date. Calypso includes Belafonte’s hit recording of the Jamaican folk song “Day O”. Belafonte’s recording of this song is known worldwide and has been a pop-culture staple for decades; played at major sporting events, referenced in movies, etc. Aside from “Day O,” this lp also comes equipped with the upbeat “I Do Adore Her”, “Come Back Liza” and “Man Smart (Woman Smarter)”!
Being a pop culture icon, its not surprising that Harry Belafonte showed up in my purview in several varied incarnations.
When I was really young, I remember watching reruns of the comedy show The Smothers Brothers. Controversial for its time, the show featured a menagerie of influential artists of the 1960s. In the late 60s CBS censors cut an entire Belafonte song and television performance from an episode of The Smothers Brothers. The cut segment was a performance of the song “Lord, Don’t Stop the Carnival” which was performed in front of a montage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Here is a link to a video of that unaired segment:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFE4N57ibUQ)
Harry Belafonte showed up again in my life through appearances on The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. Later “Day-O” itself reared its head in an unforgettable scene in Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic film, Beetlejuice:
You can take this baby home for only $10!!!!
Fun Furniture Fact: The Knapp Joint
The Knapp Joint, also known as Pin & Cove, Pin & Scallop and Half Moon, is a visually unique style of antique joinery. It is a particularly interesting joint to us at Furnish Green because we don’t see it very often, and there’s a reason for that; it was only in use for about 30 years.
The Knapp joint was developed during the late Victoria Era in post-Civil War United States. It was patented by Charles Knapp of Waterloo, WI in 1867. This type of joint was a significant advancement in furniture construction as it was made by machines whereas the dovetail joint had to be done by hand. The rate of production went from 20 drawers per day to 250!
This joint is the first known mechanization for making drawers in the industrial revolution age. The Knapp is a very strong form of drawer joinery but was only utilized from 1870 until about 1900, when it basically fell completely out of use. It was replaced by machine cut dovetails, which are still mass produced in factories today.
This Victorian Eastlake piece features Knapp joint details, check it out.
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Read more about the history of the Knapp joint here (very interesting!):
Sources:
http://www.thewoodworksinc.com/articles/pin_cresent_joint.php
https://antiquejoinery.wordpress.com/knapp-joint/
Memorial Day: Sale & Showroom Closed
On Monday, May 25th the Furnish Green showroom will be CLOSED for Memorial Day, so we will be having an ONLINE-ONLY storewide sale! Everything will be an additional 18% off! Use coupon code: beachday. Sale starts at midnight on Sunday night.
Peruse our inventory here!
Vintage Suitcases: Travel & DIY
We’re on the cusp of the summer season, and in New York City, that means it’s time to ship out! And perfect timing because we just brought a ton of vintage suitcase into the showroom! In a variety of sizes and colors, they’re sure to suit your travel needs.
While you can use them to vacation in style, they’re also great for DIY projects. Stack them and make a one-of-a-kind side table, or use one as a cozy cat bed. They’re also great as prop pieces or for under-the-bed storage. Oh the possibilities!
Take a look at our suitcase inventory here!
Decorate Your Floor!
It’s somewhat unusual for us to carry rugs in our showroom… we just don’t typically see them come through. But this week we received a handful of lovely decorative area rugs with intricate patterns and vibrant colors. To top it off, they’re all in good condition! They vary in size, but are all rather small ranging from about 3 x 2 feet to about 3 x 5 feet. Great sizes to bring a bit of warmth and character to your apartment without covering all of your floors, hardwood or otherwise.
An area rug can really complete your space, so find a one that suits your home!
Fun Furniture Fact: The Barrister Bookcase
The ‘barrister bookcase’ is a special storage piece that enters the Furnish Green showroom every once in a blue moon. It is well-loved and sought after because of its unique and very functional construction. While we at Furnish Green love these pieces as much as the next guy, we didn’t necessarily know the story behind their interesting shelf structure. Here’s what we found:
A barrister is a member of one of the classes of lawyers found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. They require the use of many law books and may frequently move to new chambers. As a result, a specialized form of portable bookcase was developed to meet their needs.
A barrister’s bookcase consists of several separate shelf units that may be stacked together to form a cabinet. When moving chambers, each shelf is carried separately without needing to remove its contents and becomes a carrying-case full of books. As the shelves are meant to be separated, an “up and over” door mechanism is used on each shelf, allowing the individual doors to pull up and slide in to display the contents.
Each shelf of a true barrister’s bookcase must be portable with a heavy load of books. The more robust examples have folding handles at the ends of each shelf. Modern “decorator” copies of these may look the same, but are often too lightly constructed to be carried while loaded, or may even be a single fixed case like a normal bookcase, but with separate doors on each shelf to give the appearance of a barrister’s bookcase.
Recently in the showroom (it has since sold) we had an industrial version of the classic Barrister. Check it out.
Hours Update 4/30
The Furnish Green showroom will be closing at 7:30PM tonight, April 30th. We apologize for any inconvenience!