The New Navy

In 1944, the Electric Machinery and Equipment Company (Emeco) and the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) collaborated with US Navy engineers to design a seaworthy chair for military use.

The resulting 1006 chair—pronounced "ten oh six"— became a staple on Navy destroyers and submarines. Its seamless construction of corrosion-resistant, lightweight aluminum made it uniquely durable, easily portable and virtually maintenance-free.

The originals were produced in Emeco’s Hanover, PA workshops and they are still made there today—offspring of the perfect marriage between American ingenuity and craftsmanship.

The sturdy little chairs soon found themselves on land as well as at sea. First, they moved onto military bases and then into civilian offices.Over the years, as Navy chairs were retired from military use, they began to appear in surplus and resale stores and flea markets across the country.
Perhaps they were, at first, an inexpensive alternative to chairs found in traditional furniture stores, or a way to get a deliberately funky look, but their timeless charm won out. 1006 and similar Navy-inspired chairs can now be seen in even the most stylish, upscale homes.

Their clean lines and casual style allow them to fit into country, modern, eclectic and contemporary spaces. They are most often seen in kitchens and dining areas where their durability and ease of maintenance make them an excellent choice for busy families.

Occasionally, you will spot a 1006—or a few dozen—out in public. The chairs above were photographed in Louisville, KY at a fancy flagship KFC. Below, you see a testament to their ability to span styles and cultures: American-designed and manufactured Navy chairs in a Vietnamese restaurant in London.

If you can't find the real thing, like this vintage 1006 I found on The City Sage blog,

affordable alternatives are out there. Target sells their Cafe Aluminum Side Chairs in pairs for $246.99.

At Stack Chair Depot, the Oceanic Side Chair is only $95.00. Counter- and bar-height stools are also available at $115 and $125 respectively. While the styling of these two versions are similar to the original, I wouldn't expect their construction to be of the same quality. Proceed with "buyer beware" caution.

A faithful reproduction of the original, the Emeco Navy Chair with wood seats in two finishes can be found at allmodern.com.

For hard-core design aficionados who want only the best and most authentic, Design Within Reach offers the Emeco Classic reinvented by Phillipe Starck (top of this post). The 1006 Navy Side Chair is the real deal, made to the same exacting standards as the originals.

Featured in the current DWR catalog is the newest member of the Navy Chair family which made its debut only a few weeks ago.

The 111 Navy Chair is made from recycled plastic coke bottles—111 of them—and is available in six fun colors. A collaboration between Emeco and Coca-Cola, this little chair, if sales progress as DWR believes they will, is expected to keep three million plastic Coke bottles out of landfills each year.

What brought on my sudden interest in Navy chairs? Well, I've always been aware of them, but when I received the new DWR catalog, I was really taken with what a great idea the 111 chair is. To the point that I walked around my house trying to picture one somewhere (the jury's still out on that decision). And then, on Saturday, I saw South Pacific on stage at The Ahmanson. Navy guys and gals dancing and singing up a tropical storm - if this current tour comes to a theater near you, go! - and whenever the set changed to The Island Commander's Office, there they were: aluminum Navy chairs at each desk. Ok, so I'm aware that this tiny detail may have totally escaped most people and really has nothing at all to do with the greatness that is this show, but it appears that I simply had Navy chairs on the brain. Or maybe it was one of those moments when, instead of watching the characters in a play or a movie, I'm busy studying the wallpaper behind them. Don't judge me, I can't help myself.

Click on the image above and you'll be treated to musical highlights, interesting commentary, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of a Navy chair on stage plus, for all you Gleeks out there, glimpses of a sometimes shirtless Matthew Morrison/Mr. Schuester who starred as Lieutenant Cable in the 2008 Lincoln Center production of the show. You're welcome!

Books and Chairs : Two Great Things that Look Great Together

Chairs. Love them.

Books. Can't live without them.

Put the two together in a beautifully styled photograph in your glossy book or magazine and you'll stop me in my tracks.

I know. It's weird that I should have such an affinity for these images that I've torn more than a few from magazines and saved so many others to my photo files. I've also made note of several artists, kindred spirits perhaps, who have actually taken the time to paint books on chairs.

Vincent Van Gogh painted his friend Paul Gauguin's chair in 1888 while they stayed together in the yellow house in Arles.

Contemporary artist Maira Kalman painted a chair with books in her uniquely charming fashion. Perhaps this one is in her own book. I would love to get my hands on a copy and find out for sure.

WordWeaverArt, an etsy artist, titled this work "Comfort" because it recalls the feeling aroused by the image on a cherished greeting card. Comfort. I imagine that's exactly what books and chairs are all about for me too.

My freakish obsession led to my own photographic efforts...

What do you think?

Should I see someone about this?

Chair photos culled from unrecorded magazine sources except for the white chair draped in pretty scarves and equally pretty pink phone. That one I found on Flickr, here.

Comfort is. . .

. . .a cozy place to curl up with a book while, outside, it rains and rains.

Books and fireplaces and big, soft chairs are the antidotes to cold and wet.

With a companion or without,

by lamplight or by firelight,

in a quiet corner or a wide open room,

grab your favorite throw, a big stack of books and stay inside for a while.

Record rainfall. Blizzard-like conditions in our local mountains. Flooding and mudslides. Even a funnel cloud or two. Treacherous driving conditions. High winds and intermittent hail. This is quite a storm we're having in Southern California. Don't worry about me though. I'll be working right here at home. And when my work is done, I'll be curled up with a book.

Have a safe and warm weekend.



Images via Southern Accents (1), Country Living (2, 6, 7), Better Homes & Gardens (3), House Beautiful (4), HGTV (5).

Flowery Favorites

Searching through my photo files, I found these two images that had inadvertently been saved side by side—the room very recently, the flowers well over a year ago.

This bit of serendipity confirms what I'm most attracted to: multiple strong colors used together, always with a pop of red, and a neutral base that not only grounds the lively colors and gives them something to show off against, but provides a place for the eye to rest. Additionally, both the flowers and the room feel casual, friendly, open and optimistic—no stuffiness or formality of any sort. My favorite kind of flowers and my favorite kind of room. Where comfort is every bit as important as style.And this is proof too, in a backward sort of way, that the color scheme of a room can be inspired by anything that attracts you: from a favorite fabric or pillow or rug to a piece of art or a floral arrangement.

The room is in one of my favorite homes published this year: Hemlock Springs, Southern Living's Georgia Idea House. If you didn't see it in their August issue, use this link to take a look. The whole house is just as pretty as this one room.

It's Not So Easy Being Green

Seems I'm a bit hyper-focused on chairs these days. Recent posts about clutter and tomatoes, (of all things), featured chairs and here we go again...

This ladder back chair has lived with me for almost twenty years. It was purchased two homes ago to act as the desk chair in my then freshly remodelled kitchen. It's a late-80's antique repro of sorts. It is not really very special and was certainly not expensive. But it is well-built and it has worked hard. At desks, in two kitchens, in one bedroom, as an extra at the dining table and now, it resides in my entryway. It collects handbags and mail and is the "on deck" spot for all things ready to leave the house, including not-so-patient children. It assists with shoe tying, light bulb changing, grocery toting and occasionally serves as a cat bed. It has never not been up to the assigned task. Considering all this, I suppose my ladder back is pretty special after all.
Looking at it one day in all its basic brown-ness, I decided it deserved a treat. A "thank you". A happy-color face-lift. There is, after all, enough brown in this house what with all the oak and walnut on the floors and most of the furniture. A pretty, friendly color just inside the front door might be a more pleasant way to greet guests. Something like one of the examples above from Maine Cottage Furniture. These Edna chairs are modeling four of MCF's standard colors: Moss, Sun, Spruce and Celadon. After lots of thought and looking around my house for color inspiration, this is where I started to narrow my choices.

I was pretty sure I wanted a blueish-green, but I entertained the idea of yellow for a moment as there is a lot of golden yellow in both the living and dining spaces that can be seen from the entry. (The panel above, via countrycurtains.com, will stand in for the golden checks in my living room) But yellow, I decided, would be too bold, jump out at me too much as I entered the front door. The color should be quieter. I wanted it to say "Hi! This is a fun, happy house" without looking like it came from an actual funhouse.

So green with a hint of blue it would be. A jadeite sort of green. I would mix the paint to match one of the bowls in my kitchen. Out from the storage shed came pots of paint in all the various hues and shades I thought I needed in order to achieve my ideal color. I mixed and mixed, and along the way, decided I liked a little more blue in my green. So I mixed and mixed and came up with a color I loved. I began to paint. The more I painted, the more I loved it. My chair was looking happier with each stroke of my blue-green brush. And it looked great there in my kitchen surrounded by all the other vintage greens and yellows. Over the course of two days, I brushed two full coats on every surface of my chair. When it was dry enough to touch, I carefully lifted it by its finials and tippy-toed it out to the entry. And knew immediately that I had made a terrible, too-bright, aqua-blue mistake.

Not that I have anything against aqua. But seeing my chair in its place by my front door made me think of these interiors, above, by Maine designer Tracey Rapisardi. I love her work. But everything about her work that is so good—bright, clean, beachy colors—is all wrong for my house where the colors are more muted, aged, "dirtier" as Maria might say. Especially in my entry and living room, where the light is lower and softer than in my kitchen, my new minty-fresh ladder back stuck out like a sore thumb. See for yourself. This photo, below, is the only one I can bring myself to show you. Oh sure, it's a pretty color. But wrong, wrong, wrong in this space. I should have tested the color in the room at some point instead of forging ahead and assuming that, because I loved it, it would look right. That's what I get for being in a hurry.

So back to the paint pots I went. Pour, pour. Mix, mix. Add a little bit of yellow to the base green this time. A little bit of brown too. And not quite so much blue. Using a piece of kitchen pottery that is more sage than jadeite as a guide, I came up with a new green that, in the kitchen, looks almost grey and very pale. But out in the entry... we have a winner!

The color is something between the original jadeite I was looking for and the aqua that turned out to be a mistake. It's softer and quiet and a little earthy. It says "Hi! Can I take your bag?" without shouting. In the pic below, you can see how the green works with the colors in the living room as you peek over the back of the sofa. Green is a minor element in this space, but there is a lot of it in the adjoining kitchen and dining areas. A little green in this room adds continuity to the overall look of my home's decor.

Now, if you think this is an awful lot to say about one chair and one color decision, you should read Maria's latest post over at Colour Me Happy. Maria writes about the decisions and actions that take place when designing and ordering the fabrication of a single custom pillow. It's a lot like the process I went through to decide on the color of this chair. Although, if I'd sent the chair to a painter rather than painting it myself here at home, it would have been a much longer process—not to mention more expensive due to my poor first choice. Every interior design project is like that. A string of decisions sets in motion any number of actions. Each action requires its own record and review and approval before the next action can be taken. Multiply this by however many elements are changing in your space: flooring, wall color, sofa, chair, table, a lamp or two, rugs, pillows. . . and so on until your room is complete. It's a lot of work, even when you've been specially trained to do it, even when you have a lot of experience, and especially if any mistakes are made along the way. But the hard work pays off when you end up with something like my prettier, happier green chair.

Image of jadeite dinnerware via thepioneerwoman.com, Tracey Rapisardi interiors via bhg.com. See more of her work at searosedesigns.com

You Say Tomato, I Say "Have a Seat!"

Here's something far more interesting than a post about actual tomatoes...

For your viewing pleasure and contemplation: The Tomato Chair.

According to stardust.com, website of the Sonoma, CA modern home furnishings retailer, "The Tomato Chair is a flexible, fun, and funky way to sit in style. In a rainbow of colors these chairs will not only brighten up your room, they'll brighten up your day." Maybe so. But if my husband found out I'd spent $885 for a tomato (and that's the current 'on sale' price), my day would definitely darken!

Silly as they seem, if I could hang out in a scene like this, next to a cool pool on a grassy lawn and get away from this 100+ degree weather we're having, I'd gladly sit on a tomato.

See, There is a Chair Under There!

Dear Readers:
To all of you who left a comment on my last post about cluttery piles of random stuff,
thank you so much!

My fluffy little post about the chair I removed from my master bedroom generated an unexpected number of honest confessions! And funny stories. Even a couple of vows to act on the inspiration I provided to do something about the piles. Now that's pretty funny!... that I could provide inspiration to anyone in the area of clutter removal!! You should see the mess in my office where I'm sitting right now... it's enough to make a professional organizer cry.

Confirmed by your response to that post is that we all, even us perfection-seeking designer types, need a spot (or a few) in our homes where clutter can accumulate. We're busy people, most of us juggling many balls at once while wearing several hats. So while we might strive to keep our beautiful homes free of the un-beautiful detritus of life, we need to remember that it's not entirely possible. Not if you're living a real life... a full life. My best suggestion for achieving at least the appearance of order comes from a dear friend who, in an email response to my post, wrote of the spare bedroom she uses as her closet/office/storeroom: "everyone needs a room like I have to be free to drape, pile, throw, stack, hide, collect, clutter and putter, hang, heap, trash and generally live in. No one has to see it or have any comment about it...that room (is) a necessity and essential to my mental health." I couldn't agree more or say it better.

Those of you who don't have the luxury of an entire room in which to hide your clutter, don't fret and don't feel guilty. (And don't hate my friend! She knows how obnoxiously lucky she is!) Do whatever you do to preserve your mental health. Use a chair, a table, a closet, a cupboard, a drawer, the floor, whatever's handy. Leave your piles and live your life. As long as you can clean it up quickly or close it behind a door when your mother's on her way over, you're good!

With gratitude for your participation and best wishes that your clutter remains manageable while your lives remain full,
Tracy

PS: Just so you know, while there may be a considerable mess in my office, here's proof that my one and only bedroom chair has remained pile-free... that slightly out-of-focus pic up there was taken this morning. Yay me!

PPS: Thanks,"Friend"! XO (Look! You're a blogger!)

Bad Habits and my Hilarious Husband

This comic showed up on my desk a few days ago. The morning after we had a conversation about a chair in our bedroom. Correction: make that a chair that used to be in our bedroom. I moved it to another room a week or so ago. To make way for step stool and tools and the mess of wallpaper removal. (I know. Ick.) Husband had asked "Where are you going to put your piles?", referring of course to the odds and ends, bits and pieces of wardrobe and handbag contents and shopping bags and folded-but-not-yet-put-away laundry that inevitably found a temporary home on that particular chair. All the time. To his smarty-pants question, I replied "Nowhere, I guess" realizing that I hadn't left a "pile" of anything in the bedroom since moving that chair. There is another chair in the room but we use it as a chair should be used, for reading and shoe-tying and the like, so it has never been a way station. Always a chair. I never developed the habit of dropping things there. So I'm thinking now, if the only real "purpose" the currently absent chair ever had was to attract piles, and if I'm not making piles since it's been gone, shouldn't it just stay gone? I think so.

Is there anything in your home that has proved more useful as a developer of bad habits than for its intended purpose? A convenient table or chair that makes it too easy to simply drop things and leave them for later, but later never comes? A basket meant to be a transition spot for shoes or newspapers that rarely gets emptied? A home office "in" box that's become a "leave it here forever" box? I'll bet there is. And, honestly, I think we all have a spot like that. Maybe a few. But I'll tell you, getting rid of that chair, which inadvertently helped me kick a bad habit, is feeling pretty good right now. So I'm going to take a look around the house, as I prepare for fall maintenance and repairs and nesting, to see if I can find any other "bad habit makers" to get rid of.

Tell me about your "bad habit makers". Or the one you had that you removed and kicked. I'd really like to know that I'm not the only one with this "problem". And as the husband reads the blog, you'd be doing me a big favor if he could see it's not just me! Oh, and tell me too if you think he's as hilarious as he thinks he is for having clipped this comic, leaving it "anonymously" for me to find. He's a regular laugh riot, that one.


I'll confess that I did enjoy the cartoon enough to add it to my growing "gallery of chairs" on the right sidebar. Scroll down, down, down, a little bit further, there it is! If I can't fill my house with great chairs, I'll just have to collect them here.