Cool furniture, design objects and desiderata

[brokencycle]

Enjoy your luck!

I didn't love taking my boy to the ER when he fractured his thumb parkouring onto our Noguchi glass table (yes, we had told him not to)

Did you just admit to owning a Naguchi table? Everyone here knows that is overused. Next you will admit to having an Arco or anything by Eames.

 

[gdl203]

 

[brianoh]

**** your Noguchi table!!!

 

[gdl203]

It won that battle vs hooman

 

[Kaplan]

You want bleach followed by white oil. That’s what we use. Rubio Monocoat is the best maker as far as I know, but not cheap.

They say you should touch up every year, but that depends on whether you wear shoes in the house and how much you like patina. We live in what is essentially a pure white cube and have not needed to do any touching up or refinishing in over three years.

Thanks for the recommendation, and it seems that product actually is available here in Scandinavia. I think the lower maintenance of a lacquer will win out, but I'll pass this on to her as well.

 

[TheFoo]

Thanks for the recommendation, and it seems that product actually is available here in Scandinavia. I think the lower maintenance of a lacquer will win out, but I'll pass this on to her as well.

It’s a Belgian brand so is actually easier to get in Europe.

I can’t stand lacquer. Coats the wood in plastic and feels accordingly. And maintenance is actually worse, in my opinion. Once there is any damage, you have to sand and refinish the whole floor. With oil, you just touch-up any problem spots as they arise.

 

[Kaplan]

Thanks, this was the kind of feedback and opinion I was looking for. I've never been a fan of lacquer myself, but that's mostly been based on the old style shiny stuff that usually gives the woods a yellow cast. But I think a matte, slightly white tinted lacquer might actually work fine. As for the feel, I guess a painted floor has that same plastic feel to you? I painted my own floors and don't mind the feel at all, but then I'm not usually in a lot of direct skin contact with it. The maintenance issue is legit, but with minimal consideration floors can stay pretty damage free IME - I painted my floors more than 5 years ago and haven't have cause to refinish them yet.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Oak is pretty tough, especially white oak. It’s a good floor for kids in that it will resist damage.

Finishes are not going to make wood totally impervious to spills, especially applied on existing floors. I prefer oil for this reason, super easy to touch up without requiring much of anything.

Rubio Monocoat and the German brand I recommenced are going to be pretty similar except that Monocoat has more options got colors. I like the one I use.

Kids can be rough on stuff, especially when they band together. I decided to move everything delicate or dangerous out of the way for a few years.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

We looked at Rubio Monocoat and found it was quite difficult to get hold of here in Canada - however, we found that products by Sansin were very similar, environmentally responsible and more available around here. We'd recommend all of the ones we used, inside and out.

http://www.sansin.com/

Our flooring in most of the house is hickory which is very hard and difficult for kids to damage - and we frequently have gangs of 9-year olds running around the place. The dark finish can scratch, but that just adds character...

 

[Van Veen]

Jeezus. To be fair, that sounds like that could have happened with any piece of hard furniture.

Girls are less hyper than boys, it seems. If/when we have one of the latter, things could easily change.

My wife likes to tell the story of when she decided to try to make a giant Spirograph by winding yarn around the legs of all the living room furniture. She destroyed a lamp and a vase in the process. The intent might have been creative rather than destructive, but (in the eyes of the parental units) the result was the same.

 

[Joffrey]

I remember that time I stomped on a glass table when I was eight... definitely not a fan of them to this day.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Having kids has altered my perspective considerably. As example, I won't use glass in my art frames anymore, only museum plexiglass. It's near impossible to tell the difference if the plexiglass is thick and has considerably lower risk.

I haven't had a bad experience, it just helps alleviate some fears that would exist otherwise.

Henry bumped is head on the side of a famous coffee table, whose name shall not be mentioned, enough times that I moved it to the basement study and now we are without a coffee table in the living room.

 

[venessian]

Henry bumped is head on the side of a famous coffee table, whose name shall not be mentioned, enough times that I moved it to the basement study and now we are without a coffee table in the living room.

With your wonderful skills, that's a superb reason for you to design and build your own!

Agree 100% on the museum plex; it's great.

 

[Parker]

As a side note: not there there should be any rules, but is there a general consensus on coffee table height? the same height as the sofa seat? lower? higher? doesn't matter?

 

[venessian]

As a side note: not there there should be any rules, but is there a general consensus on coffee table height? the same height as the sofa seat? lower? higher? doesn't matter?

It matters. Knees get banged and/or tables present uncomfortable "barriers". Relative proportions matter as well.

Generally 1"-2" lower than couch/sofa cushions is good.

Can be the same level as the cushions, if the cushions are fairly firm and the cushion/table height is not excessive.

NEVER higher than the cushion height.