The Deck, part III

We are exited to report that furnishing of the top floor atrium terrace is now completed! It has taken a while to find all the elements, but now most pieces have arrived and found their place. However, knowing Pekka this won't be the final set up, but it seems to be working quite fine for now.

As the terrace is located above the ground level, in addition to the visual and functional dimensions we also needed to consider safety. For example, one of the initial ideas - the couch next to the railing - was shot down pretty quickly after we had some young visitors very keen on climbing. Another important factor affecting the layout was the direction of sun light. As the terrace faces south, the sun crosses it sideways between 10 am and 6 pm. To maximise the amount of sun, the couch is now placed next to the west wall, the last spot receiving direct sun light in the evening. This way the couch is also not blocking the view from inside enhancing the interaction between in- and outside spaces.

General layout of the terrace

The pieces were selected to complement the Aarnio bubble chair. At the centre is a low coffee table made of metal and recycled teak. Next to the table is a weather resistant couch. And with resistant, we really mean resistant! The coach cushions can be left out in the rain and once the rain is gone, they dry extremely quickly. Quite practical!

Around the table there are two LCM chairs by Charles and Ray Eames. These chairs used to reside in the living room, but being approximately the same height than the couch they turned out to be a great addition around the coffee table. Naturally, as they do not handle rain very well, they need to be brought back inside if it is raining. Fortunately they are quite light, so transport back and forth depending on the weather is not a major effort.

Overall, we are really pleased with both the style and functionality of the terrace. Being visible from most parts of the top floor we wanted to decorate it with the same style as the rest of the apartment. During the summer months, it is really like an additional room. The close location of the kitchen next to the terrace is also convenient when preparing food for barbecue. Since the arrival of the grill, it has been in active use, but being rather large and not very pretty we placed it between the couch and railing. This way it is not in anyone's way and when in use the smoke escapes away from the terrace door.

An inviting view from the kitchen

Based on the past month's experiences, we are now even more convinced the Profi Deck material was definitely the right choice for us. Both visually and practically, it compliments both the terrace and our needs. The colour is in line with the structural wood work, and the decking boards have been laid in the same direction as the overhanging wooden structure and the inside ceiling. However, even more than the visual reasons, the deck boards are laid in this direction because the floor has a slight decline towards the railing. Assembling the Profi Deck with the rubber strips creates a water proof decking allowing the rain water to flow towards the drains, which are located next to the railing. This way the deck dries faster and the water flow also helps to clean the deck from dust and other particles.

The view from the railing

One of our latest auction finds also ended up to the terrace - a rattan ottoman designed by Franco Albini for Vittorio Bonacina in 1951. Pekka has been hunting this piece (two of them, actually) for more than a year now and finally the first one found it's way to our terrace! This rattan-made piece also belongs to the permanent collection of MoMA New York. Rattan is a natural material which grows mainly in the Far East, and its characteristics include elasticity, flexibility and lightness. The stool is woven by experienced, specialised artisans, and is stunningly beautiful, practical and yes, of course, vintage!

Ottoman by Franco Albini for Vittorio Bonacina 1951

The LCM's by Eames are roughly from the same period than the Albini ottoman. The design of the LCM's actually derives from the early 1940's when Charles and Ray Eames were experimenting with wood-molding techniques. Their studies led to a commission from the US Navy requesting the Eames couple to develop plywood items used in the WWII. Later Charles and Ray applied the same technology (molding wood and glue under heat and pressure) to make affordable, high-quality veneer chairs, which could be mass-produced using dimensionally shaped surfaces.

LCM by Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller 1946

The plywood seat and backrest of the LCM are joined to the metal spine and legs with a series of rubber washers or "shock mounts". The shock mounts are glued under the seat and behind the backrest and screwed to the metal frame. The rubber mounts allow the backrest to flex with the person sitting in the LCM. Unfortunately, this is the greatest design flaw of the chair. The shock mounts are securely glued to the wooden backrest, but can tear free if excessive pressure is applied or when the rubber becomes brittle with age. It is not very uncommon to see vintage chairs to which holes have been drilled through the plywood to use screws to attach seat and backrest to the frame. Such a shame.

The only two companies producing LCM's chairs are Herman Miller in US and Vitra in Europe. Since the launch of LCM's they have become available in several different wood finishes and colours. Our chairs have a walnut finish and are made by Herman Miller.

LCM's with Ottoman

On a completely other topic, there have been two recent landmarks in our little daughter's life: she just celebrated her first birthday, and a bit after that, learned to walk. For her birthday present, she received a beautiful flower from her grand mother.

Flower on teak

Just like us adults, also the junior members of the family are really enjoying the sunny terrace. Also, we brought the plants out for the summer to allow them to take advantage of the short sunny summer months of the Scandinavian summer.

Two happy juniors

To conclude, it is now a bit difficult even to remember the terrace before the transformation. We just love it! To us, the Profi Deck is a perfect solution: it has a flexible design and is easy to install and maintain (even the worst barbecue messes have been easy to clean). It is also visually appealing and very pleasant to walk on. Finally, an important attribute for us was also the fact that the Profi Deck material is upcycled, and thus in line with our goal to conserve as much of the original elements of the apartment as possible and reuse recycled materials wherever feasible. Therefore, we are glad to recommend the Profi Deck solution for anyone. If you want to come and check it out, you are most welcome!

Summer preparations

We are not at all "plastic" people. Instead of plastic, we usually prefer natural materials such as wood, leather and metal as building blocks of our home. However, now when the summer is here we really wish to spice up the atrium terrace, one way or another.

So far, we have made a decision regarding the terrace floor material (more about it later), but right now we would like to introduce one of the key elements of our beloved terrace, the Bubble chair by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio for Adelta (1968). Some of you might remember it from Final frontier, when we had it stored away during the winter. Now, in the heat of the summer (+30C) it is definitely a perfect time to bring the Bubble out to the sun light.

Eero Aarnio is not only one of the most well known Finnish designers, but definitely an international design star of the pop culture era as well. He is known for numerous products made of plastic, including e.g. the Ball and Bubble chairs. Where the Ball chair has a composite structure (fiberglass & resin) the Bubble is made of acrylic. The material is first heated and subsequently blown into a shape around a steel ring. Ours is vintage (naturally), but as the chair is still in production, a new one can be purchased online through Eero's official web shop.

Bubble dog

Just like so many other pieces in our collection, our Bubble was found from an auction house. As it is an old piece, the years were visible on its surface. When it arrived, the surface was full of light scratches and to an untrained eye the situation might have seemed hopeless. Indeed, plastic can be problematic especially when used in lights where the light source (e.g. incandescent bulb) heats up the plastic and over the years makes it fragile. This is actually the reason why there are not so many vintage plastic lights in our home. For our delight, the situation with the Bubble is different. The acrylic is rather thick and fortunately the scratches are only very light.

The trouble

To bring the plastic surface back to its shine, Pekka chose to use Farecla paste compound.

The solution

The drill used in here is not actually able to provide sufficiently high rpm's, so in truth the work was mostly completed by hand rather than with the aid of a power tool. What one really needs is a tool much more powerful in terms of rpm's than a regular hand drill. Whichever way you are approaching the challenge, it is important to start slowly by adding paste and water simultaneously as you work through the scratchy surface.

Power(less) tool

Again, we are very happy with Pekka's persistence and the achieved outcome. And so is Urho. Well, it has to be admitted some of Urho's poses do require some preparative work and command words, but in the end he actually does not mind at all. He stays put more or less relaxed as long as it takes to get the shot done, because he knows that afterwards he always receives his favourite treat. It is all about incentives, right?

They made me stay here

As a final picture to conclude this posting, we need to throw in another one of Urho. In his last few appearances, Urho's view of the world has been somewhat inverted, so it is only appropriate to complete the trilogy!

Let me just...

Final frontier - completed

There is a little room upstairs which has been less spoken of until now. Referring to the floor plan, it is the farthest one of the two small rooms planned to be a combined study and a guest room. The cupboards in this room were already painted at the same time with the rest of the cupboards and floor sanded and lacquered in the very beginning of the renovation project. However, because we have had no urgent need for this room, the old and ugly wall paper has remained in place and it has effectively served as a storage for all the tools, paints and other renovation gear.

Starting point

While we were renovating - the gear graveyard

A few weekends ago the time came, when Pekka started the final battle with the study which was the last room needing work upstairs. After dumping all the renovation junk downstairs he removed the old wallpaper and painted the walls white. Now, after moving in we have noticed an interesting phenomenon: the threshold of starting any renovation related task seems to grow greater by the day, even if the to do list is still quite long. After finally finishing whatever a task in question happens to be, we always wonder how on earth it took so little time even if the time spend procrastinating with it was so enormous.

Rip me off

Anyhow, the study is now painted, furnished and ready for use, so few lines of the end result are in place. On the left wall, we have a vintage String unit with teak finish, which was found through eBay while still living in our previous apartment. When we moved here in September, the String shelf was first placed in the living room on the wall where we now have the Vodder credenza. It fits much better, however, to the study both from functionally and visually. It is quite a large system, and thus for the study we used only part of them leaving the rest of the pieces for other rooms.

The String shelf system is very well known also outside the collector community, but it's story might not be quite as familiar for the many String owners. It was created by Nisse and Kajsa Strinning in 1949 for a competition initiated by Bonnier public libraries. The goal of the competition was to create an assembly and expandable book case. The Strinnings' design won the competition and was exhibited in the H55 exhibition in Helsingborg in 1955, then becoming a huge sales success in 1960's. The shelf system consists of veneer shelfs hung on plastic coated wire ends, and it is still in production in many different colors and materials.

String shelf system and Nesso lamp

The study room also offers a home for three different lamps. The orange Nesso lamp in the picture above was designed by an Italian designer Giancarlo Mattioli for Artemide (1967). In the photo below is the PH Kontrast lamp, which is a base model of the current snowball pendant. The PH Kontrast was originally designed by Poul Henningsen for Louis Poulsen in 1958-1962 but due to the elaborate details, it cost too much to produce so it was discontinued in 1970's.

PH Kontrast and Sunburst by George Nelson

The chair next to the table is a Bellini chair designed by Mario and Claudio Bellini for Heller USA (1998). This chair was still in development at Atelier Bellini in Milan when Pekka started working there as a designer. We actually have two of them and they belong to the so called 0-series, which is the series following the prototypes in the product development process. Therefore one can see the marks of trial and error of injection molding, which are absent in chairs in later production series.

Bellini chair and PH80 by Poul Henningsen

In the far end of the study two items remain which in the long run do not belong there at all. The first one is a very unpractical and large sliding door, which used to separate the kitchen and the living room, but was removed while renovation. It is yet to be decided whether we are going to use it or not, but until then this massive and ancient door is going to roam from room to room, wherever it happens to bother us the least. The Bubble chair by Eero Aarnio (1968) is waiting for summer, as it will be then place on the upstairs atrium terrace.

The sliding door and a Bubble chair