Breakfast: the final frontier

Welcome back, everyone.  As always, another week brings more decorating projects at the Nickarmadillo household.  This time we're changing up the breakfast area.  Yes... again.

First it was the butcher block craftsman set.  Then came the Eames shells, the knockoff Bertoias and the genuine Bertoias.  There might have been a few more in there, but at this point I'm starting to lose track.

Now we've moved in three of the five Burke "propeller"(115) chairs that I picked up a couple weeks back (and hung the new Nelson Polygon clock). 

You probably noticed that they look very similar to Saarinen tulip chairs, which I suspect was Burke's intention, as they also produced another set with tulip bases as well.  I'll give you one guess why they refer to this as the "propeller" version.

 

With a preponderance of dark woods at my place,  things can begin to seem a little monotonous, so I really like the bright, space age touch that this grouping brings.

They didn't always look this sparkling though.  These babies came out of the seller's garage absolutely covered in grime and muck.  As Mr. Modtomic would say, they were farm fresh.

So how did I bring them back?  Well, I first did the necessary research, but it turns out that there's a lively debate about how to clean Burke chairs.  Some say that abrasives such as Magic Erasers do the trick, while others argue that such a treatment would remove the sealant from the fiberglass shells and invite all kinds of stains while dulling the original shine of the pieces.

I was far too impatient to attempt some of the more involved cleaning methods, and so I just made use of what was at hand, a big old tube of Barkeeper's Friend, a damp sponge, and a roll of paper towels.  As far as I can tell, this did the trick. 

Of course, there's always a few issues that the quick fixes won't take care of...

... like some slight staining...

 ... the very common hairline cracks along the stress points of the fiberglass...

... and those deep scuffs and chips, but if I cared about those sorts of things, I'd very quickly drive myself crazy here.  This place is "well-loved" furniture Mecca.  It's just something that you have to accept when you become a vintage furniture collector.

The two tagged chairs are in the basement, and I'm feeling quite worn out right now, so this picture of the stamp will have to suffice.  

Luckily the set came with three blue cushions, which suits my breakfast area perfectly.  The others are orange and yellow, which aren't my favorites, though I may attempt to recover them all some day.  The cushions aren't in the best shape.  Yeah, that foam is kinda funky.

One aspect that I find particularly cool about this seating arrangement is that Burke seating was used (both stock and modified) as prop furniture aboard the Enterprise in the sci-fi classic Star Trek.

Now I can eat my breakfast cereal in retro-futuristic style.  Beam me up more Lucky Charms, Scottie!