Parker Furniture Avalon 3-seater lounge

Another iconic Australian manufacturer and furniture piece.

I was gifted this lounge frame from a friend who had always intended to restore it but never found the time. It had no cushions and the frame was in need of some repairs as a few springs were missing.

As luck would have it I was driving to a friends house in the local area and spotted a piece of the distinctive panels on the kerbside, I pulled over for a closer look and found a collection of springs sitting next to it in the grass. I couldn’t load them into my car quick enough!

A few weeks later I found the upholstery by way of another hard rubbish pile. The beautiful morrocan textile was part of a floor furniture suite which again was sitting homeless on the roadside due to a broken zip. I instantly saw the connection in the triangular motifs and thought it would make a fabulous fabric for the Avalon lounge.

The last piece of the puzzle was to source the foam for some new cushions. I was talking to the manager of an op shop and mentioned that I restore furniture and was always on the look out for pieces in need of attention. She told me that they had just been given the keys to a warehouse that needed to be cleaned out before they could make use of the space. It just so happened that it used to be a commercial furniture warehouse and there was a room piled high with all the foam and Dacron an upholstery girl could wish for. She gave me the site supervisors number and told I could take as much as I wanted! The warehouse was only a few blocks from my house so I was able to do a few trips in my trusty SUV to ferry materials home.

I always love it when serendipity jumps in to provide me with sustainably sourced goods! It’s a part of my ethos to work with salvaged materials as much as possible. It may take a little longer to find the right things sometimes, but if you’re patient some amazing things happen.