Are you ready for the next installment in the “Me, Me, Me!” series? Well, *I* sure am!
The sofa…
and chairs…
…are now happily ensconced at the upholsterer’s, having the equivalent of a massage and a mani-pedi. (Perhaps tummy tuck and brow lift would be more accurate.)
The chairs are a great story, actually. Here’s where I met one of them.
Does this room look familiar? No? It’s now my office!
We bought our house from friends, so we were extremely fortunate: we could get in early and often to check things out. This had been their TV room.
Those blue chairs – there were 2 – moved with the former homeowners to their new penthouse. To make the chairs work with their new coral sofa upholstery, we covered them in what the friends-slash-clients eventually – affectionately – referred to as “the Christmas tree fabric.”
(At least I hope it was affectionately.)
Penthouse living lasted a few years, but the friends realized that deep down, they were house people. So they and the chairs moved to yet another part of town.
This time, they wanted modern. The sofas were banished to their basement and the chairs…came home with me!
So. We all know that re-upholstering is expensive, but it is worth it in this case because:
- The chairs were free
- They’re excellent quality
- They’re wicked comfortable
- Our cat had caused some damage to the Christmas tree fabric, which isn’t part of my hard-won vision for our living room
- I deserve it, and finally, because, once again,
- The chairs were free.
My trusty upholsterer told me that I would need 9 yards of fabric PER CHAIR to recover them.
That is a lot.
In a moment of weakness, I’d already bought a bolt at Haute Fabrics of the awesomest, coolest, semi-ridiculous fabric ever. There were only 9 yards of it, though. Total.
I know, it’s awesome, right? And kind of ridiculous? Orange herringbone? A little sparkly? And not enough of it?
Perfect.
We’re using the orange fabric on the seat cushion and inside of the back – which hopefully will lose a few tufts in the reupholstering process – and a large-scale pattern on the outside and skirt. Here were the 2 finalists, both from Schumacher.
Pearl River in Jade:
(That blue square is Robert Allen‘s Showtime in Ocean, which will go on the sofa. It’s velvet, and tough, and well priced.)
The other candidate was Chiang Mai Dragon in Aquamarine:
I’d had my eye on that dragon, I’ll be honest with you, but the minute I got the sample home, I knew it wasn’t right. Too gardeny, too bright, the black outlines made it too precious and formal, somehow.
So Pearl River, welcome to my world. I can’t wait to get those chairs back from the upholsterer.
I hope they’re not too small for the room.
Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!