Posts Tagged ‘Chairs’

Miss Muffet would be jealous of this fabulous chair!

I have had this great little bistro style chair hanging in my shed since last fall.  I should say my husband’s shed.  I get the house and he gets the shed.  He doesn’t touch my “stuff” and I don’t mess with anything in his 4500 square foot garage.  It’s the perfect trade off!  I do all the interior design at inside and he does all the outside work!   I do, however, store a few items in there once in a while.

A cut little bistro style chair in it's original yellow paint and vinyl seat

This chair for instance.  It was a great find for $9.99 at Goodwill.  I wanted to do something very girly in hot pink, so my 7 year old niece Kayla became the inspiration and recipient.  I knew it would be perfect for a child’s bedroom.

The glitter really sold me on this tulle!

I was very excited when I found this glittered fuchsia tulle and a floral fabric and embroidered trim to go with it.

Green paint really updates the look of the chair

A little sand paper to rough up the finish and a can of neon green spray paint updated the chair from the 1970’s.

The old seat batting was in good shape.

The black and white vinyl seat was stapled on and easy to remove.  Then I cut a piece of the fabric 2” wider than the seat and attached it with a staple gun.

A staple gun is the handiest tool when covering chair seats

I gathered a double layer of tulle by hand and stapled it to the seat making the gathers even all the way around.

Never cut off the excess fabric until you are satisfied with the fullness.

Instead of cutting off the excess netting, I folded it up for extra fullness and sewed it in place.  You could glue the trim to the fabric, but hand stitching is neater (no mess) and you have greater control.

The floral trim is the finishing touch

Miss Muffet would have loved this chair

I happened to find the lime green pom-poms in my stash that were a perfect match.  It turned out so cute and just right for a girly little seven year old.

A chair fit for a little princess (or even a Queen)

Adding  style and design to any room can be as simple as a trip to a resale shop and fabric store.  Go ahead, brighten your home with color!

How you use color says so much about your Signature Style. It’s a glimpse into who you really are.  Look at your wardrobe.  Chances are you have colorful clothes.  Even it you wear lots of black, I’m guessing you pair it with blouses and turtlenecks in colors that make you feel good.

The same thing should apply to your personal decorating.  So many people are afraid of color, they choose none. Their walls have the same “builder’s beige” from when they moved in or simply settle with white.  (I don’t care what the label says; white in its multitude of shades is still white!)

Monochromatic rooms are a challenge to pull off in interior design.  An all white room can be beautiful and effective if you pay very close attention to detail.   That means you need lots of texture, various shades and tints of white and (I can’t help myself) a touch or splash of a contrasting color.  It’s even more effective when the room has lots of windows with natural light.

All white rooms are even better with a touch of color

Although this room has white walls and furniture, the wood floor, area rug and dining room chairs and table add other pale hues and textures.  The round light shades and plants soften the sharp angles and horizontal lines in the room.  Little touches of black and silver (media unit, window frames, fireplace and stack) keep the room vibrant. The lime green wall and little accessories add a brilliant punch of color.  Had the green wall been another shade of white, the room would be more calm and serene, but not nearly as beautiful.

That’s may opinion. I would love to hear what you think.  Lime green wall or all white?  Leave your comment below.

Our next step in redecorating Patrick’s room is to look for bedding and fabric.  He is a typical guy who really doesn’t like to shop, but it’s his room, so I insisted he choose the chair and bedspread.  I know I won’t have time to make a bedspread, but I can manage valances for the window and a bedskirt.

We headed for the bedding section at the local department store.  Red is just not a hot color now, so our choices were limited.  I pulled out 5 bedspreads that would go with his chair:  denim, a black/red bold stripe, a navy matelasse, a grey/red hip and trendy print and black graphic print.  He chose (drum roll, please…) the navy matelasse!  A matelasse is two pieces of fabric that have been quilted together by hand or machine with matching thread.  It’s beautiful coverlet, but it doesn’t offer any other colors to use in the room.

Pat chose a navy matelasse for his bedspread

Next, I went to area fabric stores to look for a coordinating fabrics for the drapery and bedskirt.  That was a challenge too since we didn’t want a patriotic red, white and blue room.  I also didn’t want to show him too many choices.   Like most clients, too many options are simply overwhelming.  A good designer knows her client and can narrow down the choices before making a presentation.

This stripe fabric would have been perfect had it not been sold out!

Pat liked the navy, green, red and beige stripe, but it was already sold out by the time I returned.  He also liked a solid red quilted fabric and I talked him into a dark, navy, red, green paisley.

I think we will use this for window valances

This paisley fabric is very grown-up and a little sophisticated!

• The bedspread was regularly priced at $150.00, but on sale and with a coupon, I got it for half price!
  
• The red quilted fabric was also on sale, marked down from $14.00 a yard to $11.19.  Unfortunately, the store had less than 2 1/2 yards.   There won’t be enough for the bedskirt, but I can make a simple drapery valance out of the piece.
• I also had a 50% off coupon for the paisley fabric (see a trend here?).  I paid $12.50 a yard instead of $25.00.  I bought the end of the bolt so I’m hoping 5 yards of fabric will be sufficient.

At least we have some colors to choose from when we pick paint.  Fortunately, I have lots of paint chips at my office and we can pick one out before we head out the store again.

Patrick and I went shopping for a red chair.  What you should know about us is I like to shop and he doesn’t (unless of course it’s for movies and electronics). The other thing is Patrick figures when you say you are going to do something you mean right now.  I have a little more patience (meaning I can wait a long time for just the right thing, however when I make up my mind I want it right now too).  As a designer, thousands of fabrics are available to me so are hundreds of chair frames.  Custom furniture can take 12- 16 weeks.  Neither one of us wanted to wait that long to complete his room so we checked out the local retail furniture stores.

Doc Brown has a great red arm chair in Back to the Future.

Our mission was to find a similar chair to the one Doc Brown had in Back to the Future.  We found a couple red chairs in micro fiber (not a big fan of micro fiber).  Although they were quite inexpensive, they were also too big.

Doc's chair is in red moire fabric, has a loose back cusion and rolled arms. Looks comfy.

Two mistakes people make when shopping:
1.    You get what you pay for!  Cheap never lasts as long as a good quality     piece.  Buy the best you can afford.
2.    Measure your doorways and stair ways before buying.  No sense in hauling something home if you can’t get it in the house.  Custom furniture is not returnable!

The stariway in our old farm house is narrow. Be sure to measure before you buy!

There isn’t a 36” wide opening on any door in my house interior or exterior.  Pat’s room is on the second floor.  Not only did we have to get it into the house, we had to get it up stairs.

Pat watched as his dad and brother Tyler delivered the chair.

We bought a very nice recliner in red leather!  The size was perfect (it did take a little maneuvering, but we were successful).  It was on sale for under $800.00.  Not a bad price for leather.  Knowing Pat, he will take very good care of it.  He will want to change color schemes before it shows any wear!

It's not an exact copy, but pretty close and maybe better than the Doc Brown chair!

Our next step will be finding fabric for bedding and window treatments so we can choose paint colors.  Paint can be mixed in an endless number of colors, shades or hues.  A good paint company can match anything.  So even though picking a color is difficult for most people, select your fabrics first, then mix a paint to coordinate with your soft goods.

Doesn't Patrick look comfortable and relaxed in his new recliner?

Arne Jacobsen

We hear a lot about Modern Furniture and Modern Design. Most people confuse Modern with Contemporary. The term Modern is reserved for mid 20th century design the classic work of American, Scandinavian, German, and other celebrated designers and architects. Contemporary furniture and design is the current style or trend that is being manufactured or used in interiors today. If it’s great design, it may become a classic too. Only time will tell.

Arne Jacobsen was an influential Danish architect. The SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen (1956-1961) is said to be his most important work. Not only did he design the building, he designed furniture, lamps, dishes and cutlery and door knobs.

SAS Royal Hotel 1961

He designed the “Egg” chair and the ‘Swan” for the lobbies. These ‘easy” chairs allowed guests to participate in conversations or sit back and turn away for privacy. They were considered to be the first upholstered swivel chairs. New technologies developed in the 1950’s allowed him to create single-pieced molded shells.

The Egg and Swan Chairs

More than 50 years later, the Egg and Swan chairs are still manufactured by Republic of Fritz Hansen in Denmark.

Swan sofa

Men In Black

Movie set designers have reinterpreted the Egg chair for such films as Men In Black. This version doesn’t look as comfortable as the real thing!

Will Smith in Men In Black

Another intrepretation of Jacobsen's chairs