How To Thursday - Reupholster It!

This "How To Thursday" is how a little fabric and a reupholster can create magic. A client had 2 antique chairs, which for years sat mismatched next to her traditional antique sofa. When she contacted me she was ready to blend all three pieces to make a cohesive room. What we had to work with was the sofa upholstered in a warm floral pattern full of deep hues.




The tufted chair was beautiful, though the cats had torn apart the fabric and the seat was an old horse hair cushion which no one wanted to sit on. We found a small diamond print with strong color to accent the wood trim and requested a new firmer seat. I also asked to eliminate the nail heads and add a double welt, this created a more modern look for the chair. Now it is a comfortable and inviting reading chair!

Before...

After!!

The second chair sat for years with a muslin cover and did not have much of a personality. In order to accentuate the gorgeous lean lines of the chair we chose a stripe fabric. With this fabric my goal was to pull out the colors of the floral fabric while tying in the mango color of the diamond print.

Before...



After!!!


floral - mini print - stripe

There are a few things I took into consideration when choosing fabrics. The goal is to mix pattern and scale of the fabrics while keeping in style with what is currently in the room. The existing fabric was a wide spread floral with many colors. I chose the mango diamond fabric for the tufted chair because I knew anything with a stripe or plaid pattern would become distorted with the buttons. After pulling the mango out of the main floral fabric I knew my next selection needed to be one that pulled all the fabrics together which the stripe did perfectly. The stripe is a complimentary pattern to the floral and diamond prints, it also pulls together all the colors of the room. Both of these pieces now have a new life thanks to a bit of fabric and an expert upholsterer!

Have you reupholstered pieces? If you have questions on a fabric selection to coordinate with other pieces in your room feel free to send me an email, I am happy to help out!!

If you are in Boston ck out Freddy Farkel in Watertown they absolutely have the best reuph prices!