This is the chair I showed you in the last post as it looks today. It is truly an old friend. It was an old chair when I bought it 37 years ago. It was upholstered in an old fashioned print of pink rosebuds with a green stripe. I covered it in the black and white print you saw. Later I covered it with a bright yellow-gold fabric. Down the line it got a new cover that was a Chinese-themed print with fans and plates in rich jewel tones. It has been covered in my favorite toast-y warm red for awhile now. When I bought it I thought it was a funky old chair that I could fix up and use until I could afford "good" furniture. Little did I expect for it to be around this long.The last time it was covered I didn't feel like upholstering it myself. Upholstery is very hard work, that makes your hands ache. So I found someone else to do it. When I found out how much it would cost I figured I could probably buy a new chair for the same or less, so I went out shopping for a new chair. The new chairs were not nearly as comfortable and seemed kind of flimsy and lightweight compared to this old relic. So we had it reupholstered once again and I haven't regretted it. The red velvet seems to suit it. Shortly after it was done I found a beautiful little piece of old tapestry with irises, at an estate sale, that seemed destined to be a pillow for this chair.
Over the years we have joked that this chair has held our marriage together. If we had ever split up we could probably have come to agreement about custody of children and pets pretty amicably, but neither of us would have been willing to give up this chair.
Terry, I just love that old black and white fabric from the 70's. It is so true that there is "nothing new under the sun" to quote Solomon! You would not believe how much of that sort of thing I am using in projects these days! It also looks good in the warm red. My advice to clients as far as re-upholstery goes is summed up by your experience....it is almost as costly as a new chair, so only do it if you love the chair, and it is comfortable, and has a good solid frame. in your case, all of those apply!
ReplyDeleteIt is a beautiful chair - I just love the red. Such a rich history it has too.
ReplyDeleteThe last time I went shopping for chairs, all the furniture seemed to be oversized even though most houses, except the mega houses in suburbs, seemed not to be oversized. So there is another reason for recovering a "normal" sized chair.
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