Newly Recovered Chair Dilemma
This drama goes all the way back to February of 2013 when I was trying to chose a fabric for my newly acquired sofa and chaise lounge. At that time, I asked my readers to give their opinions.
By March I had narrowed the options down to a couple of fabrics that I really liked. People voted, and I ended up buying several yards of my favorite, which was conveniently the most popular choice.
Then, the fabric sat in the basement for the next year and a half. It did make a brief appearance when I considered using it to reupholster the chaise lounge that I bought at a yard sale, but in the end, I decided that it was not right for that piece.
Since then, I thought that it would be great to reupholster my dining room chairs in that fabric. The black and white fabric on the seats just does not fit in since I sold the little black and white table. Using the fabric that I already had would save me a lot of money and I really do love that fabric. It would be nice to use it in my house.
However, I have more ideas than I do motivation, so my project stalled for a while. Then, I found the blog Trois Petites Filles and was inspired. Victoria has a beautiful house and has completed a lot of re-upholstery projects lately. I decided to go for it.
I dug out all of my materials and got to work.
A couple of hours later, I had a newly recovered chair.
Here is the before and after.
The chair was more padded and much more comfortable.
The only problem was that the colors were off. The red in the fabric was not as red as I remembered it, and it just does not go with the chair. I have been debating about painting the chairs black anyway now that I am going to have a wood toned table instead of the black and white. That is an easy fix.
The bigger problem is that the chair clashes with the rug. I really like this rug, and I would be sad to lose it. Maybe with the chair painted black it will not look as bad? Am I grasping at straws now?
So, I have a whole new dilemma. I need some help! What would you do?
Happy Homemaking!
P.S. I am linking up with Outside the Box.
I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com
A piece of paraphrased advice from a quilting book I read, Instead of worrying about clashing colors, just repeat the “offending” color elsewhere. So in your case, maybe add the chair red to picture frames, the uphostery fabric as a table runner, pick a color you love from the rug and paint your walls with it. So add or multiply instead of subtracting.
Check out Diane Vreeland’s famous living room/”Garden From Hell” for red on red decorating love.
That is awesome advice! We certainly do not shy away from color or pattern at our house, so I would like to keep the fabric. I don’t know that we will ever go as far as Vreeland, but I would like to try to add more. Thanks for the great suggestion!
Hey Jess, I am so glad all of my crazy upholstery projects inspired you. I have a rule when it comes to colors and decorating….the rule is that there is absolutely no rule. Do what you love. I think the rug and the fabric look fine….but you are right about painting the chairs black…and remember it is just paint. If you don’t like it, you can always paint it something else. Have fun!
I like your rule. 😉 I loved the old look of the chairs, but I have been ready for a change for a while now. The chairs are going to look great black. Thanks for checking out my blog.
This fabric looks great on the chairs! Don’t worry about the rug. The rug is darker and denser in pattern; the chair print is lighter and more open. I think they look good together! What would the chairs look like in white? Would they stand out too much?
White would look great, but I would worry that they would be hard to keep clean. Also, if one were to get a small chip, it would be a lot more obvious. I say this because there are some dings on the chairs now, but they are hardly noticeable. I am relieved to hear that you do not think that the seats look bad with the rug. I love them both!
I too think the chairs and rug look good together. I would probably paint the chairs the stem color of the flowers in the fabric — medium grey? But that’s because I use black sparingly. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
I am so glad that everyone thinks that the fabric looks alright with the rug. I also considered painting the chairs the color of the stems, but in person they are more brownish. I like the color, but I am not sure how good it would look with the wooden furniture in the room. It is still in consideration.
I don’t think the chair fabric clashes with the rug: they are both very busy, but they both have flower shapes and the same range of colour. I think they look bold together, a good bold. What about painting the chairs a colour you can find both in the rug and the pattern? Black would be nice, but there also seem to have a blue-grey shade in both… I can’t wait to see what you decide.
This is going to be a tough decision! Thanks for your input.
See! I said they looked good together too. 😛
You have such good taste. 😉