Good Question Follow Up! Upholstered Chairs

Hi Apartment Therapy, I wrote to you in February asking for advice on re-upholstering these chairs — Good Questions: What Color / Kind Upholstery? I finally got them back, and wanted to share the result with you, which I am really happy about! I actually ended up doing something completely different from what I had originally planned which was a bright jewel toned velvet. In the end, I figured I had enough “heavy” fabrics with the velvet sofa, leopard chair and in another corner I have a pair of very old leather club chairs. I wanted something bright and light, and in the end, went with my gut. I was hemming and hawing between the “safe choice” of a dark jewel tone or a beige, chocolate or grey, but kept coming back to this color and when I saw it in this fabric I knew it didn’t really “go” with anything, but loved it anyway. I’m glad I did, I think it looks great! The bonus is with the extra fabric, I have a few pillows coming that I’ll switch out on the sofa to have a little bit of matching.

DETAILS:
• The wood was sanded and refinished. There were a lot of nicks and scratches, and I figured I might as well do it right. The wood is a touch lighter than before, but I think it came out great.

• The fabric is a heavy linen type fabric with a touch of sheen called “Houston” from Casamance. What I love about the fabric is that depending on the light (I have a lot of sky lights, so I get tons!) it looks brighter or darker, and in the evening the sheen comes out, without being metallic, and it looks beautiful.

Thanks again for all of your great comments back in February! Melissa

Thanks for sharing the results Melissa!

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to: newyork(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)

Comments (21)

I really like the way these turned out - Congrats!

BTW - I wouldn't concern yourself about getting more of that color elsewhere in the room such as pillows on the sofa. That blue is in perfect balance with the red/oranges you have elsewhere.

Love that color. It goes great with the wood frame. And to me it matches, even without the pillows. Good job!

My favorite color -- beauteous! Send them to me!! ;^)

Looks great--always good to go with the gut!

I am SO GLAD you didn't go with a safe choice of a dark jewel-tone, beige, chocolate, or grey. The color you chose actually goes PERFECTLY and balances with the red/orange/brown. This proves that you should always go with your gut, and never second-guess yourself!

Beautiful, what a great job!

Great color choice...it really works wonderfully well with all the other colors in the room.

Those look great!
Perfect choice.

Beautiful! And please do not put matching pillows on your couch. That matching thing reminds me of all the shows on HGTV, where you're not allowed to have ONE thing in a color, you must have other matching items spread throughout the space. Your room is much more interesting as is.

Yes, listen to Lesley: you're finished with the blue. The whole point of an accent color is its unexpectedness, and once you spread it all around--a pillow here, a vase there, a mat on a framed picture over there--the surprise value is shot to hell. Sometimes, the hardest part about decorating is knowing when to stop.

I absolutely love it! I'm saving that photo for some personal inspiration. :)

I would agree that the concern of the blue "not going w/ what you have" isn't really there for neutrals, darker colors can take a color such as this blue and it goes w/ the red/orage. If anything on, perhaps 2 pillows in that blue, but not necessarily in that room would be OK, assuming the rest of the place has a similar color scheme (doesn't have to be exactly the same).

but if you must, no more than 2 on the sofa, but w/ the one of each of the other colors to play off with, such as behind the orange pillow on one side, the red on the other side but no more.

Otherwise just the chairs in blue work just fine.

er, I should correct to say, one blue pillow behind a pillow, one red, one orange.

"Going with" doesn't really mean the same as "matching". I'm glad you went with your gut, since it was telling you the right thing. But it's a great lesson to teach yourself.
What you did "goes with" your stuff so beautifullly, it's just not funny. Those chairs are just HOT now.

It's also kind of nice that you did actually do them the same as each other, because speaking of matching, people don't really do pairs all that much anymore, but I like it when they do.

Absolutely the Perfect choice!
The color is appropriate for the period the chairs were made.

I love them! And I agree with everyone, the chairs fit in the room just perfectly. I love your room, it's fantastic!

Hi AT!

Wow! Thanks for all of your positive feedback and encouragement!!! I am really thrilled not only with the chairs but to know that people actually find what I've done attractive!

The room is almost finished, just looking for the perfect rug to tie it all together. All suggestions welcome.

@Clampers - the upholsterer that did this is in Geneva Switzerland, where I live, who I found through a decorator.

Thanks again for all the inspiration.

Beautiful chairs and the fabric is astonishing with the whole room. it perfectly blended with the decoration of the environment.