Good Questions: Affordable Fabric to Flatter This Eames?

Hello AT,

I recently rescued an Eames lounge chair from the side of the road on bulk garbage day. (My best garbage find of all time!) As you can see from the photo, the upholstery is pretty bad shape. After doing some research I discovered that to have the chair recovered in leather would cost almost as much as buying a new chair all together...

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I am looking for some less expensive fabric alternatives that complement the design of the chair. Maybe something a little unexpected. Any suggestions on what might work?

I am also attaching a picture of some fabric from Maharam.com that I thought was kind of interesting. Am I way off base?

Thanks! Julia

Dear Julia,

We love your fabric choice. It's way funky. We can also see a large bold pattern cutting across the front of the cushions. We like a brighter fabric that will make a stronger contrast against the wood frame.

For less expensive fabric you want to buy from a remnant house like Zarin's or Joe's Discount. When you go, you just have to see what they have in stock.

We're a little braindead today (out late drinking with friends who we haven't seen in years). Is that helpful at all?

Anyone else?

Comments (2)

There's great fabric and leather for cheap on ebay. I got authentic Knoll fabric to cover my Florence Knoll sofa there for $10 a yard! They also have some great deals on leather too from the looks of it.

I also had some similar woes repairing my Eames lounge (although I did not find it in the garbage! You're so very lucky!). Mine had the holes drill through too and faulty shock mounts. For the shock mounts, I sent the panels back to Herman Miller directly. It's not commonly known or advertised, but they'll attach new shock mounts the right way for $150 per mount. Not bad and you know you're getting the real deal from them! I think Hume would probably charge the same or more to do it. I also had a local person here in Seattle repair my cushions. He did a marvelous job for a very reasonable price, but I'll have to check to see if he would be willing to do another.

My advice on the fabric is to go with the real thing. Leather. Your chair looks like the real deal and I'd hate to see it anything but what it was originally intended to have. If it was a fake, it'd be another story.

Best of luck.

I have that exact chair. It is not an original Eames. I couldn't care less, personally - I love mine. But I don't think you should spend a few thousand on a redu, when you could get a new reproduction for that much. Find some inexpensive good fabric or leather and it should be wonderful.