I just stepped into Ted Muehling's shop at the bottom of Crosby Street to buy a small birthday gift for Sara Kate (it was today! last week) and saw a great idea for today's email. Inside, where he sells exquisite and not inexpensive jewelry, he has taken a number of old, mismatched chairs and given them a whole new look by covering them with fur and dark wool pelts. The effect? They're luxurious, exotic and super comfortable. Artists always do the most creative things with interiors...

A few of the chairs are really nice vintage finds, while the others are not so remarkable. With the pelt coverings, however, they are all pulled together stylistically, and the not so nice parts are hidden. The dark wool lends drama (though you could also do this with white wool), and the makeover takes zero time.

Ironically, today on ATNY, someone with a chair TOTALLY like Ted Muehling's asked this question, Cheap Repair Ideas For This Chair?, which we think this also answers. BTW, it's a beautiful chair and a steal at $5.

While we don't know where Ted got the fur from, wool pelts like this are easy to find online and we've also found them at the Farmer's Market in NYC.

Here are some quick sources and if you have better ones, I'd love to hear from you (maxwell @ apartmenttherapy . com).

>> www.sheepskin.com
>> www.rowantreewoolery.com
>> Ikea