apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If it's just the seat that has the rip, I would just recover the seats-but it's hard to see how to fix it without seeing the rest of the chair-is the chair one piece, or does the the seat pad come off?

I was just reading a back issue of Domino the other night, and they showed how a designer had folded a thin blanket and tucked it down the center of the chair--imagine your geen chair with a thick stripe down the middle. Anyway, it looked a lot cooler than it sounds, and would cover that scratch. I'll try to find an image if possible.

Here's what the fab Wary Meyers team did to a similar chair in a recent tossed & found column in Time Out New York:
http://www.timeout.com/newyork/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles1/600/house_home/tossed_and_found.xml

Shannon, I know exactly what you are talking about - the blanket-as-stripe really looked quite nice.

I "3rd" Shannon's idea-loved the blanket-stripe look....and I sympathize with you! My cats seem to ignore my inexpensive ikea chair and instead like to sit on my one antique-a console table from dad. Thank goodness for Tibet Almond Sticks!

The Time Out NY article is a great idea-and your tear is small. You could do a simple leaf or other shape in a vinyl to match but not disguise what you did. It'd be funny to do a cat shape, since that's what caused the tear. I have a vinyl banquette seat that my daughter just put a hole in and I'll think I'll patch it to keep it from spreading.

There used to be a product in the 70s for exactly this.....they did infomercials, along with Creedence Clearwater Revival albums and sweatsuits made from silver duct-tape like material.

Something like this:

http://www.asseenontv.com/prod-pages/LiquidLeatherRepair.html

from the book Home Cheap Home:

1. Buy vinyl in a coordinating color
2. Cut the vinyl into a an interesting shape big enough to cover the tear (like a leaf or flower or heart).
3. Paste the vinyl onto the chair with a strong flexible glue like house hold goop contact adhesive(available at hardware stores).
4. Wait 24 hours for it to dry

your local library should have the book