apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

There's tons of chairs like that all the time on Craigslist...

So buy 'em up and recover them in gorgeous vintage silk velvet before Thomas does!

if you take off a zero, I can afford it.

Patrick (the other one),

Take a look at this month's Home magazine...

Why, what's up in Home?

Recovering (and painting?) chairs you find on Criagslist or other places :

http://www.homemag.com/article.asp?section_id=24&article_id=695

Cool! Another company that's made a business of the concept is Chair Couture, available in NYC via Distant Origin.

or you could buy a used car. but i guess that's of little use in new york.

maxwell, you mean thomas o'brien found it. aero is so well put together everything there looks great, it is one of my favorite stores with a strong point of view.

patrick (the other one) -

I was inspired by Chair Coture last year when Design Sponge blogged them. I started collecting antique chairs from Craigslist and refurbishing them (actually, sending them to a professional restorer) but never had the heart to paint over them. And I started seeing by comparison how poorly made most of the stuff made today is. It's actually cheaper to buy a vintage piece and refurbish it to "as new" condition than to buy a quality made new piece.

It's a lot of fun...The wildest fabric I ever bought for a chair was the Ljungbergs "Margret Rose".

http://store.txtlart.com/margretrose.html

Love it, but I'd DIY with a good upholsterer.

Love that bench/stand/table next to it even more.

Valerie -

I'm on a first name basis with the best upholsterer in Portland (OR). If I call and say "Hi, this is the chair guy", he knows who it is. LOL

Um, Valerie, if you pay an upholsterer, it isn't DIY, is it?

Valerie's DIY isn't "DO it yourself," but "DESIGN it yourself." (We need an acronym for that -- it's a perfectly valid concept, given how often professional designers decide on the statement and the fabric, then have someone else do the hands-on work.)

anybody have any sources for good silk velvet
for upholstery?
i am looking for black cut silk velvet, and everything
seems to be to the trade only. or they don't have black.
i was in the fabric dept. of abc home, and besides being
unbelievably rude, they could not offer me black.
also the furniture looked badly upholstered there.

Try Hyena Productions. They have silk velvet for $49 a yard. They're quick about sending samples, too. Try Silk Trading Company too.

http://www.hyenaproductions.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=7

http://www.silktrading.com/stcProductDetail.aspx?id=177&catid=1