apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

WOW! Love it!

Nicely done!!!

Great work pleating over those arms. I always mismatch those.

Beautiful. :)

This is so refreshing. We see the reverse much more often on AT--people taking beautiful old wood and painting it so that it looks like something from the late Brocade Home. I hope that this post will give those contemplating painting wood pause.

very nice and such a better after

This was NOT one of the worst befores (if you ask me), but the after IS one of the best afters. It's very, very nice AND interesting.

Lovely! THough I kinda liked the silver. Would have been pretty with navy blue velvet.

I am mostly inspired by the juxtaposition of the bench adjacent to the rolling toy telephone thing. Cuuute.

Call me sick but I kind of like the original pink. Its just the thing I can see in a female teenagers bedroom half buried under a pile of clothes.

Or the favorite chair of some small spoilt prima donna dog like a Corgi.

Mafan
Laser Modules For Raves!!!

Sorry, don't like either one. Kinda looks like something that someone who wears leather hip boots and carries a whip would own.

Bravo! the "after" is GORGEOUS !

I was hoping the after would look more...spontaneous. It looks just how you would expect it to look once refurbished. I thought it might have a more surprising look to it. I mean, it doesn't look bad. Just ordinary.

WOW! Awesome!

I think the new fabric kinda dates the piece, and the wood now (imho) looks like those "Florentine" finishes that much of this style of furniture was originally offered in.

So to me, this is more a "Restoration" than an "After." ;)

I saw the before and thought "Ick, nothing's gonna make me like the 'after!'" I was wrong!

Wow. The After is beautiful. And the Before? Stunningly awful. Way to see the potential!

Here we are again, with the painting wood thing. Actually "painting it so that it looks like something from the late Brocade Home" is exactly what happened here. Although the original piece was fugly, the after piece looks whack with its dated puke-green velvety upholstery and fake-dating finish on the wood. I guess it's country shabby chic meets your grandma in "Italy."

Hi everyone, thanks a lot for your kind comments and also the snarky ones, they made me laugh a lot.
The bench originally was not only horrible, but so horrible one could have fallen in love with it. My husband totally opposed the restoration (which by the way, was a real restoration: after I stripped off the silver, I had to restore many parts of the wood carvings with liquid wood. Also, my upholsterer said it had the worst upholstering job he had ever seen), but I wanted something modern yet timeless, and that's why I went for the velvet damask. I wanted the grandma look without the oldness. The finish of the wood is not fake dated, as much as I sandpapered, painted off white with a wrong paint that didn't stick, but in the end I didn't dislike it.
Oh, and I don't wear leather boots, and have never thought of carrying a whip, but it might not be a bad idea :D

I love the after! I´m so glad the wood isn´t painted white or black... or any other color! And the fabric is beautiful.

wow, what a project! well done!

Sol is not Italian, she's a Mexican living in Italy. In fact this stuff has nothing to do with the real Italian taste and style.

Ciao!

wow i love them both. kudos for imagination and making an already nice thing better!

Gorgeous! I think the original pink could work in the right decor, just not mine...

I kinda like the before best - but then my laptop is sitting on a french antique table painted HOT Pink :-)

Good job Sol!

Wow--not my taste, but really nicely done!

Sorry, don't like either one. Kinda looks like something that someone who wears leather hip boots and carries a whip would own.
posted by rhodajr on 2008-11-14 04:37:37

whaaaat. never mind the awesome bench; WHERE CAN I GET LEATHER HIP BOOTS :D

amazing! I almost didn't want to look at the after, but nice work!

I think Sol sounds like fun.

Who thinks this is "dated" fabric? It's a classic Venetian pattern that's been used for hundreds of years. It never goes out of style.

love it.

Looks great! The hard work put into it was definitely worth it.

wow, amazing transformation!

Hey! Don't fink on the pink! With the right elements pink can look grown up and glamorous.

Great job, Sol! How can I get that fabric?

Here you go!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ITALIAN-LEATHER-HIP-BOOTS_W0QQitemZ250322994635QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20081110?IMSfp=TL081110114001r4767

Starting bid is $175.

love the after and this pic with the childs toy laying next to it, just love it!

IMHO, the original pink (and silver) was ironic, funny and glamorous.

Ok, that was kitsch but at least it gave an idea of "kitsch-awareness"!

The after is simply kitsch and stop. Pure, sad kitsch.

Bad taste without irony at all.

Poor wood, it seems like somebody tortured it!

Lenoshka,

Since when are kitsch and irony the only measures of a project's success?

This woman lives in Italy. She chose a traditional fabric that seems perfectly relevant to her home and her life. Now she has a charming little "throne" for her kids to play on or for her to sit on while she puts on her shoes.

You didn't have to slave over this project--she did. She is proud of the result and deserves to be.

Madsarah,

I never said that "irony and kitsch" are the only measures of a project's success. Of course they are not! That would be a quite limited vision. There are many other elements ofc, I agree with you.

I'm happy that this woman is happy with her bench.
She chose a fabric that SHE likes, for HER own apartment. It's obvious she likes it ;) But when she decides to ask an opinion about it, in a public forum, well I guess I can express my point of view about it. Or am I wrong?

I'm not the "Universal-Good-Taste-Goddess", ofc, but I don't think that bench is beautiful (maybe because it's a fake antique, maybe because it's hyper-baroque, maybe 'cause that bare wood has nothing to do with the style of the traditional bench).

So, why do I have to say that I like it if I don't?
You wrote that just because she is happy and proud of her bench, I have to pretend I like it. Sorry, I disagree.

You know, the one about good taste is a very big problem. I really dunno how to solve it!

Latins said: "De gustibus non est disputandum" =
lit. You shoudn't argue about taste
(Different strokes for different folks eheh)

But I confess I fear that we will lose good taste if we all say that an awful thing is beautiful, just to please a woman that is happy and proud of her project.

I'd like to know that there are basic elements that help us to understand when a thing is awful and when a thing is awesome.

P.S. I am Italian and I live in Italy...that's why my English sucks! ;)
ciao

Lenoshka,

we got the message: you don't like the bench, you're not fond of Mexicans taking over your pure national style. No need to spam the comments with your verbose theories about taste and life :-)

J. (who doesn't like neither the before nor the after of the bench)

wow flamy little bench...

rhodajr: those boots are killers :D pity they're not my number.

genjenn: the fabric is from a German company

http://www.jab.de/en/living/elegant/villaerba.html

JMoretti,
(hey, Moretti is an Italian name ;P )
sorry to disagree with you, but no: you didn't get the message at all.
And please don't use the plural form "WE", 'cos I don't think you know the opinion of every other AT readers. And you're not even the AT readers' boss or leader (at least I hope so LOL).

I've never spoke about pure national taste. I'm not racist at all, I love different cultures (that's why I read AT and I'm trying my best to express myself in a language that is not mine...by the way: sorry if I am verbose, it's difficult to me to translate my thoughts in English).

but please don't confuse Italian style with something completely different. This has nothing to do with racism, but with cultural positive differences. Get it?

Anyway, I'm happy we at least agree on the bench ;)

Love&Peace&GoodTaste everybody! :)

@Sol: nothing personal, simply I don't like the bench. Niente di personale, ma non mi piace la panchetta, tutto qui! Ciao.

O conciseness, where art thou?

J.

O good taste, where art thou?

L.

(Who said conciseness is always a quality?
Maybe a normal amount of words is a problem for narrow-minded people, or retarded ones.

Do you want everything to be SHORT like you?
Sorry, not everything in the world is short, my dear.

keep it coming, I'm loving it :-)

@JMoretti:

Anyway, in respect to Sol and her article, I'm not replying anymore. We're getting off-topic.

I thought I was in AT, and not in "Grammar and Language Therapy"...can't understand what conciseness has to do with furniture, design etcetera.

And, again: if conciseness were a universal quality, Literature, novels and books wouldn't exist at all!

It's gorgeous, and that fabric is a knock-out. Good eye! I would have walked right on past the pink hideosity of it.

god I was so afraid the pink was the "after" shot. wonderbar!!!