Here we are today picking up where we left off. In case you missed it, you can read all about my
DIY shelves you see in the photo above in this post, and you can
learn how to create a baby's breath flower arrangement in this post.
So now...on to the malachite chairs. I love blue and green, and there is so much blue in the rest of the house, that
when we added the room off of the kitchen, I knew I wanted to incorporate a lot of green in there to play off of the greenery that comes through the windows surrounding the room.
I found these vintage cane chairs at an estate sale last March. I LOVED the large scale caning, and it was in perfect, I mean, per-fect condition. The chairs are heavy, and I really liked the bamboo accent on the arms and legs. These are classic chairs which will always look stylish and can work in a variety of room styles. Best of all, the chairs still had the little "Made in Italy" brass tag on the bottom. I love little details like this!
I was on the fence about selling them, but they were listed and sold in a matter of hours. I will tell you, I was a bit sad. Although I can't remember what happened, the buyer decided to buy another pair of chairs, so these were on the market again.
My dear friend, Kristen, told me I would regret selling them, and she was so right! (thanks girl)
So I kept them.
Clearly, the burnt orange velvet material was not going to work, so I needed to decide what to reupholster them in.
I have long been a fan of malachite. I can clearly remember going to a friend's house in the 80's for a family Christmas party and thinking their malachite dinnerware was soooooo pretty. Anyone have these back then?
koplavitch & zimmer[/caption]
I love a good cut velvet fabric. The weight and thickness of a quality silk velvet makes for a luxurious textile indeed. While I have long admired Koplavitch & Zimmer's (a high end, to the trade textile house) "Panthera" pattern, its $400 a yard price had kept me away. I have been particularly drawn to the "Navy" color way, since I am after all, a lover of blue. You can buy this fabric for around $100 a yard here, which is awesome, but a few months ago, while poking around on Ebay, I found this fabric.
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ebay[/caption]
Yes, it looks different in the photo, but computers do crazy things to fabrics and hues, so I thought I would try it. I needed a yard of it to make two pillows that would give a little edge to my very traditional 1920's library. I paid my nearly $30 (hello STEAL!), and friends, I was amazed when I pulled it out of the bag.
Hello Everyone! Hope you had a great weekend. It has been much warmer, and dare I jinx it, spring-like in my neck of the woods. I feel for you out there who are still covered in ice and snow. (well, unless you really enjoy ice and snow :) )
If you have been reading awhile, you know how much I love buying antique or vintage furniture pieces and giving them new life through upholstery. You can find some really interesting shapes and great bones in old pieces, and although discovering them before someone else does is getting a bit harder (don't you think so?), the end result is well worth it.
While doing some friend visiting and furniture hunting in Austin a couple of years ago, I went to an estate sale and found this $40 chair. I do have a love for this type of chair, which I lovingly refer to as the Mad Hatter. (I have a 
It has lived in my garage for a long time now as I waited for the perfect space for it. It came as pictured with no cushion, and at some point, someone took a marker to it, but I just couldn't sell it. Finding this type of chair is rare, and I knew it had a spot somewhere in my home. A trip into my 
lynn scalo design[/caption]
All we ever hear these days in design is about mixing things up, right? "Don't buy the matching furniture set at the furniture store, mix hardware, have a surprise color pop in a room"...but if there has been something matchy-mathy that has been beautiful since the beginning of time, it is coordinating fabric and wallpaper. It is a classic style choice, and while I may not advise it for every room, I think it can work in the right space.
Check out these beautiful photos for ideas, plus how I changed up my dining room recently with this style in mind.