upholstery

i went through my stash of fabrics and pulled out some upholstery weight samples to cover my recently acquired tulip chairs.  the chairs have a leftover scent of the previous owner’s perfume lingering on them and i am HIGHLY sensitive to perfumey smells and must recover these STAT.  not sure if i should use my vintage fabrics or just buy some solid fabric as a temporary solution.  in my mind i bought these vintage fabrics to make fabulous pillows to sell in my non-existent etsy store.  but i never did make any pillows.  story of my life.  grand plans in my brain.  zero follow through.

i love this photo where they’ve used a patterned fabric and mixed the tulip chair amongst some vintage danish chairs (i could do this exact look.) 

(ish.)

via living etc.

(you can’t exactly see the fabric in this shot – in the magazine it’s bigger and clearer and a fun lime green print.)

hang on for some boring photos:

this is a good size piece of fabric i’ve had for YEARS.  i used a small section of this as a backing to a mini quilt i made years ago and didn’t even realize how really cool this fabric is until today.  apparently this is some jack lenor larsen fabric, it says 1964 on the selvedge, campo lindo being the name of the fabric.  i guess this guy was pretty good in his time.  

i might go with the above fabric.  there’s enough for (4) chair covers and it sort of mimics the original red fabric of an original saarinen tulip chair.  sort of, i said.  

the only problem i can see is it doesn’t quite fit into that whole “whites and BRIGHTS” theme i’ve been drawn to lately.  it’s more “whites and mutes.”  “whites and blahs.”  too fall-ish maybe? 

and then there’s pink:

i have been loving all things pink lately and this might also be an option.  however, if an imaginary boyfriend were to stop by for a visit, my thoughts are he would hate it.  but i can’t trouble myself worrying about fake boyfriends.

now this fabric i really really like.  again – bought it what?  5 years ago?  there’s a ton of fabric here, enough to cover a living room chair, which, in my zero follow-through head, has never happened.  i haven’t found the perfect chair to cover with this fabric. 

but do i risk covering these (4) tulip chairs only to find the perfect thrifted chair to reupholster as soon as i cut the fabric???  this is guaranteed to happen to me.   the fabric does meet the “whites and brights” criteria, though. 

there’s enough of this fabric as well, but i don’t think against the green grass this fabric gets its due:

it really is quite groovy and fun, but paired with the grass makes it look like green overkill. 

this i’ve only got enough for (2) chairs:

the thing is, i really like this fabric and had this panel hanging in my bedroom on the wall, but now that i see it photographed it sort of has a “golden girls patio furniture” vibe to it, no?

i have other vintage fabrics as well, but i’m getting bored seeing the same ol’ chair with a different piece of fabric sprawled all over it.  i’ll figure something out eventually. 

the agony of this project will be in the staple removal.  the previous owner covered these chairs herself with the red fabric and used one million staples per chair.  no lie.  she went around the bottom of the seat cushion 3 times, 3 TIMES, 1, 2, THREE TIMES!!! with the staple gun!!!  twice is unnecessary.  i just don’t understand that third time around.  and each staple is very very close to the other.  talk about over-securing the fabric.  on all 4 chairs!!!  that is a LOT of time to spend recovering a seat cushion.  and it’s going to take me a LOT of time removing staples. 

time.  time i’ve got.  i suppose this project couldn’t have happened to a better person.