Making it Lovely

Tag: Anthropologie

  • In Search of a Brass Floor Lamp

    In Search of a Brass Floor Lamp

    I’ve turned my attention to this corner of the living room. It needs a little something-something.

    The previous chair had been great, but the crazy multi-colored floral is where my taste lies these days. I still plan to paint the trim white, it’s probably time to switch out the art, and the chair needs a pillow too. I’ve moved the dress form down to the basement, so I need something else with some height there. The living room doesn’t get enough light for a house plant (thanks to the front porch and a large tree out front), but it’s an ideal spot to add another lamp to the room. The only problem is that there is no outlet there. I think we can run a cord along the trim, maybe along the other side so it’s less noticeable, and it will be fine.

    I’m thinking brass might be the way to go.


    1, 2, 3

    That second one above would be perfect, but it’s expensive. I’ve not had any luck in vintage/thrifted yet, and I haven’t seen anything else in the stores that’s terribly exciting. I’m kind of into this one too, but it’s still pricey. Maybe by the time I get around to finishing the trim, the right lamp will have come along? Maybe.

    p.s. Interested in the orange Astrid chair from Anthropologie? It’s in great shape and it’s for sale. Email me. Sold!

  • Holly Becker’s Decorate Book Tour

    Holly Becker’s Decorate Book Tour

    The Decorate book tour brought Holly Becker to Anthropologie in Chicago last night. I had interviewed Holly about her book a couple of weeks ago, and I was looking forward to meeting her.

    She spoke about creating mood boards, offering tips for creating them and several compelling reasons to do so.

    Holly was one of my earliest blogging friends and supporters, so it was a real pleasure to finally meet her!

    I spoke briefly after Holly about the way that I use and create digital mood boards. I was also the Vanna to Holly’s Pat Sajak during the mood board portion. It was fun, and an honor to be a part of her book tour.

    After we spoke, Holly invited the audience to create their own mood board using fabric swatches, wallpaper samples, buttons, images from magazines, and other lovely things.

    Holly graciously signed copies of Decorate after the presentation was over, and then a small group of us went out for dinner in my fair Chicago.

    Holly is as smart and sweet as I had imagined, and I’m happy to see so much success coming her way. Decorate is in its third printing already! If you haven’t yet picked up your copy, please do. It’s an amazing book by a dear friend.

  • How I Repaired a Tear in My Chair’s Upholstery

    How I Repaired a Tear in My Chair’s Upholstery

    I wrote about the floor model chair that I picked up for half-off yesterday. It had a 2″ tear along the top (not along a seam), and I asked if it seemed like something that can be fixed.

    I called Anthropologie to see if they could offer a better discount (no), but they did say that I could still return the chair even after attempting to fix it, so I figured I had nothing to lose by trying. Many of you recommended keeping the orange chair that we already own, and having it reupholstered for a new look. I like the shape of the new chair more though, I love the fabric, and if I sell the orange chair I can essentially swap chairs at no cost. Then if I decided to reupholster the new chair at some point, I’m not out any more money than I would be had I reupholstered the orange one.


    [ 1, 2, 3 ]

    I went to the fabric store for mending supplies and came home with an embroidery hoop and some fabric to practice on, various liquid stitch adhesives, Fray Check, curved needles, iron-on patches, and several types of thread and embroidery floss.

    I stretched my scrap fabric on the hoop and jabbed at it with scissors to recreate the upholstery tear. I frayed the edges too for good measure. Then I got to work trying out various methods, keeping the fabric stretched tight on the hoop to simulate the conditions of the fabric stretched tight across the chair back. Here are the methods that I (a novice) used.

    Method 1: Darning Upholstery with a Looped Stitch

    First, I applied Fray Check, as recommended by this upholstery darning tutorial. Then I used a heavy-weight thread that matched the fabric, and started with a looped stitch. I’ll let my play-by-play Twitter updates tell the story here.
    [blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/makingitlovely/status/98945229838749697″]
    [blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/makingitlovely/status/98947933138993152″]
    [blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/makingitlovely/status/98950876621836288″]
    OK, I was trying to be cute with that last bit. The Frankenstein stitching was somewhat charming, but not enough to actually use it on the chair. And I did figure it out toward the end, but it still wasn’t a good enough fix and I was worried that the extra tension would eventually rip the fabric further.

    Method 2: Trying to Glue the Fabric Back Together

    I thought that I could slip a little fabric under the tear and then glue in back together. I had actually called a local upholsterer for advice and this was the technique that they recommended, so I tried it. Messy and awful. The worst of it was a product I found (that sounded promising!) called Tear Mender. It was a rubber-cement like adhesive that smelled awful and gummed up my fabric. I think it could be great for thicker fabric or leather, but it was terrible for my linen. I tried a few other liquid stitch products, but none with good results.

    Method 3: Patching the Fabric

    There were two options for patching. One: I could cut out a matching portion of fabric from my chair’s armrest covers, glue it over the tear or iron it on with fusible mending tape, apply Fray Check to the ends, then stitch around the patch to secure. Or option two: slap an iron-on patch over the rip. To my surprise, the easier option worked! The patch fuses completely to the fabric, bonding to the ripped portion and preventing the tear from getting worse. And even better, the edges of the mending patch won’t fray so there’s no need to stitch around the edge (which calls more attention to the repair).

    It’s not invisible (and I never expected that it would be), but it looks like it’s just part of the chair’s busy pattern. And as I had mentioned, the tear takes away some of the chair’s preciousness, which isn’t such a bad thing. I could even blend the patch by using fabric paint to match the pattern, but I don’t think that will be necessary.

    One Last Option

    I can pile on the pillows and a throw blanket. Sure, there’s no room to sit, but look how cute it is.

    I kid! The chair’s going to be just fine.

  • Floor Model, Half Off

    Floor Model, Half Off

    Score! I found the chair that I wanted, marked down to 50% off! Why, you may wonder? What’s wrong with it?

    Oh, nothing. Just a 2″ tear smack in the middle of the fabric where your head rests. See it? It’s up near the top on a blue part of the fabric.


    (click to enlarge)

    Do you think it can be fixed? Right now, I can still return it. Then I can either go for the full price (non-torn) chair, or skip it and keep the orange chair instead of selling it.

    The busy pattern is in the chair’s favor here, as a repair job would be much less noticeable than on a solid color. And in a way, the tear takes some of the preciousness away from the chair; It’s coming into a house with a toddler and a baby, a dog, and several cats. Something, at some point, is bound to happen to it. (Although the orange chair has survived the last five years completely intact.)

    It looks like my options for repair are to patch it, or to darn the upholstery with a looped stitch. The chair came with matching armrest covers that I could use for a patch. I could probably take it somewhere to be repaired too, but if I’m going to put more money toward the chair, I may as well buy a new one.

    Think it could be saved?

  • Wavering Ombré Curtains

    Wavering Ombré Curtains


    So very pretty.

    • Anthropologie

  • Diamond Brocade Wedges

    Diamond Brocade Wedges


    I wouldn’t normally be drawn to these shoes, but then I saw them in that photo with the dress. I think I’ve been swayed into liking them. They’re quirky-pretty.