Tag: chair

Reupholstering My Floral Chair with Calico

Sponsored by Calico

I loved my loud floral armchair. It was a floor model, and there was a small rip in the linen fabric when I bought it. I experimented with ways to fix it, ultimately landing on a patch that blended pretty well! I was proud of my handiwork, and the chair was really cute in our last home and in this one.

Ten years on though, the fabric on the seat had started to look a bit threadbare. It went from noticeably “hmmm” to “oh no” pretty quickly and it was beyond my abilities to repair any further. But I still loved the chair! No need to replace and treat it as disposable — it was time to reupholster.

I visited Calico in Hinsdale and worked with Linda (she was so helpful!) to pull fabric options. Calico’s design services are free, and you can make an appointment for your local store. There’s a whole before and after gallery to get you inspired, and you can request a reupholstery quote too. Calico reupholsters more than 10,000 furniture pieces every year!

At our appointment, Linda had pointed me toward a floral very similar in feel to what the chair had. It would have been sort of a floral 2.0 update, and it was definitely in the running, but we looked at options for changing it up too.

Calico lets you borrow their fabric samples so you can be sure they look right on the piece you want to reupholster, and so that you can make sure they work with the rest of your home. I rethought a couple of my top choices after seeing them with the rest of my furniture. I like the armchair being in our bedroom (a pretty neutral backdrop), but wanted to keep the option to use it downstairs if I feel like rearranging at some point.

I felt like I was close to choosing, but on a follow-up visit, I noticed a print I hadn’t seen before. Like little granny squares? I had to borrow the sample to see. I did a Photoshop mockup for both too.

Floral 2.0 (Cassaro Luxe Collection Passion Fruit) or little granny squares (Scalamandré Kirov)? I went back and forth, but the little granny squares charmed me. I returned my fabric samples and placed my order with Linda. Calico handled everything from getting the fabric in, picking up the chair, having it reupholstered (including some freshening up of the foam padding), and then having it delivered again.

My chair! She’s so cute! It looks perfect.

Having a piece reupholstered is so fun. You get to fall in love with a piece all over again. It was cute and quirky for ten years, and now it can be cute and quirky in a different way for the next ten years! And in better shape, too.

October 12, 2021
Let’s Put Together a Reading Corner

These are always fun for me to put together. Which pieces would you pick to pull together a little reading corner? Below, I’ll show you which ones I’d choose!
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November 5, 2012
Hold on to Summer

October in Chicago is funny. The temperature is in the high seventies this week but we could just as easily be thirty degrees colder, so we’re spending some time outside and enjoying the warm weather while we can. Wouldn’t one of these rattan chairs be cute on a porch or patio (like Jaime’s below), or in a sunroom?

Such a sweet chair.

• Photo by Raya Carlisle for Prudent Baby. Rattan chairs from Anthropologie and IKEA.

October 5, 2011
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!

September 7, 2011
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?

August 3, 2011
Blythe Chair with Blazing Poppies Fabric

Sometimes I think I have crazy taste. Like with this chair. I’m a little in love with it, even though I know that print is bananas. No, I’m more than just a little in love with it. I want it. Very badly.

Getting a sneak preview of how cute my kiddos would look sitting in it didn’t help.

June 6, 2011