Friday, July 27, 2012

Vintage Upholstery Love


This was my favorite addition to one of my booth's this week. Due to the configuration of my space, I  had to slide this table over to the far side of my booth...just happened to end up next to this vintage settee I just had redone. I stepped back and it just hit me that I love these two pieces together! I seriously fought the urge to load them back up and take 'em home!

I found this settee at a yard sale and ya'll...it was UGLY. I mean UGLY! It's lines were beautiful though and it still had really good bones.  Here is what I recommend when you purchase a piece to reupholster.

1.  Know you are probably going to spend quite a bit of money in fabric and upholstery if you can not do this yourself.  You may want to take that into account when deciding on what to spend on the piece originally.

2.  Make sure it is solid.  Any repairs to the wood work, springs, etc. will only be additional costs, and may end up not being reparable at all.

3.   Here is my biggest tip...if you are going to tear it up anyway (reupholster), then tear into it and make sure it has no bugs, lice, etc. before you even load it up into your car! Once you get those little nasties, it is very hard to get rid of them. I tore into this piece, then once home, I left on a tarp in the garage still hesitant to take into my home. Yes, I have a huge fear of little creepy crawly things!

Once I had it home, I rubbed it down with furniture polish, added some black paint, and sealed the wood.  I have never done an upholstery project this large...the settee also came without cushions, so I knew I was in over my head on this one. I contacted my "go-to" upholstery guy and we played with fabrics, trim, etc. This is always my favorite part! Who doesn't love to play in a ton of fabric??? He did a beautiful job and if you'll notice, he takes the time to line all the patterns up vertically; from the top of the sofa, to the cushions, down the back, and even on the pillow.  All meet up at the exact same point. 


This is the picture he sent me for approval...yes, I did do the happy dance when I opened it! He did a beautiful job.  Yay Rudy!

This is the table that sits next to the settee in the first picture. I'm not a big fan of super long posts, so I will post a tutorial on this table later this week.  Until then, Happy Painting!

2 comments:

  1. Leave a comment and be entered to win a $25 SCD gift certificate!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this sooo much, Heather! Just wish I had a bigger home to put it in!

    ReplyDelete