OT but not: vintage decorating.

P

Patentleathershoes

VFG Veteran
VFG Past President
Hi Gang,

A little OT (but not really because its vintage textiles!)...

I have recently regained my office. It was filled with stock, but i got a storage unit a few months back and now am getting around to making it a functioning room in my home.
I am addicted to obtaining 30s-50s occasional tables and also love occasional chairs, and now am faced with the occasion of eventually reupholstering so my furniture doesn't scream at eachother. And I need to bounce some ideas off.

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/kitschnsink/office3.jpg" width=360 height=270>

The 50s table was here first (it moved in with us), then the blue chair moved in last year. It is from the 30s and was reupholstered in the 60s and a skirt was added. I will show a better picture of the chair. It is a very distinctive fabric - i love blue but you have to be careful. it may just scream when mixed with other things.

Then, the gold chair moved in. I got it from an auction this past year. I felt bad that nobody bid on it so I had to, and it is the perfect proportions for someone short like me. You can't see it, but the arms and back really go pretty well with the settee. I will show it later.

Then the settee came in this week. I have actually had it 2 or 3 years, but it was in the bedroom before. Its from about the teens.... i won't be able to pinpoint for sure until its reupholstered and I look inside. It was reupholstered in the 50s or 60s to a pink pattern. It also survived the move.

Now....here is my dilemma.

The frame needs a minor fix re: the settee. not a real biggie, but it needs to be reupholstered someday because there was a little fabric damage in the move. f that were not the case, i could just reupholster one chair so they wouldn't fight so much and i would be done with it but i am such a sucker for restoration. The blue chair fabric after I cleaned it up on getting it is in perfect condition. the chenille on teh gold chair has slight wear but not really anything bad and could stay as is.

Originally, i was going to restore the settee back to a style of fabric it may have originally have been and I have thought that for a long time.. Obviously original fabric -if one were to even find it in that quantity - would be thousands so i thought about repro. A lot of the fabrics that are made now from the day are actually wallpaper prints from then used on fabrics and might be a little much on the settee, not sturdy enough, or just too complicated of a pattern repeat to be practical. (but then again, i am still open to that but when i was thinking that, it was an only child LOL)

Then my SECOND thought was to take the 30s chair back to a repro fabric or modern fabric more reminiscent of what it originally looked like in the 30s, and maybe do something similar to the settee - one could have imagined it could have been reupholstered then if both pieces had been owned, and leave the gold chair as is. There were many more smaller patterns, and almost solids in the 30s so would be a bit easier to pursue. (though it would be cool to have the real thing on that little chair)

My THIRD and insane thought (so it is probably not the way to go) was to leave them in their original flavor. Not really, but since the fabric on the blue chair is in crisp condition after being cleaned, to take it all back to the 60s or late 50s - as if someone, newly interested in antiques, etc, fueled by that 60s interest in vintage clothing - reupholstered the family hand me downs in the 60s - just as at least 2 of them really very well could have been the case with....just in different colors!

Oh and of course with all these odd shapes slipcovers...out of the question.

Thanks for putting up with my train of thought. I guess my main question would be soliciting other stories from people who have restored vintage furniture back to its original glory (or original tackiness if that is the case). I have restored wood many times but this is my first tackling of upholstery. I have advised other folks in repholstering but these are mine so its different lol.

(and also, what route do you think would be the most feasable, and any other random thoughts to perhaps get my brain working in another direction)

(i promise real pictures of the two chairs tomorrow...as it is the middle of the night here now)

Chris
 
Chris I really, really like the golden orange fabric on the settee (not to mention I absolutely LOVE that piece of furniture).

I can't really see the chairs well enough to comment, but the overall
impression at the moment isn't bad at all. I tend to like a mish-mash
rather than a totally pulled together coordinated look though, I find it more
interesting.

Sue
 
Here is the true color of the settee:
Tone on tone pink. If it were orange, it would clash less :)

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/kitschnsink/decor1.jpg" width=360 height=409>

It is my favorite piece of furniture in the whole house, Sue. I saw it when I lived up north just before we were moving and I had to have it. It was in the middle of the living room, blocking all space and traffic for a month because I knew i would have space for it in the new house.

Here's the gold chair. THe flash makes the chenile look warn and it really isn't.
<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/kitschnsink/decor2.jpg" width=288 height=391>

Here's the blue...will get a better pic of it. Color in the first post is the true color.

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/kitschnsink/decor3.jpg" width=216 height=320>

I love the mix and match look too, but sometimes it can get to be too mix and match if you don't stick to several color palattes that work together, or contrast and are pleasing. Very radically different furniture styles can be great together that way, or things that are very similar but in radically different fabric.

The scale of the three fabrics is not bad together. If the settee was in a greater contrasting color scheme and the pattern was more overt, the scale would fight with the other two.

When one sees them live, and it is just the settee and the blue chair...they sort of work together in an odd way if you were going for "mix". Ditto on the gold and the settee, but get it together with BOTH chairs and if you see them live your eyes would go crazy.

The room is not big enough to put one chair far enough away from the rest. I can't "quarantine' LOL
 
I love the color of the sette. It really makes a statement in that bold color and design.

I like the blue chair as is.

I really like the gold chair. I was wondering if maybe you could find a real pretty pale yellow, kind of leaning toward a very light gold color. A toned down gold of your version. That would make the blue chair pop against it and the sette to blend with it better.
 
here is the blue chair fabric btw...
this is why i was saying it "fights/screams" more in person with the others.

<img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/kitschnsink/bluecharifabric.jpg" width=360 height=317>

Truth be told, i love the fabric the settee is in and my life would be easier if it could stay that way, but it eventualy does need to be opened up to repair...and there is a water spot on the rear upper part of an arm that will never come out that occured during the move. For now, its fine. But i hate to revolve/change the other two around the fact that it will always be pink.
 
I have NO solution for you because you suffer from the same problem I do. I am not a fan of 'decorating' in the sense of picking one colour and a theme and doing a room. Its the easiest solution and often the most effective but its just not my style. I like that carefully acquired eclectic look where everything compliments each other but there is no dominant theme or colourway. We too suffer from 'house du chaise' and own WAY too many chairs, most of them uncomfortable but FABULOUS looking. So, I can't help you at all... I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. I am trying to go for that look of 'impoverished gentry country house -- been in the family for generations' look. You see it in English carriage houses and Cape Cod summer homes -- Great Great Grandpa built the house in 1850, the house was expanded in 1890, electrified in 1910, redecorated in 1920, updated in 1945, etc. etc. So there are features and treasures from every era and yet it all pulls together. I think set decorators are probably the best at creating this kind of look, better than decorators. Its also really hard when its your own possessions. Its easier to criticize someone else's house and suggest ways to pull it together, which is, I guess what you are asking here....

So, don't be offended by anything I say here... its just one viewpoint. The gold chenille is my least favourite, but I love the chair (I should, I own a pair that are nearly identical) Have you thought about finding perhaps a floral pattern or stripe that incorporates the colours of the other two upholstered pieces? Then maybe use a solid drape in blue to match the blue chair? I like the pattern on the couch and the colour looks good in the photo but perhaps its different in person. Or, if the pink is too pink on the sofa, then perhaps recover it in blue or gold solid and use the other colour solid as a drape? Just a thought... I am just not a chenille upholstery fan, so that is my choice to go....
 
I want to see the twin chairs! Mine is of a scale that if you are over 5' 4" or so you probably feel too tall for it.

I like the collected look as long as it looks collected and not the posessiveness of an insane person lol (my husband wonders where i am with that fine line at times LOL) I was never one for buying a couch in one color with matching pillow, buying a loveseat in another color with matching pillows, and then switching the pillows and call it mix and match. Or in the furniture biz we called "crosspolinating the pillows"

The pink is just about the color it is in the close up on my monitor but just a very small tad less "bubblegummy vibrant" i would say.

Absolutely no offense taken because there is none to be had :) I guess I had not thought in terms of changing the chenille because I was always thinking that the settee would have to change eventually for repair, but it makes sense as an option. But if i did, i could just hope that after repair the pink fabric could be tacked back down in the back. It has good legs (chair) , too so unskirted is an alternative too.

Of course the big challenge is to actually find the fabric that will not be offensive with the blue chair is the next challenge...or perhaps a custom slipcover but i have never seen made one look really good unless you have the exact type of couch or chair that is in the brochure. I am not a big slipcover fan but that is always an idea as well.
 
I just had an idea....since i like all those william morris prints, et al, get an art nouveau style fabric that is in the pinks/grays/purples/blues and make a pillowor something for the settee out of it, and then put the chenille chair in a solid gold or gray maybe. That way it doesn't fight and you notice more the sette or the blue chair. OR if it is possible find something that has the pinks, grays, blues to go with both. Then pull some of my stained glass in and mix it with some modern stuff.

But i will probably have more thoughts later.

Obviously, this all hinges on me not falling in love with some wild print and then having to have it.
 
"I like the collected look as long as it looks collected and not the posessiveness of an insane person "

I SO understand this statement... we often border on crazy and then have a purge, keeping the best and dumping the rest through a garage sale and visit from the local auctioneer to cart away some big stuff. In fact we are going through that right now.

Your plan sounds like it will work quite well. You have the advantage of plain walls, floor and drapes so that provides you with a bit of room in the uphostery department to go bolder. We have a humongous Persian carpet in the living room and it frustrates me to no end because ANY other pattern fights with the carpet and I don't want a mad Victorian hovel filled with patterns on patterns. Its tought balancing the mid-century modern Shaker sensibility with a love for massive quantites of books, pictures, too much furniture, throw pillows and other things, along with two cats... I am thinking of going the Martha Stewart route and using monochromatic drapes and upholstery with just the patterned carpet as the ONLY pattern in the room, although I may introduce a damask in something -- maybe the drapes. Our walls are plaster white (on purpose) with dark green trim, so it is limiting... good luck with your problem...

Here is a pic of our chair which is similar to yours... as you can see it is in need of recovering as well... I am thinkin go sage green damask with a button tufted back -- we have a pair of them.
<img src=http://home.cogeco.ca/~kickshaw/Image01.jpg>
 
Wow, that is similar! Yours looks like is more human sized proportions. My 5' 6" husband feels like he is too tall to sit in mine.

That must be fun sometimes changing your house over so many times with the extra pieces but i can see how it would be maddening (i think i am still living on the fun end but have to watch it). Maybe opening a furniture store (with mannequins wearing vintage) is next :)
I was thinking of taking a space in a small, more upscale antique shop to pay for my obsession lol. Dresses are far more easy to store. I guess i get it from my grandfather who was a finish carpenter and couldn't get enough of buying nice wood pieces.

I bet you are like me and you see a piece of furniture and it is too nice and interesting NOT to get it...but then "where do you put it". I have to photo it...we have the strangest occasional table that we just got. it is truly beyond description.

We just rearranged (a 40s mahogany desk is in the living room, just displacing a barrel chair. That went to the bedroom...thus displacing the settee...which is now in here. And then a table from here went to the bedroom like musical chairs literally)

Hmmm...did you ever think of painting the green so it is not so limiting? that would probably be a major undertaking though. I think it looks very nice, but then probably everyone says that who doesn't live there and know first hand about coordinating it.
 
We have thought about repainting the green, but it works very well in the hall and dining room its just a challenge in the living room with the carpet and uphostered pieces. The problem is I am tired of white trim, lived with it all my life, and I wanted to go the chalky white walls with coloured trim route that looks smashing with our Georgian dining room but not so well with the living room. I just have to keep playing with fabrics until I get it right. But you are so right about finding a piece of furniture that I HAVE to have and then try to fit it in...
 
so the living room is the "odd room out" so to speak.

I have longed occasionally for the strange house that my parents had purchased in the mid 80s. Not the EXECUTION but the CONCEPT. It had been decorated in the 70s and some rooms were "quite a sight" but they were also totally different. All the bedrooms were radically different carpet and wallpaper from one another. The front room was diametrically opposite to the family room (a new term i learned while we were in Wisconsin) and the only thing that really "related" was that the foyer was neutral and the woodwork in the kitchen matched that in the family room that it could be seen from.

(exmaple...brothers room was red white and blue plaid carpet with clippership wallpaper. Sister's was impressionistic flowers with soft greens and white and mottled light green carpet that was actually the prettiest room in the house)

That was a little crazy, but somedays i would prefer the concept or not execution than our whole house that is the exact same paint, and the only difference is some rooms have ceramic tile.. But thats what you get when you go "open concept" and can only be eclectic to a point!
 
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