Thursday 31 October 2013

Windy Weather, Reupholstering an Occasional Armchair and the joy of making double piping

After the Storm

Yes, it was very windy here on Monday. The bridge between Copenhagen and us over here was closed, no trains, nothing, Mr C was stranded, the other side of the water for the night. Walking the dogs back home in the afternoon wasn't a picture either. They with their ears flapping in the air, eyes screwed shut against the wind, and me head down trying to make forward progress. It was great to get indoors. But.. we had nothing damaged by the storm and can be glad for that. 

It did offer the perfect excuse to take myself to the workroom and catch up with a few projects....

From Swedish retro to 

Shabby Chic ! 

It might be that every magazine I read these days has articles about "mid century modern" and the wonders of Scandinavian design, or more likely that living in Sweden, where every shop and home oozes with design uber cool stuff, but in the last few months I have been obsessed by Danish and Swedish furniture and ceramics. I can't go into a junk shop without bringing a piece home, and the workroom upstairs has become a meeting place for a motley collection of singular armchairs that sit, uneasily eyeing each other, wondering who will be next for my wondering attention..... 
             
                               

Surprising then that not one but TWO Victorian style nursing chairs made their appearance through a friend who wanted something done with them....  



I said I was sure that I could do "something" to bring them up to date and to fit into a Scandi decor, and this is the result for number one... 


You can see that the original version had a metal strip of faux studs that I thought could be reused, but when it came to it, the strip was so old and fragile that it broke into pieces as soon as I showed it the staple gun! Panic, and a quick rethink was needed. After much "umming" and "arhhing",  I decided to make a decorative edge from double piping using the same fabric. The tutorial written by WhatsUrHomestory  gives some great instructions if you need them, and shows that you don't need a special foot for your  sewing machine to get the job done... Thank you  Vidya ! I think they work better without the studs too.     


The semi matt warm grey paint finish completed the job.  



Just one to go then, and as the winds still howls around the house after the storm on Monday, what better occupation could there be ? 


2 comments:

  1. that is a WOWIE transformation- I love it! And I also love the shade of grey you've used, semi-matt is my new favourite, I think I'm done with flat!

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  2. mmm thanks. Amazing isn't from Granny sit to a very now look, it is the semi matt paint that did the trick. My only problem is that I added black to get to the final grey I wanted, and I have to replicate that somehow to get them to match... fingers crossed for that one!

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