Let me say right off the bat that these pillows are not ours (nor is the rug, for that matter). They’re from the shoot here the other day. But the chairs will never look better than they did with these pillows, so that’s how I’m showing them to you!
So what did I do? I painted them black, I covered them in canvas with burlap piping, and I puzzled the hell out of my teacher at every turn. (He already loves to tell the story about the crazy lady who made piping out of burlap.) It was terrific fun. Yesterday was the last day of class, and I’m sorry not to be signed up for the next session; it really was a wonderful thing to do, and I’m proud of these chairs. It’s true what they say about haste making waste — I see every flaw when I look at them — but for my first real upholstery job, they’re really not bad. A detail shot follows, for anyone interested. And when I can, I’ll be putting together a post about Laura’s stool, which was quite an odyssey but turned out amazing. I learned a lot by osmosis.
Oh, and here's the Before shot again, for comparing.
Posted by: Karen Templer | Thursday, 26 March 2009 at 06:45 PM
Beautiful. So will you be seeking out your own pillows for them?
Posted by: Kaethe | Friday, 27 March 2009 at 06:12 AM
There are some other blue pillows in them at the moment. But the chairs are probably going on Craigslist. We're in the mood to sell just about everything we own.
Posted by: Karen Templer | Friday, 27 March 2009 at 08:35 AM
Ohhhhh really? List, please.
Posted by: dgstrong | Friday, 27 March 2009 at 03:42 PM
You gonna make a trip out?
Posted by: Karen Templer | Saturday, 28 March 2009 at 09:52 AM
Very nice. I think burlap piping was very clever.
Posted by: millie rossman kidd | Friday, 03 April 2009 at 12:17 PM
Unfortunately, the saga did not end there. Last weekend, we were cleaning out the basement and the studio loft and lining things up to post on Craiglist. I made notes about which things needed touch-ups or whatever, and Bob went to work on it. He started with these chairs.
I can't remember if I mentioned that part of the haste making waste came in the bit about painting them black. (A saga in and of itself.) Well, long story short, the paint rubs off. So Bob found some spray-on clear coat stuff, and established that it would do no harm to the canvas. What neither of us foresaw was that it harmed the paint!
So now it's a real mess. I think they'll just be in the basement until I can face them again.
Posted by: Karen Templer | Saturday, 04 April 2009 at 09:24 AM
The chairs are lovely!
Posted by: Gina Hyams | Monday, 06 April 2009 at 05:51 PM