What a pretty little chair I love the carved detail on top. I think it will look great no matter what you do.

I would have a custom slipcover made for the chair, with separate pieces for top and bottom. Is the needlepoint fabric damaged? Wouldn't it be cute with a little pleated skirt slip on the bottom? The top could have a circle for front and back with an opening to show the decorative on top, and open sides with strips of fabric horizontally to show the side wood, but keep front and back together. It's such a sweet chair.

I would probably do it in a velvet but save the original, there's nothing at all wrong with the fabric you show but it's wrong for the chair.

If the finished were damaged and you lacquering it one of the fabric colors it would be a different story, but I think with an essentially intact chair that fabric choice would be a misstep.

pal, thank you. I appreciate your honesty. I can see this working but maybe I'm out in left field on this one. The chair IRL has been kind of a downer in every room I've tried it in. It belonged to my Grandmother but even my mom didn't like it and stored it in our basement for years. It was ready to go to the thrift store and sat in the garage waiting to be picked up, and then I thought I'd try it in the corner of the bedroom.

I like it there. I also totally respect the heritage of the needlepoint, but it is old, musty, dirty, and tired. No one has ever wanted to sit on it.

The bedroom it is going in has a mix of traditional and contemporary furniture. When I try a more traditional fabric on the chair, it looks like a Grandma chair again.
I think it needs something kind of "out there" to give it some life.

I've looked at photos of chairs from that era done in tribal prints, bright colors, etc. I love the energy and vivid color of this fabric. It is unexpected, but that's what I like about it. When I started to look for something like this I thought I would paint the wood, but with the rich brown tones and aqua piping, think the stained wood will look great.

I'm wondering; does the scale of the pattern seem wrong to you, or the general concept of a contemporary, bright print?

I will save the original needlepoint for sure. I do appreciate your honest thoughts as always!

I see what you are trying to do jjiam and agree with you. Sure, the needlepoint is lovely and appropriate for the chair. A conservative fabric is fine too, but may still give it an old fashioned look.

I'm a big proponent of painting furniture, if you dont like it. but this one does not sccream " paint me" so I'm glad you don't want to do that...the wood patina looks very nice. I think I can be totally freshened up with re upholstery. What is the fabric scale, anyway- can you lay the fabric on the seat and take a pic.

As an aside, a good dry cleaners will clean and block the needle points.

IMHO, the fabric looks inexpensive informal and lightweight. The chair is elegant

If you want a little zing,you could do a traditional velvet or damask in an unexpected color

Whether I like the fabric or not, I think the problem is scale. That print is too big and modern for the proportions of the chair. It would be like putting a couple bed pillows on your couch. Technically speaking they fit, but they are out of scale.

It's the pattern that seems too loose and informal. Here is a velvet stripe from Kravet:

I have a chair in my bedroom that I want to recover. One of the fabrics that I ordered a sample of is this Vervain Buffalo check. I love it and think it would look great on your chair, it's a fun print but would dress that darling chair up. I am not sure of the scale though as my samples aren't here yet.

Good ideas above. Here is a pic of the slip cover I mentioned. It needs to be in a solid fabric, I would think.

I like the original and agree with Pal that the fabric you chose isn't right for the chair.

But that striped fabric that Pal put up is GORGEOUS!!!!

I have victorian chairs from dh's grandmother that I also recovered in a velvet stripe...came out really nice. That first fabric is just too modern and ephemeral for the style of the chair. If you're going to use it, you need to honor it for what it is.

Hi all, well, I guess I'm in the minority here. I still think the fabric could be amazing! This is what I'm talking about:

Do y'all still think I'm crazy? I see many of your points and I think I would agree with them with just about any other upholstered piece, but this one is meant to be a little quirky and unconventional.

The fabric is not standard upholstery weight but since it is a guest bedroom chair that will see very little use I figured it was ok.

I will sleep on this one though; thanks again for your thoughts :)

Hey, I'm still with ya, jjam! I like Pal's stripe a lot, but if it's the wrong palette,or you happen to not like stripes..

I'd still like to see the scale...the one concern I have is that your fabric has a strong circular element in the pattern, and your chair has oval surfaces, unlike those examples you posted, which are more rectangular. So I am not opposed to the modernity of pattern on a victorian chair at all...if it was mine, I'd just want to make sure the pattern didn't look odd on the shapes that are to be upholstered.

The fabric you selected is not strong enough for the look you are going for, if that's where you're going.

I can see that concern about the scale. The fabric and chair are already at the upholsterer so I can't photograph it, but the large flower would be centered on the front side of the back of the chair (if that makes sense), and then roughly one half of the adjoining green flower on either side of it. The pattern would continue on the seat with the larger flower in the center. Since the seat is larger you would see more of the adjoining flowers there. On the back, I would have the smaller flower (the chartreuse one) in the center. That was part of my original question.

I see what you are saying about oval vs. round, coll, and it's something I had thought of but also decided that there is already a pair of circles on the chair, and the pattern is continuous, so I think it will be fine.

I do love the stripe that Pal posted too, as well as the slipcover from voila, and I am also a sucker for a buffalo check, so I could see all of those looking good. If I do anything similar the color would need to be very bold and bright. I will be driving past a fabric store today so I may just have to stop the car and run in!

I do think I must be a little crazy but still do see this working....but I've been wrong before. The upholsterer said he'd be starting next week so I have time to get some different fabric over there if it's feeling wrong. I'll weigh some other options and if I still feel like it will work, I'll probably do it. Worst thing that could happen is I'll just re-do it. It's not a chair that anyone uses regularly so no one would miss it if it's out of commission for awhile.

Thanks again for your ideas; they are a big help. Whatever I end up doing I have a good feeling about this and I know at least we will enjoy using this chair, finally!

I can see using a fun fabric, but I don't think the one you picked is right; I think it's kind of dull (sorry!). Found this gorgeous fabric when rgps was looking for fabrics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kaufmann tiled embroidered cotton fabrtic

Or thisâ¦I like these embroidered fabrics

One more

Jjam, I have this feeling that when your chair is done we will be thinking what great vision you had for choosing the floral. I have admired your decorating style since we were looking at your cane chairs for your living room so this may be the time that you just have to go with your gut feeling.

The pictures of chairs you posted have an exaggerated scale and that's why they work. The focus is on one main element in the pattern, just like you have one large element in the needlepoint. Your fabric isn't that.

I would look for a print or pattern with a bigger repeat than the chair itself, or close to it. That is much more like the photos you posted. Then you would have the look you posted.

I think your idea is right, I think the scale is Almost right, but I still think the flower lacks the heft and structure of the patterns on the inspiration chairs you've shown.

Grandma's chair is all finished!

I've really got to get going on the rest of the room now! I realize that it's definitely a different look and not for everyone. It will be a balancing act for remaining fabrics, accessories, etc., but I love the energy it brings to the space. The big surprise is how comfortable the chair is with new foam and re-tied springs. It's a welcoming feeling to sit down in it now!

Voila, I am keeping your inspiration photo for a slipcover and may add that to my projects list. That way if I get tired of this or just want to protect the fabric (it's not heavy duty upholstery) I can change up the look if I want. And I did save the original needlepoint for another project someday. But for now, I'm smiling :)

This post was edited by jjam on Sun, Nov 2, 14 at 8:08

I LOVE it!. It looks beautiful. :) I am glad you saved the needlepoint. I have a chair like yours in the attic. One of these days I will get to it and this is a great idea.

Oh wow, so fun--that chair has a whole new attitude now!
Love the aqua blue welting. You have great taste!

Really cool! What fun. You have a good eye. I thought the pattern was smaller. Love the blue piping too. Congrats.

NICE!

Hi and thanks everyone!

boopadaboo, funny you should mention the attic, because that's where she's been living on and off for about the last 20 years. Before that, she resided in my mom's basement (more like the cellar) next to the washing machine in a nasty, musty old space. So I hope my Grandma won't mind too much, at least her chair is going to live in more posh surroundings :)

Thanks also WMA and bbstx; and tibbrix, you had such great ideas on this too. I see now that I should have included a yardstick on the original photos of the fabric; it would have made the scale much more clear. I was kind of puzzled by a lot of the comments about needing a larger scale print, when this is about as large as I could find. Now I see that I didn't include any reference point so the scale was misleading.

I'm just happy to see it done and so glad I didn't let the thrift store have her just yet!

Have you ever looked at Wild Chairy? I love some of her things!

OMG, bbstx, I have not seen that site before but that is exactly the look I was going for with this. I wish I had seen it before, I would have slept better after dropping off the fabric at the upholsterer, LOL!

I had seen some similar chairs in various places, but never a site devoted to them. I googled all kinds of things looking for such a place; glad to know about it now! Thanks so much for posting this.

Wow - looks stunning! I'm another who thought the flowers were small in scale and so would not look good.
Jiam, I am struggling to pick paint for my new place, and wonder what the name is of the green paint on the walls behind the chair in all your photos...sorry I know I'm OT.

I think it is darling, and fun renewal of an old "downer." I know exactly what you mean by that term, I think everyone has had an old piece that just didn't look good anywhere but had too much provenance to get rid of. Congrats on a job well done!

JJam, that chair is a huge success. I am so glad you went with your gut feeling. I didn't realize the flowers were so big! It really dressed your chair up and I now think it was the perfect fabric!

Add me to the list of those proven wrong. I love it, especially with the welting.

Very nice! It is fun to try a funky chair. Glad this one makes you smile.

Thanks so much, everyone. I am very pleased with how it turned out and glad to have a room that's kind of fun and relaxed where I can enjoy it :)

peegee, the walls in the Bedroom are Benjamin Moore Himalayan Trek. It isn't a green at all though; more of a grey with purple undertones. It's a great color, but if you're set on green, I'd keep looking...

You could visualize what most of us were missing perhaosbecause of the perceived scale of the pattern in the fabric. It looks fabulous!

Wonderful job!!!

I love how your chair turned out and almost fell over when I saw the same fabric on a chair in a scene on the Big Bang Theory. The chair was in Howard's mother's house and the pattern was arranged the same way you arranged yours .

That needlepoint is very beautiful and you have both pieces. Someone who has a Victorian chair would love to have that needlepoint. It's like all handmade arts, so much time went into creating it that it would be a shame to let it deteriorate. I would have it cleaned and put in an acid free box if you don't want to part with it. Who knows, maybe someday it might be united with the chair again and grace a beautiful parlor or boudoir. Glad you didn't send it to the thriftstore and found a way to enjoy it. We love these kind of chairs at Civil War events because they are made low with no arms for hoopskirts.

scpalmetto, that is hysterical. Thanks for posting; can't believe you remembered my chair when you saw the show!

I'll have to check it out myself.

This is a great example of why I love being wrong! Just don't tell my husband I said that! ðÂÂÂ

I caught up on my Big Bang Theory watching last night and saw your fabric. It is on an MCM chair in Howard and Bernadette's apartment. It is at about 11:30 on The Expedition Approximation episode.

A not-so-good screen capture
{{!gwi}}

Thanks bbstx, I would never have found that image. It does look cool on that chair too; more what it is probably designed for, but I love it on Grandma's chair too. So much fun! We famous!!

And 1929, I think I was the one who goofed by not making the scale more clear when I posted....it was hard to make the leap without knowing that. Thanks for your kind words, and no worries, your secret is safe here :)

kitty, thank you so much, I do have the needlepoint, and I must say it was kind of neat to see the back of it, and how much care had gone into stitching it so neatly. I will take good care of it. And I don't doubt that it could be reunited with the chair someday. Who knows, maybe one of my kids will buy an old house with a proper parlor where it could really shine, like the LR in my Grandma's old house.