Check out this chair I found!

[FoxInFiji]

I was in a town an hour and a half away this weekend dropping off a Host-a-Family present and saw some estate sale signs. So I followed them through the town to find an abandoned department store being used as rental space for this estate sale company. I didn't have my hopes up because it's kind of a run down area but I went in anyway. The sale was underwhelming to say the least...there were so many items I was thinking "Someone actually saved this?!" But as I got to the back corner I found a some furniture. It was either all crap or NMS except for this chair:



I was so excited to find this gem! I've been keeping my eye out for a tufted chair to put in our new bedroom. Originally I was going to order this guy from RH but the shipping cost is too outrageous:


The chair was really comfy. The cushioning was nice and dense and it looked like it was barely used. I had been reupholstered once before at one time and it has this ugly lazy-boy velvet fabric on it but I'd get it reupholstered to match me decor anyway. It didn't have any smell and looking at the bottom it appeared to be a higher quality construction.

It took all I could not to buy the thing on the spot but it looked a little too big for our space. After I got home and measured the area though I think it will work! So today I had to do a bit of searching to find the estate sale companies phone number but I called them and they said they still have the chair and are extending the sale to this weekend only! They even said they would honor the sale price (30% off) that they had everything listed for last Sunday. Which makes the chair only $67! That leaves me with room to have this reupholstered and still be less than ordering a similar chair plus shipping. I sent out two e-mails today to get rough re-upholstery estimates and I should be getting one of those by tomorrow.

What do you think? What kind of fabric would you put on a chair like this? I would love to have a subtle pattern of tan and cream in a stain resistant fabric. Would a more basic or large pattern work better than an intricate or small pattern with all of those tufts?

[munkii]

Large or small patterns will work, but I think a small pattern should be a repetitive shape like the patterns here:
www.fabric.com/home-decor-fabric-upholstery-fabric-world-wide-naturally-washed-collection.aspx
Or you can skip a print and use a decorative weave.

[Deleted]

I have no upholstery advice, but that chair has a beautiful shape! And what a deal! You have more self control than I do. It would have been mine the same day, whether I had a place to put it or not

[aweilba]

Beautiful chair!

[pumpkin]

I love the chair!

[bunnymendelbaum]

Nice!

[kaylie]

Buy it!!!

[darkling_glory]

I love this chair so much! Great find!

[simpsongal]

What a find! Damn this area and its inflated estate sale & consignment prices.

[crispnclean]

Love that chair! Great find!

[sratsey]

I LOVE THAT. I even love the fabric that's currently on it because I'm partial to that color.
I think a smaller pattern would work better with that much tufting.

Overstock has a similar to chair to that RH one, unless you're set on the washed oak legs.

[FoxInFiji]

Using a decorative weave is a great idea! I just want it to have a little something so it's not one solid color or if it is a solid color to have a nice texture to it. I love how your chair turned out lshoes thanks for posting!

Well the good news is I convinced DH to let me go buy the chair but the bad news is the reupholstery estimates were a lot. They were both around $800 not including the fabric because buttons are very labor intensive. And I'm not going to attempt to DIY this. Hmm I might just have to buy it anyway because I love the shape and the detailing. Plus I think it will look much better in the bedroom than an upholstered DR chair (like the RH one) would anyway. We can always save up to have it redone later.

It's actually pretty rare to find a nice piece like this around here in a traditional style like this. The estate sale lady said the same thing and she does this for a living. Most of it's country style, a little mid century modern knock off stuff, and some craftsman. But the craftsman pieces are usually way over priced because they are the only pieces people around here actually want.

[wawa]

I support this decision.

Besides...once you're done wit the reno you could get a simpler chair to practice on for another room, maybe do a tufted headboard or something for practice with those, and then do the upholstery yourself....it's not THAT hard. And I know you're fussy enough to do a good job.

[FoxInFiji]

Dec 6, 2012 10:25:22 GMT -5 wawa said:

I support this decision.

Besides...once you're done wit the reno you could get a simpler chair to practice on for another room, maybe do a tufted headboard or something for practice with those, and then do the upholstery yourself....it's not THAT hard. And I know you're fussy enough to do a good job.

Yes I totally want to try my hand at DIY upholstery someday! But the number of buttons and the perfectly straight indents made from the fabric being taunt intimidate me. We actually have a whole set of antique shield back mahogany DR chairs that are in bad shape I want to reupholster myself after we fix them up (rescrew, glue, strip, sand, and restain). That is more the scale I'd like to start at for my first upholstery project.

[adhdfashion]

The chair is beautiful! What a find.

[decoraholic]

Great find! I think you could do it, especially after trying an easier job first . It's worth a try to save $800, and the worst thing that could happen is you waste some fabric.

[sratsey]

I think $800 for a chair that size with all that button tufting, while expensive, is actually a great price.
We paid $900/per chair to do do a pair of antique chairs that were handed down through H's family. It was painful at the time, but what a difference it made. Was worth every penny. And now they're OOAK. The shape of that chair is beautiful and for how little you paid, it would definitely be worth the investment of new upholstery. So hard to find the kind of furniture these days that's really built to last.

[magdala9]

Dec 5, 2012 17:01:46 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

What do you think? What kind of fabric would you put on a chair like this? I would love to have a subtle pattern of tan and cream in a stain resistant fabric. Would a more basic or large pattern work better than an intricate or small pattern with all of those tufts?

I'm jealous. Your find has great lines and is comfortable. You are so right about a subtle pattern. Tufting does not work with a large pattern because the button might go through the wrong section of fabric. A subtle pattern or tone on tone detail would be much better at not competing with the tufting.