Before and After Stories

I think that the most fun part of my job is taking burnt-out husks of vintage furniture that just happen to have great lines, and breathing new life into them, readying them for another 50 years of life on the planet (and diverting them from clogging up a landfill)! I've collected a few "before and after" stories for your perusal here. The first is a pair of Hollywood Regency style slipper chairs that I picked up at a local consignment store. Many times when I buy pieces "as is", I don't really have any grand plans for what they will eventually turn into. However, these chairs were an exception - I pretty much knew from the get-go that I wanted to refinish the frames dark and reupholster them in a fancy high end fabric. I went through a few options, but the Italian cut velvet that I picked seemed to be the obvious choice (you can even see that I had a swatch of it laid out on the chairs before they were reupholstered). I was really happy with how they turned out, and they sold pretty quickly.

Next up we have a pair of Danish chair frames that I bought in Austin, TX along with a bunch of other stuff. I really had no idea what I wanted to do with these. However, I figured that since I hadn't paid much for them, I wanted to go a bit out on a limb and do something a little "different". I had them lacquered white, and awhile after that, I found this Clarence House linen on deep discount at an online fabric retailer, and thought "that would be PERFECT for those white chairs!" I hadn't really counted on the fact that they would end up looking like beach balls, but what the hell. I still think they're pretty cool. My designer friend/client Martie Accuardi said "I would totally buy those if I had a beach house project!" Taking Danish modern to the beach - what will they come up with next?