Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Decisions, Decisions-Update

Last month, I asked for every one's advice about recovering this stool which had been lovely with my Uncle Ben's gorgeous, but extremely uncomfortable Empire sofa, which my husband refused to let into the house (and nobody else who had sat in it over the years wanted it either!) and was sold. It did not, however, go with the colors in this house.  Three years later I was finally irritated enough to do something about it.

Thanks to all of you who commented on the blog or who sent emails.  The consensus was that I should go with this fabric...

However, I really loved this one...

Paralyzed with indecision, I let the Joanne's Fabric Sale go by and stewed and fretted.  Finally, I realized for $10.00 and about 1/2 an hour of my time, if I did not like the result, I could easily redo it.  So I began...
Taking the top off involved only four screws, one of which I promptly misplaced. The beauty of oriental rugs is that they hide dirt and debris.  That is also the drawback.  If you drop something you have to get down on your hands an knees and feel around for it and discover all the other things the rug is hiding! 
Found that the upholstery was original to the piece.
Horsetail and Curled Hog filling, fortunately sterilized!
 Even the wheels are made of beautiful brass with the company's name etched into their sides.

I decided to leave the original fabric on the stool and just put the new fabric over it in order not to reduce the value of the piece, should my heirs decide to sell it someday.

I did buy enough fabric to cover the matching stool that my sister has in case the stools eventually re-unite at some future date.  However as long as my sister has the stool, she will not want this particular fabric.  Her comment was, "I second Brit. The traditional floral would disappear and the modern graphic would demand all the attention."  And she is right, it does demand a lot of attention.
Steve, at Urban Cottage encouraged me to go with my favorite fabric anyway, so here it is.

In the room
Up close.  The early morning light makes it look a little more pink than it really is.  It is a rusty red color somewhere between the dusty rose of the rug and the lamp.
Of course, one thing always leads to another, and with its spiffy new cover, the stool's wood looks a little shabby, so I haven't screwed the cushion back on until I find a bottle of Old English Scratch Cover to touch up the scuff marks.  My favorite grocery store no longer carries it, and I am loath to pay a $6.00 shipping charge from the manufacturer which would double the cost.  Guess there is not much demand any longer for this product since everything now is covered in polyurethane.  Maybe I will check out Pinterest to see if there is a recipe to DYI it.

I think the fabric is bold and adds a touch of whimsy to my fairly traditional room.  What do you think?  Too much?

2 comments:

  1. Mom liked your choice. I need to see the color in person. But the pattern fits perfectly--amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. PS you can use some of my Old English Scratch stuff.

    ReplyDelete

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