It would seem I am on a ‘chair streak’ again. It’s no secret that I am a chair addict and have been known to have over 17 chairs in my garage at one time!  Yep, if it is old and full of character then chances are it will be coming home with me!

I am proud to say that I only have 3 chairs in my stash right now … but … yard sale season is upon us so that may change in the next little bit!

If you follow me on Instagram or Face Book you may have seen the French Twins I custom reupholstered.  I was so pleased with how they turned out that I couldn’t help but share them right away.  I know … spoiler I am, but they were so pretty I couldn’t help it!

I have been asked over and over when I am going to share them on my blog and today seems to be a good day for that.  I have a full cup of coffee and I am only slightly distracted by what is going on outside my window (lol) so let’s get to it shall we?

I usually don’t take on too many custom projects because I find them to be high pressure and not from the client but from myself. I obsess over getting it just right because I believe people should get what they pay for AND I want it to look professional like it came from the factory. Hopefully this is what I have achieved with these two sweet chairs.

I started out by taking my client to my favourite place for fabric Absolute Custom Designs where Angie (the owner) took the time to show us many options for fabric.  She is amazing at this and her objective opinion is always welcome.

Here is a before photo of the chair and the fabrics we decided on.

My client was looking for something feminine, modern and classy for these chairs.  The walls in her office are a very soft pink and she was wanting the colour to be incorporated some way.

We decided that a metallic velvet with a soft pink trim around the front and on the arms would be perfect for the front.  For the backside we decided to have a little more fun and bring in the modern feminine feel with a lavender/pink-eyed peacock print trimmed with metallic velvet welting.

To take things up a notch I suggested painting the wood in a warm gold and really bring on the glam!

I was so excited to get started on this makeover I could hardly wait for the fabric to arrive!

While I was waiting I deconstructed the twins and as usual, this is my least favourite part of any upholstery project.  I HATE REMOVING STAPLES!!!!  Bring out the BandAids!!!

This chair was riddled with waaaaaaaaaaaay too many staples and I discovered this within the first few seconds of removing the original welting …  Seriously!!!  It’s just trim!  UGH! I think in that moment my excitement went from a 10 to a -10!  Well what was under the trim for staples was no better and looked exactly like this.  It took me a full 8 hours of staple removing just to get one chair naked.

After deconstruction of the first chair, it was time to paint the wood. Warm metallics are so pretty and I decided after painting the wood that I’d like to bring out the details on it a bit more by giving it a wash of espresso stain.  I let the stain settle in the cracks and imperfections and wiped it off right away.

The results were perfect for these chairs!

Since this post is getting a little long winded and I have so many photos to share, I will just cut straight to the good part…

I am obsessed with these French Twins but they weren’t without struggle… I went through three sewing machines and a few other hiccups just to get to this point!  Was it worth it?  Indeed it was, they are stunning!!

Thank you to my client for your trust!

Thank you to all of you who have left me such inspiring comments about this project!  You really lift me high and it means so much!

I hope you have an amazing week!

Smiles!

Terry