One Room Challenge - Week Four - Upholstery

Welcome back to week 4 of The One Room Challenge™.   Thank you for following along as I join 19 other insanely talented folks in redoing a room in six short weeks all while we document the process.  And boy is time flying.  Let me put it to you this way, I did not think I would be reliving a repeat of my down-to-the-wire bedroom as was the case with the last ORC.  But here we are at week 4 and I still do not have paint on my walls.  How is this even possible?   I want to cry myself to sleep on my big fat pilla.  To catch up on the drama from the beginning, click the following links below:

WEEK 1:  Plan & Inspiration

WEEK 2:  Progress Report – Floors

WEEK 3:  Progress Report - Electricity 

But now is not the time for melodrama so I will cut to the chase this week since last week’s missive was a lengthy one.  Full-on panic has officially set in.  That electricity debacle from last week is having an exponential effect on my timeline which has resulted in pushing the painting and wallpaper install out while we pace the floors like caged animals  patiently wait for silly details like ceiling patches to dry.  Grrrrr.

I am nothing if not predictable so running behind should come as no surprise.  However, this week has not been a total wash as we shifted gears a bit to focus on upholstery.  I finally nailed down most of my main fabric choices for the banquette throw pillows as well as a last minute add-on project involving animal print and pink fringe that my mister was super excited to tackle.  Side eye.

 

This is the part where, in spite of telling you that I would cut to the chase, I am going to take this opportunity to make it lengthy by sharing two loosely related stories in which I happen to stumble upon some more great deals.  But stick with me as they pertain to the animal print pink fringe extravaganza above.  So...once upon a time, namely last Thursday, I had yet to nail down a suitable host/ess chair for the as-yet found dining table and was beginning to fear that I might have to use my desk chair as a stand-in when I realized that I had a perfectly good candidate among my chair hoard.  

A few years ago I snagged an unfinished Ficks Reed rattan chair in a random warehouse close out sale.  And by random I mean a sketchy CL ad listing some designer fabric remnants for sale that my mister forwarded on to me.  Like a dope, with just an address, I headed out to some weird abandoned looking distribution/office park with no signs of life.  After discovering locked doors covered in paper at the given address, I was even more sure of my original conviction that CL is nothing more than urban legend.  I squealed out of the parking lot on two wheels when I saw two men quickly approaching my car from a side entrance.  Thankfully, a woman in a rather nice looking Lexus pulled alongside me to ask if this was the location of the Ficks Reed sale.  What the what?!  Turns out that random CL ad for fabric remnants was not only legit but part of a bigger sale by Ficks Reed that is held periodically to unload merchandise.  In fact, I am not even certain Ficks Reed is officially in business anymore but I do know that they have created incredible Palm Beach style furniture over the years that still carry a hefty resale price tag. In addition to some great fabric scores, I picked up an unfinished chair frame with gorgeous Chinoiserie detailing for $10 which has been sitting unfinished and largely ignored in my back tile room for the last three years.  I can’t make this stuff up.

Now, a few weeks ago, I happened to stop by the fabric store near my house – the very one that refused to sell me pillow inserts during the last one room challenge.  If you will recall, I mentioned the terrible customer service.  So I was not surprised  to find a big GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE sign (ahem, again) when I walked up.  What I was surprised to find was endless bolts of fabric and trim as far as the eye could see marked down 70%.  I quickly got over my rancor from the last visit and began throwin bows, snatching up as many bolts of fabric and trim that I could carry.  People, we are talking an average of $3 / yard, many of which will make their onscreen debut during the reveal.  One of my great deals was 15 yards of fabulous pink fringe trim that I knew I would use somewhere and that day arrived this past weekend when I got a wild hair up my bum to resurrect the Palm Beachy rattan chair from obscurity and use it as my host chair.

Now also, last week I made a trip out to one of my very FAVORITE fabric stores, The Fabric Shack in Waynesville, OH to pick up the rest of my fabric (and inserts!!!) for the room and while there, fell in love with yet another animal print.  Shocker.  I instantly fell for the blue colorway.  Had to have it and knew immediately that it was destined for the rattan chair.  As synchronicity would have it, my girl Elizabeth got the same fabric the same day for one of her projects.  #greatminds.  So the animal print fabric married the pink trim and it is a match made in preppy Palm Beach chic heaven.  I nervously cut the patterns and my uber-talented mister handled the sewing.  Yes, he does it all.

Now here is where YOU enter the story.  I need help deciding what to do with the finish on the chair given my cushion sitch.  Should I leave it nekkid, lacquer it up in some bright color, or simply stain it?  I have waffled 50 times.  Help a desperately tardy sister out, what say you?

How ‘bout we check out some actual progress?!  Let’s see what my lady friends are up to this week...

Abby M. Interiors 

Because it’s Awesome 

Bijou & Boheme 

Calling It Home 

Chez V 

Chinoiserie Chic 

Copy Cat Chic 

The Decorista 

Design Crisis 

Design Indulgence 

Design Manifest 

The English Room

The Glam Pad 

Little Black Door 

Mimosa Lane 

My Notting Hill 

The Pink Pagoda 

Simple Details 

My Sweet Savannah 

Verandah House

A special thank you to the following sponsors and supporters of Chez V and The One Room Challenge that are graciously providing items to help me bring my vision for this room to life:

Sherwin-Williams

Lamps Plus

All photos and styling by Emily Vanderputten unless otherwise noted

kisses,  mrs. V