The Velvet Chair is Done

Oh my.  Hubby picked up the velvet chair and it looks incredible.  We've been referring to it as "the garbage chair" but that name no longer seems fitting (even if I did pluck it out of a trash heap). 

I have tried my best, but I just cannot capture the richness and intensity - or even the accurate colour - of the velvet in photos.  It's a very luxurious turquoise/teal in real life, and it beckons you to sink into it.  In the photos it's paler, duller, and bluer.  Hopefully when it's in the lakehouse, I can snap a better photo.  Right now it's chilling in the townhouse, but at the lakehouse I think it will fancy up the living room, popping against the crisp white walls and the soon-to-be charcoal grey fireplace (we successfully convinced Hubby to paint it!). 

I can't even believe this is the same chair:

Kessels Upholstering did a beautiful job.  Every seam is perfectly placed and the removable seat cushion has velvet on both sides and a zipper as well, just in case someone gestures a little too wildly with a glass of red wine.  This chair needed a professional makeover to look right - it required some repairs to the springs and, of course, all new foam.  We paid just over $600 for the labour, and I think it was worth it.  We saved some money refinishing the arms and legs ourselves (and the chair was free).  More importantly, it was the style-savvy gals at Kessels who convinced me to consider velvet in the first place.  The fabric I chose for this project is Elite Textile Renaissance, the colour is 760.   

P.S. Kessels is offering 10% off fabric to Dans le Townhouse readers - just let them know you and I are buds.  This is the same discount I was offered.  I was not perked to work with Kessels, they have just been my go-to for DIY upholstery projects (the houndstooth fabric for the vintage teak kitchen chairs was from there) and professional makeovers (like the minty chair). 

Velvet Volition: Teal + Aqua Velvet Chairs

Hubs and I went to our favorite upholsterer on Monday (the same folks who did the mint chair - Kessels, for Ottawa readers) and short-listed some fabrics for the mid-century chair we found curbside.

We debated fixing it up but we finally decided to go for it, for four simple reasons:

1. It has such a sweet and funny memory attached to it.
2. I figured out it will work with our new living room floor plan (details Friday)!
3. It was free!  We're already ahead of the game cost-wise.
4. Hubs and I both love the lines of the piece.

I decided I wanted a turquoise tweed, like the turquoise Papa I mooned over.

Midcenturia

I brought in a snippet of the turquoise and mint fabric from our other mid-century chair as a guide for the shade of aqua I was after.

Together with the gals at Kessels, we rounded up a healthy selection of tweeds, but also a few velvets.  I never would have considered velvet because I thought it was too traditional and hard to care for.

BHG - Velvet too traditional??

Turns out some velvet can be 100,000+ Wyzenbeek double rubs and lots of upholstery fabric is only 15,000-20,000 (basically, the higher the number, the more durable the fabric).  As soon as we got home with the samples I axed quite a few for being far too blue, too blah, too bold, to printy.

In the end, one tweed remained but because it was shot with navy, it was a smidge too blue.

The velvets won our hearts!  Surprise, surprise.  I just love the sheen, the way the fabric catches the light, and the gloriously saturated hues of my two favorites.  We're still going to sleep on it some more, but it looks like I might be adding a little velvet to my plans.  Unfortunately, my favorite pick is impossible to photograph.  Can you believe the two photos below are of the same fabric?!? And neither is accurate!

In real life, it's similar to this one but a tiny smidge more blue:

BHG

To be sure I'll like the look (it's easy to love a swatch, after all, but a whole chair is another story), I rounded up some inspiration.  Why have I never considered velvet before?

Nate Berkus (via Love on Sunday)

Nate Berkus

via Dust Jacket

Emily Henderson

via Song of Style - also very similar, but a smidge bluer than mine.

The Design Files

Bjork Studio

What was the runner up you ask?  In the store I fell in love with a pale turquoise, almost robin's egg blue that reminded me of this chair . . .

Apartment Therapy

. . . but once home, it really dominated the space and made our artwork look dull!  It's also a lot bluer than the turquoise art and accessories we have, and so it clashes a bit.  It also has such a crazy sheen that it almost looks bridal.  It photographs really nicely though.  I kind of want it more as I type this . . .

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