[ad_1]
For an hour last night, I seriously considered buying another desk chair for my studio. After searching high and low for a green velvet high back desk chair with no success, I knew my only option was to buy a chair from a place that would let me choose a fabric.
My mind automatically went to Ballard Designs. They have a desk chair that I love and have seen many times in the past. Their Gramercy desk chair is beautiful and I found a fabric that I thought would work perfectly in my studio.
But after an hour of serious thought, I came to my senses. ((1) I have the ability to re-upholster the chair, and (2) I can’t justify paying $1100 for a desk chair when I have a really good desk chair with a very high back and a shape I love. Here’s what my current desk chair looks like…
I do a lot of upholstering, so even though it’s not my favorite thing to do (I’d rather build than be an upholsterer), I can’t let myself take the easy way out, especially when the cost is too much to do so. I wouldn’t even consider having someone else reupholster my desk chair because (1) the wait time for local upholsterers is usually two months, and (2) labor costs start at about $500 for my chair (it’s a wingback with a separate seat cushion), not including the cost of the fabric.
So I’m afraid my only option is to keep my current desk chair and re-upholster it myself. It’s okay. I am competent. After all, I once built a chair from scratch and upholstered it myself. Do you all remember that? 😀 I’m matching patterns and everything. I am very proud of this project!
So I am now 100% committed to upholstering my own desk chair. I’m going to stop looking for a way out of this project because I’ve exhausted all other options. A desk chair that fits my criteria does not exist. So now, my only goal is to find the right fabric for my chair.
Since I really liked the fabric I chose for the Ballard Designs chair, I decided to go ahead and order a swatch since they were having a yard sale of that fabric. It’s not velvet, so I’ll have to see how it looks and feels in person. If my cat could easily get her little claws into this fabric, it wouldn’t work. She has been using my desk chair as a scratching post since we got her. (Yes, she has three more scratching posts, but she still likes to use my chair.)
From there, I did a search for “green velvet upholstery fabric” to see what I could find. I found a few velvet options, but also saw a few others that I just couldn’t resist, like this green and white striped one.
I like the texture of this one. It’s microfiber, and I’ve heard it’s good for homes with cats, too, so we’ll see if it’s a good option.
And then I saw this velvet and absolutely couldn’t resist. I love it so much!! I had a feeling the colors were all wrong, but I had to see it for myself. The price is a little hard to swallow, but I think I only need about three yards. So it’s a lot cheaper than paying someone else to reupholster my chair.
And then I found several solid green velvets. I was so anxious to get my hands on this sample and see why in the world it cost $150 a yard. What makes a velvet so special?
I have used many P. Kaufmann fabrics in the past and I have always been happy with them. This is more in the price range I expected to pay.
I think it will be very bright. The color the bases of my work tables were before I repainted them earlier this week. But in person it is not very bright.
It is at the opposite end of the spectrum. I think it’s too dark, but I still want to see it in person.
If I’m going to go with a solid color, I really hope this works best. It’s a happy green, and I really hope it plays well with my pink cabinets.
And then I got two more swatches called Citron. In total, the three swatches I bought are called Citron and they are all very different, so it will be interesting to see how they look in person.
So let’s review. 😀 A chair sits in front of these cabinets…
I also have an entire wall of cabinets painted on the wall perpendicular to those cabinets…
The wall facing the desk area looks like this…
Right by the back entry is the desk area, which looks like this…
And these are the swatches I ordered…
I expect one of the first three works. If I had to choose today based on pictures, my favorite would be the light green straw-look microfiber. I hope I like it in person as much as I do in the picture! And I also hope it holds up against cat claws like velvet.
Addicted 2 Decorating shares my DIY and decorating journey as I renovate and decorate the 1948 Fixer Upper that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has MS and is unable to do physical activity, so I do most of the housework myself. You can learn more about me here.