amy at day-lab sent over a fantastic project for before & after thursday. she found a pair of chairs marked “january 1970 walnut” at a garage sale for $6 and scooped them up right away. she replaced the old fabric with new marimekko fabric and refinished the wooden frames herself. i think the result is fantastic, but even more fantastic is that amy detailed her revamp process right here. so if you’re looking for a more step-by-step process just check out her post on day-lab. enjoy! [thanks, amy]
23 Comments
That fabric is incredible!
Fantastic chair…that’s my favorite marimekko fabric and I have a huge panel of it on my wall.
wow!!! awesome job, amy!
Did you use the duvet fabric? I can’t seem to find that particular design in the fabric only section?
what a great project.
makes me look forward to garage sale season!
Isabelle – The fabric pattern is “Marimekko Tuuli”. You should be able to find it in regular cotton just by doing a web search.
It’s beautiful, but readers should be warned to exercise caution when taking on these types of projects. Many solvents used in refinishing contain known carcinogens. Always wear protective gear — including gloves and a mask — and work in ventilated spaces when refinishing furniture.
Love that chair! I have a Marimekko purse in that fabric.
this such a beautiful chair. and very inspiring. i was just thinking about reupholstering my couch today and this gave me some great ideas!
I agree with previous posters. The photos are very inspirational. The fabrics are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!
That fabric is great, and so are the chairs, but the black and white looks way to stark against the walnut.
Wow. Talk about night and day. And the tip from velika was also very helpful. I’ll be sure to watch for some more project from you. Thanks!!
Wow- these projects are amazing! I can’t believe the difference the slipcovers make!
Yes, and with a complete reupholstering job (like a couch), be prepared to put a lot of time and effort into it! It’s worth it to spend the time to do it right, especially if it’s your first time.
fantastic! i’m now in love with this chair.
Brilliant. I have a similar danish style armchair from my parent’s place and was thinking what to do with the fabric! Great idea!
Love it! Thats an excellent transformation :)
I saw this fabric on an antique sofa with a wooden frame in a magazine recently (kind of like the Ruthie Sommer’s one on the first cover of Domino mag). It looks so fantastic on both the chair and the sofa I saw (in Blueprint perhaps? I get so many magazines I can’t keep track anymore!). Anyway, I love the way the fabric is composed on the chair. It’s difficult to do sometimes with that scale and repeat, but this job is aces!
This is wonderful! I love the fabric. I have a recently refinished Danish modern armchair and have been puzzling over what kind of fabric would best finish it… I’ll check out marimekko.
ah, I found the settee, it’s in InStyle Home with Molly Sims on the cover…I wasn’t sure if I could post a photo here, so I scanned it and posted in on flickr…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71696744@N00/2216908087/
Hi, I am wondering if anyone can help me find non-toxic foam or some type of substitute to do this work. I would love to reupholster a chair similar to this one, have bought fabric, but am having a hard time finding a eco-friendly cushion. Thanks.
I’ve been looking for something similar to the original fabric on the chair for a retro lampshade I’m working on.
Does anyone know the name for this kind of fabric?
The chair went from ho-hum to artwork. Excellent job, Amy!
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