Balloon Back Chairs and a Marble Top Chest
If you follow me on Instagram, you have most likely seen the evolution of my four balloon back chairs these past few weeks. I'm happy to report that they are all finished and sitting happily in my booth at Morgantown Market! Here's how they progressed:
First, there was the tear down and removal of the outdated pink fabric.
Next, I painstakingly removed all of the old staples and tacks. The frames of these chairs were mangled with tons of holes, so it was a slower process than usual. I tried really hard not to do further damage to the fragile areas. After they were staple-less, it was time to rework the cotton padding and put on a layer of dacron.
Each was recovered in an off-white upholstery weight linen fabric. I decided to go simple and neutral with these, since there are four of them. They'll be easier to incorporate into a larger range of decor styles that way. One of my favorite aspects of using linen fabric is the grain. Those criss-crossing lines make me super happy!
To round out the fabric, I used a parchment-colored gimp trim. It didn't have the shiny finish that some gimp trims do, and I liked it so much that I bought an entire . . . bolt? Skein? Roll? Hmmm . . . not sure what you call a bunch of really pretty trim!
As you can see, I left the chairs unpainted. I thought the original color of the wood contrasted nicely with the fabric. They did have some scratches here and there, so I used some of Howard's Restor-A-Finish to help them blend in a little. This product is uh-may-zing at blending away small scratches, and you can pick up a bottle at Morgantown Market. It comes in all different colors including Cherry, Mahogany, Natural Oak, Pine, etc.
The details on the wood are crazy beautiful! I have so much appreciation for old furniture and especially old chairs. Imagine carving this!
I took two of the four chairs and flanked them alongside a marble chest I picked up yesterday with my Mom. (Again, if you follow me on Instagram, you already got a tour of this piece.)
Don't they look so happy sitting there, waiting for you to enjoy them?
Each chair behaved slightly differently as I was stapling on the fabric. The chair above had the most amount of "ruffling" around the front edge. That's because the frame underneath was the most mangled from years of tacks and staples being pounded into it. You can see how much smoother the front of the right chair is than the left. It doesn't bother me one bit. That means there's a story underneath that fabric, you know?
I wanted to keep my staging simple while adding pops of bright color, so I hung a boxwood wreath on my mirror and wove some artificial boxwood across the marble top.
The two pieces in the middle are ironstone. The one on the far left is some other kind of pottery/earthenware and the far right is a small ceramic vase. I thought they looked sweet all nestled together!
This dresser was a Facebook Marketplace score and it was totally worth the hour drive to pick it up, because I got it at an incredible price. The marble top alone is worth at least double what I paid! I plan on painting it in Mora and outline the trim and those beautiful handles in Farmhouse White.
These four balloon back chairs are now available at Morgantown Market. They are $85 each or $330 for all four. Check them out in my booth on the second floor, which is experiencing some massive turnover. I sold three pieces on Friday, one on Sunday, and another today while I was delivering the chairs, so if you have seen a piece in my space, I encourage you to snag it sooner than later! Pieces have been flying out faster than I've ever experienced, so if you see something today, it may not be there tomorrow. I actually had to break the news to a sweet shopper the other day that a dresser she had her eye on had sold already. The good news is that I have lots of beautiful pieces that will be making their way in, so stop by soon!
For now, I'm wishing I had one of my sweet chairs to sit down and take a break!
