Why Reupholstering Is Often the Most Elegant, Impactful Design Choice You Can Make!
Part Two of Nancy and Byron’s Salem Home Transformation
In Part One of Nancy and Byron’s story, we shared how a project focused on their bedroom’s window treatments and custom bedding inspired a more expansive vision for the project.
In many of our projects, custom window treatments aren’t the only thing being created. Windows are key focal points for interior design that need to integrate with other elements in the room.
In the case of Nancy and Byron’s home in Salem, Oregon, the first discovery after their initial project was the choice to reupholster two key furniture pieces in the bedroom, a chair and an ottoman. That was the spark that lit a creative fire for other rooms in the house.
Reupholstering can be a powerful design choice. By repurposing furniture you’ve lived with for years, you honor the stories they hold while still moving forward into an exciting, new experience of your home.
Sometimes One Room Leads to Another!
As the reupholstered pieces for Nancy’s bedroom were being delivered, it was apparent that the club chair and ottoman in the gold velvet fabric were the final touch that pulled everything together.
The bedroom now had a peaceful, inviting ambiance, and Nancy and Byron wanted me to take a look at the windows and furniture in the living room and dining room.
When I walked into the living room with Nancy, my eyes were drawn to the beautiful vistas out of the east-facing wall of windows in the living room and dining room. They offered terrific views of the Cascade Mountains in the distance.
There were Asian furniture pieces in the room in a matte black finish that Nancy and her husband had collected over the years.
She also had an oriental rug in the entry that was going to set the stage for what we chose for the living room. This rug had a black background with shades of soft green and gold.
Meanwhile, the dining room had a dark wood table, six upholstered side chairs, and two upholstered armchairs with dark wooden legs that needed to be recovered. By moving them, I could tell by their weight that they were of excellent quality and well worth recovering.
How Reupholstering Changes the Feel of a Room
Looking at both rooms, I saw that several of the upholstered furniture pieces had been initially covered in darker fabrics. This gave both the living and dining rooms a very masculine feel.
Nancy explained that the upholstered pieces had been custom-crafted when they built the house 20 years ago. So, she also wanted them recovered with new fabrics, just like the club chair and ottoman in the bedroom. She also commented that the club chair and sofa were no longer comfortable and wanted to know if we could do anything to help.
In addition, the contemporary Asian paintings on her walls had either black backgrounds or black accent colors.
So, while the room was elegant, it was dominated by dark tones. Nancy’s goal was to give the rooms a fresher, more uplifting look, and a new color scheme would be critical to this mission.
We agreed on an investment range that the couple was comfortable with, and I was on my way to look for the perfect fabrics for these two rooms.
Finding the Perfect Fabric for Reupholstering Is Key, and the Search Can Be Fun!
On my next visit to Salem, I brought different fabric scenarios that I’d sourced from Portland’s finest showrooms. Note that I said scenarios and not samples. This was about figuring out how different fabrics in the room would play off one another and create a complete, cohesive design.
This is the most fun part of the process for me and my clients. It’s full of possibilities, and it’s inspiring to imagine how the rooms will be transformed.
Nancy first fell in love with a Pindler floral fabric that has a tropical Asian feel.
It has a clean, white linen ground and soft spa tones with varying shades of yellows and golds.
Then, we found a velvet, animal-inspired pattern in tones of gold and spa that was also a winner. A cut velvet from Colefax and Fowler was perfect for accent pillows in a Chinese lattice work pattern.
Next, we both spotted a Pindler fabric with Asian motifs in shades of seafoam, gold, and dark olive. This would help to integrate the lighter new tones with all the darker tones in the room.
Now that we had selected all the fabrics that Nancy and Byron loved, which furniture pieces would they go on? In the end, it was an easy decision. The large, floral fabric would go on the two large club chairs, and the animal print velvet would go on the wooden armchair. We also decided on the fabrics and sizes of accent pillows for the sofa, club chairs, and armchair.
We all agreed that the Pindler pattern with Asian motifs would be the perfect fabric for the two upholstered armchairs in the dining room. The six side chairs would be recovered in the same gold velvet that we had used in the bedroom, because it was the perfect solid that just worked so well in this home.
Both rooms had very linear cornice boards, and, at first, we talked about recovering them. However, I quickly realized it was not worth the expense of transporting, stripping, and recovering them. One cornice was over 18 ft. long, and I knew it would be expensive to transport it to our workroom and then back to the client’s home.
Nancy was open to an updated look, so we decided to use the same animal print fabric that was on the wooden-framed chair. Since this chair is visible as one enters the room, the same print on the far wall would subtly draw the eye to this pattern on the valances. Nancy wanted a simple design, so we decided on flat valances with a softly shaped hemline to harmonize with the shape of the mountain range in view. On the 18-foot-wide window, we decided to fabricate the valance in three pieces and then have our installer assemble them on location.
The last fabric that we needed to select was for the sofa and the Asian-inspired bench with black and bronze painted motifs. We found a Colfax & Fowler woven pattern in a soft, velvet basket-weave fabric in warm beige tones. We also used this fabric for the bench cushion and added two small bolsters.
With all the fabrics chosen, it was now time to go back to my office and place the order. In the meantime, Nancy had the interior of the rooms repainted in a soft, warm, buttery tone by Sherwin-Williams called “Believable Buff.” The carpet was also replaced in a matching color.
Then came one last, important consideration. We picked up a few pieces of furniture at a time to be upholstered, so they would not be without all their furniture at once!
How Reupholstered Furniture Brought Fresh Inspiration and Energy to the Home
The first pieces to be delivered were the club chairs and the wooden frame chair. As we brought them back, there were “OOHS” and “AAHS.” Nancy and Byron were grateful for the meticulous craftsmanship. They enjoyed how each piece was transforming their space into a cozy sanctuary.
When the valances were installed, we were thrilled to see how the shape of the hemline emulated the Cascade Mountain range on the horizon.
In the following weeks, we delivered the remaining furniture pieces. The sofa and the bench came next. The soft velvet on the sofa feels luxurious and envelops you when sitting on it.
The only slight hiccup was that the fabric for the two dining room armchairs and five accent pillows was on a three-month backorder. Nancy said, “Marlys, I know you have my back. I am not worried.”
On the day we delivered the last of the newly upholstered dining armchairs and pillows, the rooms felt complete. We had achieved our goals.
Nancy’s home has gone from dark and masculine to bright and cheerful. Each room is as elegant as it was initially designed to be, just now with a lighter feel to it. Nancy and Byron are thrilled with how their home looks and feels, and they are excited to invite guests and family into their newly refreshed spaces.
Nancy says that she enjoys sitting on the different pieces of furniture in her living and dining rooms to see each room from a different perspective. The seat and back cushions on the sofa and the club chairs were firmed up, making the seats less deep than they originally were and much more comfortable.
Small Changes Add Up to a Big Impact on Interior Design!
Coordinating a window treatment project with reupholstered furniture or custom bedding creates an extraordinary transformation. More minor touches, like custom pillows or recovered armchairs, add up to create a complete look that brings new energy and life to your home.
At Adrette, we’ll help you spot the opportunities for small but powerful touches of design, and together, we’ll create warm, inspiring spaces in your home.
Schedule a free design discovery call at our website. We’ll listen carefully to your goals and vision for your home and help you understand how to make them a reality.
But don’t just take our word for it though, we invite you to watch this short video and see Nancy and Byron’s Salem home transformation for yourself.