Thursday, September 11, 2008

Suggestions Please!

This sofa and two chairs belonged to my husbands Grandparents. They were New Zealanders and I believe they were made around the early 1900s. The cane work has been restored about 30 years ago and they were reupholstered. As you can see they are badly in need of a revamp!
I would love some suggestions or information on them-
I am thinking that I may just have one large seat cushion and two back cushions on the sofa???? Also favouring a velvet to reupholster them with.
If you've seen my website you'll know that I work with velvet a lot! unfortunately it's silk velvet and I don't think it will withstand a lot of wear and tear- shame as I would have loved to have used that it has such a vintage look.






so, suggestions please!

7 comments:

Pascale said...

Très jolie pièce ! Dommage que nous soyons si loin l'une de l'autre...
Pour ce canapé je garderai les 6 coussins que je referai en plume d'oie
pour garder son authenticité. Concernant le tissu un velour sur fond lin serait superbe (style Designers Guild). Tu peux faire les coussins du dossier avec une couleur et l'assise d'une autre en harmonie avec les côtés du fauteuil. L'ensemble sera moderne tout en gardant l'esprit du style.
Amitiés,
Pascale

My Notting Hill said...

Great piece! I really like the idea of one seat cushion. In terms of back cushions I think 3 could look more balanced (seems like the wood curves up a bit in the middle.) It would be fun to have 2 bolster pillows (long cylindar shapes) on either end. For fabric - another option could be a durable linen w/a bit of nubby texture or a raffia fabric mixed w/cotton to give it a softer hand. Really love the piece - it will be great however you treat it.

Redgate Studios said...

Thanks for your comments. I am going to have to devote a bit of time to this and I ran out before going away. I did have a look at the Designers Guild website and the choice is endless. I did spot an ulholstery weight silk velvet though, which I want to have a closer look at. Such a pain when I have to travel 300kms just to look at some sample books!
Never mind, it'll be worth it.

Redgate Studios said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Pascale said...

Un petit tour pour voir ou en été ton choix de tissu...Je suis impatiente de voir ce que tu as choisie!

Pascale

Zelda said...

That sofa and chaire can be done in so many defferent style from baroque to beach house or colonial, Provencal, contemporary , creative , New York urban , Parisian chic , you name it …to look fabulous .
Give us more details about where you want to put them? And we will give you the full details with pleasure!!
About the suggestion of Pascale I totally agree and it’s a save side
By the way I love your blog !

Alkemie said...

It's a gorgeous set you have there! I really adore any furniture that has cane in it (no lie - I own enough pieces of them). They really can be done in so many styles. I do like the idea of having one long seat cushion but I would keep the 3 separate cushions for the seat back. I upholstered my sofa in cotton velvet which is definitely not as nice as silk velvet, but it is more durable. Velvets that are a combination would work too. I love velvets myself so I totally understand why you would gravitate towards velvet. It's so soft and plush :) I think having two small bolsters on each side is a good idea as well to flank the sofa. For the wood and cane you could do a combination of things, you could leave it alone, yo ucould paint only the wood portion black and keep the caned portion the natural color, you could ebonize or make the entire thing white. I suppose it would come down to what style you're going for. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

Karen :)