Wednesday, July 10, 2013

A Parsons Chair Facelift

Now that we're mostly finished with construction at our new place, I'm knee-deep in decorating decisions!!  Our new house- although still a 70's contemporary- is so different from our last house so much of what we had is either going or being reworked.  In our last house, for example, I had lots of chairs, but in our new house, we needed more sofas and now have an excess of chairs. In our new dining room- which is a fairly small room nestled in the middle of the house- I plan on using our old parsons chairs:


They're from Ballard Designs & I'll be honest, a couple of them are a little creaky but we already own them so I'm working with them.   (They are on casters and are super-comfortable and after a long day, I like to eat in the dining room because sitting there just feels so good...  and you can sort of roll to where you need to be instead of walking. haha.  for real.)

The chairs are okay but our new house is so laid-back that they just won't work as-is.  They're too tailored & "pretty" feeling for what I need now. 

Anyway, I've ordered a soft & nubby stonewashed linen to have new slipcovers made in a style similar to these: 

{Dining room from one of my FAVORITE houses EVERRRR by Kay Douglas in House Beautiful}

I love how the slips break on the floor slightly and that linen wrinkle is just perfect.  I'll be prewashing mine and because the fabric I've selected is stonewashed, it will already feel broken in before we even get started in that department.  (Not that we wouldn't get there quickly ;) ;) 

{This isn't the actual fabric but it's a similar-looking one I found here}


 It will feel so much more relaxed than the box pleats and piping our chairs currently have:





I'm off for the day but will be back later this week to share behind-the-scenes details on our One Kings Lane shoot that's taking place tomorrow & Friday.  (I've always wondered how they shoot those white/ backgroundless photos and it looks like we'll be getting a crash course!!)




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