Meet Fleur. Our 70's armchair we finally got around to recovering, only 12 months after purchasing on Ebay. I usually have a couple of chairs in storage waiting for the right fabric to come along. About time this poor neglected chair received some love! Now I'm not usually one for naming my furniture but I couldn't resist naming her Fleur seeing this is a FLER design (Fred Lowen pre-Tessa days). Furniture stores name their furniture so I'm not weird at all (ha!).
Being our sofas are quite dark, we decided our living room could use some more white to brighten it up. I also loved the idea of the contrast of the fresh white with the timber base. So we sent the chair to be recovered in a faux-leather called Lustrell Florida, colour Blanc by Warwick fabrics. I sanded back the base myself and applied a few coats of Danish Oil to give it a beautiful shine.
What do you think of the new and improved Fleur? The armchair does need a bit of wearing in to make her a little less stiff and new-looking, but otherwise I'm loving our pristine new baby.
Images: Olive & Joy
I think I'm in love! She looks wonderful in white.
ReplyDeleteLove it - great job! Keep up the good work on your blog!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely gorgeous! xo
ReplyDeletethank you!
ReplyDeleteWow, it is stunning.
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xx
I can't believe how good that danish oil looks. I must try it. I want to cover my sofa in white linen for photoshoots so this is very inspiring. x
ReplyDeleteThea - the white linen for your sofa sounds great! With the Danish oil it took me a while to get the hang of it so if you want any tips just let me know. MIght see you Sunday!
ReplyDeleteGREAT new look, well done!
ReplyDeleteawesome to find another Aussie blogger too! i like your house!
Would love to know if you are happy with the feel of the faux leather (i.e. when you sit in it). I have a retro swivel overman chair (in the same brown your chair started in) that needs to be reupholstered and I was contemplating leather but the price$$$. I thought briefly about faux leather but wondered if it would feel squeaky/sweaty? Your result is beautiful...so you may have convinced me to go faux...
ReplyDeleteSuch a totally irresistible chair! And how beautifully you brought up the sheen of the wood! If you have time, could you share your teak oil tips? I'll be tackling a cabinet soon, and I'll need all the advice I can get!
ReplyDeleteMiriam - I wanted leather too but it was going to cost twice as much! I haven't found this faux leather to be squeaky or sweaty. But to be honest if I was to recover the chair again I would use this faux leather instead:
ReplyDeleteAnnahide by Gilda Fabrics
http://www.gildafabrics.com.au/
because it looks more like real leather, it has a lovely matt finish and pebbley leather texture (I really do wish I used it on this chair, it's lovely). In fact I believe it is backed with leather. I'm sorry I don't have a faux leather to recommend in the US but I hope this helps :)
Lynn - Hi Lynn, here are a few tips for using Danish Oil.
- Sand your wood to a nice smooth texture using fine sandpaper
- Initially I followed the instructions and applied the oil with a brush, then worked the oil into the wood with fine steel wool (0000 grade) or fine sandpaper (400 grade), leaving it on for awhile then wiping off the excess. This is great if you want more of a matt finish.
- I wasn't happy with the matt finish, I had spent too much time sanding to have a dull finish! So I applied the oil again with a brush and left it on a little longer for maybe 8-10 minutes (this will depend on your weather - it was warm here and the breeze dried the oil quickly) and then wiped the excess off very, very lightly 'just' before it gets too tacky. You need to be careful if the finish is too tacky because the fluff from you cotton rag (or any clean, dry rag) will stick to the finish. If it does get really tacky don't worry, just add more oil and leave it a little longer before lightly wiping any excess.
-Leave to dry for at least 8 hours and lightly sand if you wish (I didn't sand mine) before the next coat.
- You should have a glossy sheen to the finish from the first coat (if you haven't sanded it of course!). Apply another coat as before and leave to dry again. Have a good look around the piece to make sure the gloss level is nice and even throughout. If you think it needs another coat just repeat the steps above.
- The oiled finish will harden over the course of a week and get harder and more durable with time. It is quite a flexible finish in that you can achieve a matt or glossy texture depending on your application. Clean up for your brush is with Mineral Turpentine which I hate using, but I just cut the top off a plastic juice container and filled with Turps and let the brush soak in it in between coats.
Phew! It sounds complicated but it really isn't, I just wanted to make sure you had as much information as I could give you. Good Luck :)
Thank you so much for taking the time to explain! I'm looking quite forward to the chore now....though my cabinet is mostly veneer, I think, and we'll see how that goes. I appreciate it!
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ReplyDeleteHi this is beautiful! I've used the Warwick Lustrell "faux leather" fabric for my sofa 3 times and each time it has deteriorated (peeled and cracked)very quickly. I was wondering if you had noticed any deterioration yet?
ReplyDeleteCharlie - I haven't noticed any deterioration as yet, but this chair doesn't get as much use as a sofa would.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, where did you get your upholstery done? Thanks.
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