Not a Pretty Chair?

Even on the scale of projects that I am used to working on, budget is always an issue. One way to make your budget go further is reusing some of the clients old pieces of furniture. This sometimes takes some creativity on the part of the designer. You can see above a perfect example of this. The top picture shows the clients existing Dining Room chair (the blue/green rinse over the wood really adds something don't you think?). Well, in the new Dining Room, that really wasn't going to work, so I re imagined the chair in a deep wood stain with this vibrant cut velvet seat, and all of a sudden it looks pretty cool. One other thing I did.... We needed more chairs that we had existing, so I simply created some very simple dark brown leather chairs, in the same silhouette as the existing ones.....they mix really well.

Here are some tips for reusing your old pieces in a new way:

• Be creative with the color, often all it takes is a coat of paint or stain and you will have a whole new piece.
• If it is a cased piece, such as a set of drawers etc, change out the hardware too, that can give a whole new direction.
• Another idea is to upholster the panels on your drawers etc, this can give a very custom loo9k, and is something you can do easily at home.
• The less important the piece the more vivid a color it can take, make it look a little frivolous and fun.