Wednesday, December 16, 2015

My New Slipcovers!!!!!

Hi everyone!!!!!
have you missed me?????
Well, first excuse.....I am trying to finish my #$% fabric line for a spring launch.
(I am now working on the last pattern.....lets keep our fingers crossed......)
my other excuse is I've been sick.
BUT I'M BETTER!!!!!
So, now I can write this blog!!!!!

For those of you who have been reading this pathetic attempt at prose for the past couple of years, you may remember me waxing poetic about the wall paper in my kitchen and family room.
It's a Lee Jofa print named: Althea.
It is one of the most beautiful traditional floral prints in the whole wide universe!!!!!
soooooo.......
one day I was sitting on my rump on my sofa in my family room trying to decide what I should do to redo the room as it was getting a little faded and pathetic and sad.....
I had tried to drink the Kool aid, and gotten a chair from Pottery Barn in  a white slip cover.
This is my TV chair, (and where I eat my dinner.....) so it gets a lot of use.
The seat cushion didn't hold up, and stopped supporting my flat old ass after a while.
The slip cover was really, really, really hard to get back on, so I didn't wash it that much and it started looking a little stained.......not the best look.....
Besides, 
I am 
really, really, really sick of white slip covers.
SO OVER THEM.
Stick a fork in this look.
It's very, very, very not cozy in New England in the winter.
Soooooooo.....
It was time to change the chair.
I bought one from O Henry House, which is available to the trade.
Well, I am in the trade!!!!!

If you have a designer, you can buy O'Henry House from Studio 534 in the Boston Design Center.
I chose a chair that is the same as the pair I have in Florida.
I bought both a new chair and a new sofa, as my old couch was 29 years old. It was well made, but had loose back cushions, and with my aging back, I needed more support.
So I bought a tight back O' Henry House sofa too.
I had them upholstered in a simple soft green ticking stripe that would look OK when the slip covers were off being cleaned.
(in my special washing machine, that is my normal washing machine, that is the only washing machine I have, so that makes it special.....)
Then the question was what to make the slip cover out of.....
Krissa Rossbund, my buddy who is the decorating editor at Traditional Home Magazine, told me that she is tired of the look of everything in the room being in the same print.
So I fought the idea of slipcovering the furniture in the same pattern as the wallpaper.
I fought it and
I fought it and
I fought it.....
and I lost the fight.
Soooooo.....
One day as I was deliberating about 
what to do....
what to do....
I realized that the decision might have been made for me, as the fabric may have been discontinued,
 since I had been struggling with this dilemma for over 10 years.
So, I called Lee Jofa to check, 
AND IT HAD BEEN DISCONTINUED in the cotton.
It was still available in the linen, but I didn't want the linen,
I WANTED COTTON SLIP COVERS #$%%!!!!
however!!!!!
there were 64 yards left.
There would be no more after that.
NO MORE.
NO MORE.
NO MORE.
So, I bought all 64 yards, in a panic.
I was too freaked out to find out how much I would actually need.
Besides, what if I needed more in the future?
THERE WOULD BE  NO MORE TO GET!!!!!
I had the two chairs, ottoman and sofa all slip covered in the Althea fabric, with pretty soft gathered skirts. 
And then I took pictures to share with the class.
Isn't it pretty against the wallpaper???????
I decided against a contrast welt, which I almost always use, but in this case I just felt that I didn't want to outline the shapes.
Below is a shot of my chair in it's old slipcover that was used in my previous home.
It went fine with the room, and I loved the bobble fringe at the top of the skirt.
But it was very faded.
Here are the new slipcovers with the soft gathered skirts.
I don't like a full gathered skirt, I feel its too much fabric.
I also changed the rug to a simple wool stripe.
I had it made from a Stark Carpet broadloom that looked like a sisal, but has the warmth of wool.
Below is the room with the old sofa and the old plaid rug.
That's my kitchen countertop in the foreground, in case you can't figure out what the #$% you're looking at.....
And here it is today.
This look is so much my look that I can't believe it took me this long to do it.
The up side is that the slipcovers are brand new!!!!!
Below is my new TV, eating dinner chair.
Below is another one of my brilliant side by side comparison collages!!!
The slip covered look is OK, not as much pattern, probably lots of folks prefer that.
But for me, the extra pattern feels more like my home.
I had trouble taking the shot below as the light was so bright in the morning, but I was too lazy to retake this in the afternoon.
This room needs a wide angle lens.
I have a wide angle lens.
I was too lazy to use that too.
Aren't I a great blogger?????
On that note,
since I'm now back down in Fleirda.
Later, Gator
Photobucket

29 comments:

Pondside said...

I am SO tired of the all-white room and the white slipcovers. It's refreshing to see someone do what she wants - and the room is beautiful. More important - it's your room and you should get what you want!!

katybee said...

It's a pleasure to see someone go for what she loves instead of following the mind-numbing trends. I believe that the most interesting design reflects the tastes and lives of the people who live there. And never mind the white slipcovers. I'll be so happy never to see another all beige-y browny mostly colorless room.

Karen Salp said...

Gorgeous, I would expect nothing less!

Anonymous said...

Heavy sigh of relief - now it looks like Betsy's home. Love it - Gail

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Betsy, you are something else! Girl, you have style!!!!

Mary said...

Love it, and when you get back to MASS, take a GOOD picture of the sofa. I need ideas for my living room.

In fact, are you still doing that series of answering design/decor questions? Has that gotten to be a pain?

Mary
from Virginia

Dolores said...

As someone who has full, floor length ALTHEA curtains in my bathroom, I applaud your choice! And another plus- crumbs and stains are more easily camouflaged on a print slipcover..:-)

bmayer said...

I have some of that fabric......but I'm too chicken to do anything with it because then it will get used up. So, instead, it is folded up, in a box at the bottom of my closet, which makes so much more sense than doing the "wrong"thing with it........oy.

Rhonda said...

Yes, I have missed you. Was just thinking about you the other day. And your new slips? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!!

Unknown said...

Yes! Yes! Yes! I am so happy you went with that! It looks just like you and there is hope in the decorating world once again.

Donnamae said...

Well, I for one am glad you did what you wanted to do...and didn't buckle to the trends! Your room looks fantastic...and oh so Betsy! ;)

Mari said...

It's such a joy to see wonderful colorful decor again.....I'm sooooooo tired of all the white on white decor, makes me feel like I need a straight jacket.....errrrrr.....I'm so loving your slips just beautiful....

Smiles~
Mari

td said...

I just love this room, both before AND after. The patterned slipcovers make the chairs seem less obtrusive as they blend into the background. The while slipcover made the chair look huge and almost clumsy. This is so warm, comfortable and comforting. Did you do the upholstery/slipcovers yourself or hand it off? I hope the latter as that would be so much work.

td said...

P.S. Althea is Greek for all-healing and I think it does describe the vibe of your room. My Chambers stove is also named Althea. Really!

LostRoses said...

So glad you lost the fight! I always have white slipcover envy in the summer but Althea would make me think twice too! Love that look. And so much more ambitious than my solution of throwing two worn out Cabbage Rose sheets over my cat-clawed wing chairs! Well done! From another who eats their dinner in a comfy chair in the living room.

laney said...

...love love love love!...it is all gorgeous...(do you have an extra fork?)...blessings laney

Angie said...

They look beautiful! I appreciate the all white rooms if they work for others, but they are not for me. I just dropped off two dining room wingbacks to be reupholstered in a muted red and cream check and a settee to be reupholstered in a navy herringbone plaid. I need a little color and pattern in my rooms, obviously!

minwks said...

Hope you have enough fabric left to do curtains?
Regards Janine

Susan Freeman said...

Love, love, love them! I am sick of white slip covers too. I am love pattern and I love wallpaper and yes I sound like a dinosaur but I don't care ~ I like what I like. Apparently, I like what you like too ;-)

Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley

Susan Freeman said...

Well, just read my comment and my grammar is atrocious. Blame my dizzy head for being head over heels for your new slips.

Susan and Bentley

Joy said...

Its so you Betsy. Love it!

Unknown said...

I LOVE your look, I love pattern, I love plates on the wall, and pretty pictures....I am so tired of everything WHITE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

cotedetexas said...

wow!! gorgeous!!!! love them. so jealous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Joy Branham said...

Can't abide white slipcovers! And I'm a girl from the south, so I love wallpaper and chintz!

defaziolinda said...

Betsy, Betsy, Betsy I NEED your posts!!! I love all your ideas. I'm moving to Oregon (gulp) from Connecticut and have decided to leave all my stuff behind and start over (well, not the Good stuff). I have decided to "borrow" your design for this living room and other rooms. I am going to rent an apartment (If I can find what I want (or can afford) and it sure is hard doing it from CT. I have a dear friend in Oregon who is checking out the places also. So, I need your support!!! (Girdles no longer support me) Until your next post - Blessings.

Maggie said...

Love your style and love me some chintz. I'm not over the white slipcover look but I've decided that my husband and I are just not neat/clean/well-behaved enough to handle white furniture in rooms that we use all the time.

Suzanne said...

OH, I love it, love it, and love it!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the look of furniture upholstered in the same pattern as the walls are papered! LOVE IT!

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful! I love your cozy look.

I'm getting 2 pillows in the Althea print. I am wondering where you purchased the throw that if on your newly upholstered chair!

Thanks!

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