Refurbished Wingback Chair

I came across this amazing image of dalmation print at Style Me Pretty Living and fell in love with this chair! So much so that I snagged a steal of a wingback chair that was in need of some love and hired a friend of mine to refurbish it with the same exact fabric.

I went to order in the exact fabric of Spoonflower's Charcoal Dots in faux suede. It was a little pricey though at $34 a yard. So after a little additional wing back image searching, I decided to have the front portion of the chair in print, and then back and sides in a neutral linen - much like this image {but reserved, because I wanted that soft faux suede to be sat on}. I chose to do that design choice for a couple reasons. 1. The dalmation fabric expensive. 2. I didn't want my chair to be an exact replica of my inspiration. 3. I felt the linen helped neutralize the chair in my space. So went ahead with an order of 4 yards of the Dalmatian / Charcoal Dots for $136. Then I went to my local Joann Fabrics and picked up a couple yards of designer quality linen at like $12 a yard.

The legs: Also featured in this image above, that I absolutely fell in love with is those natural warm wood legs. The legs on my original were glossy and looked like a cherry wood finish. So I made my job to refinish the legs by striping the finish and sanding them down. This however, absolutely did not go to plain. After attempting to strip the finish and aggressively sanding those legs down - I came to the conclusion that the legs on my chair were not real wood. They were some sort of composite, and I was never going to get that natural wood look. I even attempted shopping for new legs, when I gave up on as well because to my surprise there were not easily found. So I ended up painting the legs black, then distressing them. 

After removing the legs, my very talented friend I hired to reupholster my wingback went to work. She started by removing all the original blue vintage fabric. All the original cushioning looked well enough to keep, so that was good news.

          

 

Here's an update she sent me after attached some of that gorgeous Dalmatian print.

Ready for the reveal? Of course you are!

My friend did such a great job! She even learned how to do piping specifically for this chair, which really gives that professional touch. Here's the black legs I finished myself too. I can't even tell you how long I worked on them before giving up and just painting them black.

Boss Lady

Hello there! It has been over two years since I last posted here. I started a photography business in the late summer 2015 and last year it really took off. Now, that I have balancing being a mom, business owner, and still working on decorating our dream home - I know I have so much more to offer.

I have a lot to say about the last two years - so I'll start it all off with the thing I've put most my energy into - my photography business - specifically my photography studio. In Spring 2017, I decided to move my in-home studio into a commercial space of my town's historic district. This was the best decision I made for my business to date! It definitely created a scary overhead for my business that I never had before, however it opened up many ways to improve my business and more importantly my work. Having a space to call my own makes me feel proud, accomplished, and gives me opportunity to create a studio that I envision.

My studio has a tiny door that faces a heavy traffic road through my town, however my sign is so small you have be looking for it to see it from the street. I had to go through a lot of permits to get into this tiny space, and got the largest sign made that my city would allow. This tiny door leads into a stairway that takes you up to my studio. Yep, second floor - right above a dog groomer. At least I have my own private entrance, and for the most part it's very quiet in my space.

As pretty much everything in life, my studio is a work in progress. I've had it for about a year and half - and it's slowly evolved into my photography oasis.

I'm excited to get back into the swing of posting. Please comment if are still with me, and what you'd like me update you on next!