March 10, 2013

For her birthday I bought Steffanie a reupholstery course that was highly recommended. (restylestudiotoronto.com) The course offers beginners a unique space to learn the art and skills of reupholstery. Along with instruction, the studio provides the necessary materials to get you started. Students bring their own fabric for the final stages and of course you need to bring your own chair! BYOC darlings!

The course covered everything right from how to strip the piece down to the framework, how to put in new springs and finally, how to add the final flourishes that make it your own. Having recovered a casual dining set (currently residing in rejuvenated style in la casa di Laura) Steffanie decided to take on a much bigger project.

Enter a 1960’s tub chair that had been calling out for help. The chair had been recovered for a second time in the 1980’s with a shiny, geometric pattern and the fabric quite literately disintegrated into dust. Ah the eighties, design horrors of epic and dusty proportions! I think it was ambitious to take on such a large chair however, Steffanie is a brave one and attacked it like a pack of wolves.

Although the course was one weekend long, the chair proved to be a larger task. A couple of extra studio days were needed but the end result is quite impressive – Well done sister! To add to the mystery, Steffanie kept the final fabric and design a secret until the big reveal. No amount of wealsely or sly questions could get any sort of meaningful detail out of her. When the last touches were completed we had a bit of a party in the chair’s honour and Steffanie got to show off her masterpiece in style.

Steffanie brought the chair into the modern day and she also gained new passions for air compressors and staple guns! Next step will be my sofa and I get to be the apprentice. That should prove entertaining at the very least.