Reclaimed pieces are modernized by graphic fabrics.
The thrifting and salvaging movement of the last few years is geared to reclaiming your grandma’s and Aunt Tilly’s out-of-date furniture and transforming it into modern, usable and great-looking pieces. Nowhere has this been more successful than with frame chairs. Even the dowdiest old chair can be refinished or painted and reupholstered contemporary fabrics to great effect. And while the frame treatment is important, the fabric choice is what can really take an old piece from drab to fab. I instantly fell in love with the patchwork color on a slightly squatty settee with natural wood frame [top]. It got better when I realized the covering was a type of Bengali double-sided pieced quilt or kantha. These textiles are created together from old saris or even rags and then embroidered. This is women’s work and more about the making of a kantha is detailed on the website of a New Delhi shop. With such bright colors, a chair like this automatically becomes an accent piece.
A bold cobalt and white geometric print looks very mainstream yet modern on this chair by Andrea Mihalik whose bespoke business, Wild Chairy, offers a unique approach to chair upholstery. Like Britain’s Aiveen Daly, whose Spank chair I showed in my Women’s Wear Chairs post in February, Mihalik’s pieces are as pieces of their art in their own right. Seating is strictly secondary.
Blogger and California designer, Serena Armstrong, opened a pop up store where she offered a pair of eccentric vintage chairs recovered with two-tone linen fabric, with a peek at the stripped down frames in the “before” state. Yet it’s the way the big dark stripe is perfectly placed on the rather slight chair that make it look important and contemporary despite the relatively small scale and its age. Stunning.
In the African country of Mali, the craft of making mud cloth fabric originated with the women of the Bamana culture. I adore the graphic, almost hand-written quality of print on the fabric which obtains its dark background color from fermented mud. Even though the arms are well worn on this chair, the fabric has a lively freshness.
Using mud cloth on a chair with a gilded frame is symbolic of the way we approach updating many things in our homes today simply because we have all the arts and crafts of the world to inspire us.
A collection of vintage inspired designs for gift giving.
Fashioned after an antique Otis elevator seat, this shelf folds down (against the wall) when not needed. Perfect for a small bedside table, next to the commode or any space that needs a small landing place.
I’ve considered buying a wire card holder, but usually end up tossing holiday cards in a shallow bowl. I like the vintage look of this postcard clip stand to showcase cards. The stand could also be used to hold multiple recipes during meal prep. With its small base, it could be used to keep photographs on a desk.
A savvy design hides kitchen spices.
(Source: Pursley Dixon Architecture, Renovation Style)
Two experts talk sense and sensibilities for kitchen tile.
That’s why many home owners leave this choice for last, then wind up paralyzed with indecision about picking the perfect tile to go with colors and textures already in place on counters, floors, walls, cabinets and appliances. No one understands this better than DeeDee Gundberg [right], Product Development Portfolio Manager for tile industry trend-setter Ann Sacks Tile & Stone. “You should be working on the whole thing together, not wait until last,” she says. “A backsplash should pull everything together and harmonize.” As a tile designer who was mentored by Ann Sacks herself, DeeDee is responsible for finding the company’s new products and shaping the influential collections. I recently took an opportunity to speak with her about her thoughts on the latest trends, color and tile styles for kitchens.
What’s New Now?
“Dimensional tile is another category that’s “extremely popular now,” DeeDee says, referring particularly to her Ogassian line [geo weave in Cola, above]. “It’s actually three dimensional and I always think it’s a great way to bring in pattern and texture.” This is tile that tempts you to touch it.
Another three-dimensional Ann Sacks tile is the Andy Blick Discus, in matte, which is particularly effective in creating pattern and texture on a the wall of this architectural HammerSmith kitchen.
However, she points to tile formats her Basics collection – priced from $4 to $14 per square foot – as one place to look. “Our Basics collection includes Savoy [pennyrounds in cornflower blue, above], made in Japan with traditional Japanese glazes. We have some great things in Context, also made in Japan. These are very simple and come in white and a gorgeous metallic black. The format is a bit different – longer and thinner – and it doesn’t look like standard machine made tile. The glazes are beautiful and these are great for the person who wants something other than 3-by-6” subways.
However, Country Floors remains a basic source for tile that has defied every trend: European blue and white hand painted Dutch Royal Makkum tile “produced in the same environment as 500 years ago.”
Miraduro Portuguese tiles, which Charlie views as more contemporary, “look fabulous with calacatta marble countertops, glass or stainless steel.”
Shape and Scale
Stylized or plain, this shape is familiar on tiles and fabrics.
Scaled back to a basic six-sided shape, British furniture designer Timothy Ben’s “hex” shelves are constructed from MDF (medium density fiberboard) carcasses, like some kitchen cabinets, then covered with wallpaper to add visual interest. They offer an equally appealing shape even when they sit on the floor.
The elemental simplicity of the hexagon makes these shelves approachable for kids’ rooms, as etsy seller Handmade Riot suggests, or as a DIY project even when they are scaled down in both size and number.
