to recover or not...that is the question

Last week I scored this groovy orange velvet chair at a pre-yard sale. I love the size and the shape and it's surprisingly comfortable. For about 18 months I've been looking for a vintage chair that I could recover for my bedroom. This chair is certainly vintage, but I'm not so sure about the color and the fabric. Here she is:

As you can see, it has a couple of stains and the fabric is a little worn in some areas, but all-in-all, it's in great condition. I like the shape of the legs too, which if I recovered, would be painted.

My bedroom is gray, yellow and white. Now, there's nothing wrong with a little splash of orange, but I'm not sure if this is the piece to do the splashing.

Here's another look:

As you can see, Lizzie and Louie (seated) have taken to the chair almost immediately. In fact they got into a fight about five minutes after this photo was taken. And now, three days later, the chair is covered in cat hair. Yet another draw back of velvet.

Also, can you see the dusty rose color chair in the background? It's a cane chair that I scored for free. I actually have two of those that desperately need to be recovered and the frame needs to be repainted. I hate the dusty rose color and I have WAY too much brown wood in this house. I've seen a ton of upholstery tutorials online, but I guess I'm just afraid of biting off more than I can chew.

So...back to the orange... should I recover or leave as is (cleaning it of course). Thoughts?

Etsy shop now open!

Oh boy am I nervous...I've been wanting to open an Etsy shop for years and years. And I just DID IT! Yippie!!! Click here to see my shop!

I'm going to focus on two things...vintage finds, primarily Pyrex housewares and also handmade items.

I've just listed two items:

Vintage Pyrex coffee mugs:

...and a very large, Pyrex casserole dish:

 

How cute are they? If you, or someone you know, collect vintage Pyrex...let me know what you're looking for. I scour thrift stores a couple of times a month and can watch for a special piece. I'll post more tomorrow! Thanks for your support. :)

...if you've got it...display it!

It breaks my heart when I think of a beautiful collection of dishes that are hidden away in the cupboard. Or worse yet, packed away because their lucky owner doesn't have a creative way to display. A friend asked yesterday how she might display some of her dishes including a collection of cake plates. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It's a great question. So, what's a girl to do? Scour Pinterest...that's what!

Depending on your style, there are a bunch of great ideas. I'm loving this open shelf concept. It's clean, crisp and kind of utilitarian:

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Or you might be a lucky dog and have a beautiful built-in:

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This would be a fun way to display mis-matched coffee cups:

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This is a nifty way to display a teapot collection. Looks like basic IKEA shelves:

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I especially love hanging plates on the wall. It's fun to create a gallery similar to this:

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Here's another example. Love the vintage plates:

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For larger pieces like a cake plate, serving platter or pitcher, try displaying in an open hutch like this:

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 Another possibility for large pieces is to create a beautiful mantelscape:

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So, there you have it. Lots of fun ideas to display your dishes! Of course it means you have one more thing to dust! ha! Enjoy.