You may or may not have noticed that it’s been quiet on the up cycling front lately… all strenuous activities put on hold; no painting, no upholstery (no boxing…sob!) all thanks to some unforeseen muscle / nerve injury caused by 1.) Old age 2.) Overexertion with sanding 3.) Too much pulling and straining in upholstery 4.) Computer & social media overuse 4.) All of the aforementioned combined!
However, not ones to sit idle, we have been busy with some interior decor research, with a view to expanding our lovely handcrafted upholstery range.
In our quest for the perfect design and colour combinations we started by collecting cuttings, fabrics, and got stuck into sketching out ideas with pen and paper – yup, proper old school style!
It’s so unashamedly girly we know, but we could not resist snapping this eye popping hot pink Thai silk – and as a strong jewel colour a good starting point in our quest for colour perfection. But for upholstery it’s not just a case of finding the right colour tones, it’s equally important to get a durable fabric that will wear well on our handcrafted chairs.
We instantly fell in love with this sublime purpley pink lambswool, and though you may not think you’re a pink kind of person, we happen to agree with Sunday Times Style’s @scarcurtis, that “everyone, no matter your gender, could use a little more pink in their lives” .
Velvets have always been a hot favourite…after all, who can resist a lush cotton velvet chair?! The hardest decision is simply which colour palettes to go for, as the possibilities are endless!
We have to confess that we have a total crush on the colour purple. Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red – what more can one ask for in a colour?! We particularly love contrasting colours in the details such as piping and deep buttoning, and we had to test out a few colour combinations.
Call us traditionalist (well, you wouldn’t be wrong!) but we love vintage fabrics like the gentleman’s favourite – the pinstripe. We love how the pinstripe has endured since the turn of the century, famously adopted by legends as diverse as Winston Churchill and the Hollywood film idol Cary Grant.
But we’re also fans of a more modernist approach to interiors styling, like mixing old and new together. Playing with these beautiful pure lambswool pinstripe fabrics we teamed them with some cotton velvet swatches in complimentary colours. We just love this combination of dark narrow pinstripe in Cyan blue with lush azure velvet.
Another favourite colour combination is grey pinstripe and yellow – we think this sexy pairing of quality lambswool pinstripe with soft vibrant cotton velvet is simply irresistible!
Some colours are meant to be together…like pink and grey! This mood board showcases luxury lambswool in pinstripes and a gorgeous pink wool fabric.
Deciding on fabric and colour combinations can be tricky – and there’s only one way to really see what your idea is going to look like, simply sketch it out! The idea here is that the wide grey pinstripe will be the lead fabric, with small touches of piping and buttons in yellow velvet to give a little lift.
This dark narrow blue pinstripe looks fantastic with the stripe picked out using a complimentary colour tone in velvet.
So, the quest continues, but we it looks like we are FINALLY close to unveiling some exciting new colour combinations with some specially hand picked fabrics! A work in progress…please watch this space! (And follow us on social media for all our latest musings!)