MOLLY'S CHAIRS

Molly, my late Mother-in-law, passed away a couple of years ago, after a long courageous battle with esophageal cancer. My sweet Father-in-Law John knew how much I loved her precious antique chairs & gave them to us last year. The chairs originally came from Molly's ancestors in Manchester,England , for you Anglophiles.

Here's how the chairs looked before we reupholstered them.
A pic of the first chair:
(Wish i would've taken the "real" before photo with it's velvet tattered original fabric, completely broken frame and original mahogany stain finish. I had debated on which graphic fabric above, but happy I chose the larger of the two. We distressed the finish with soft turquoise paint, had the frame & seat rebuilt by a local furniture restorer)

The 2nd "Molly" chair below (in it's before pic) used to have an old creme, tone on tone fabric, with nailhead detail. The seat cushion really needed a redo because the springs were completely shot & bouncy! We have a fat plump, down cushion on order, but my upholsterer used a standard seat cushion for now. (we had a photo shoot this past Friday with this chair and were in a time crunch....photo shoot is another post, another day!)
Anyhoo..... the original fabric was a nice fabric, just stained and slightly tattered :

In honor of precious Molly, we pampered her sweet chairs by bringing them into the modern times with a new look, a new life:



The larger chair was upholstered in a natural canvas fabric and detailed with a white twill ribbon. The ribbon is embellished with nailhead trim. I like mixing the pure bright white trim with the "whiter shade of pale" because I wanted a variety of whites in the room. Plus the slipcovered sofa in the room is a bright white denim canvas, and it blends with it nicely.
We kept the charm of the original finish on this chair & like how it gives the plain fabric some character.

Here's the ensemble in our front piano room that I'm affectionately calling the Molly room for this post. The white piano is actually hiding behind the sofa, like a sofa table....which you can barely see further down the blogpost. I should take a before/after of the piano.....used to be black, we painted it white.

Notice the pic above? See anything familiar? Remember the Riad lampshade from Lowes, in the last blog post? Spot it anywhere?

I took an old lamp base I had, in this pic below, and changed the shade to go with the new room. (actually I still LOVE this lampshade in this pic....the colors just didn't go with the new colors of the "Molly" room.....I'm sure I'll use the old shade again someday):
Actually that photo above is in the same "Molly" room decorated a different way. It's been several different ways, as you can imagine.

We miss Molly always, but especially during the holidays. Her yummy Brussel sprouts (only Molly could make that vegetable taste good), delicious carrots and English scones & mince meat pies. (I had never even tasted one of those until she made them, cuz the name just didn't sound great....but they were very good)

Molly & I, just a few years ago during Thanksgiving:She had a great English accent & cute smile!
Oh, we had our "Mother-in-law" moments, believe me! Oh yeah, I could roll my eyes sometimes when I knew she was coming for a holiday visit, but now I truly miss her being here & visiting. Only sweet, sweet memories remain. Sad how sometimes you don't really understand or know how much you love someone til they're gone.
Molly always loved coming to our house to see something new. Whether it was a new holiday tablescape, a newly designed room or a new addition to the house, it was fun to share with Molly. She truly had an eye for color & an appreciation in details. I know she would love the new "Molly chairs" and how we've updated them.
I was pretty teary eyed Thursday evening after my upholsterer friend left & I was left in that room alone to look at the chairs, think about Molly, Thanksgiving & how happy she would be to see these. I guess it was just one of those hormonal girly moments, but I knew she was happy with the room.
We raise a glass (and a "proper" cup of hot tea) to you on Thanksgiving Molly!

On another side note about design & details:

I wanted to share my fab find at the local resale store, the coffee table:
Here's how it looked on the resale shop sales floor (it looks orange on my computer screen....but it was actually a Ming red.):
Steven painted it a rich chocolate brown, Valspar's Swiss Chocolate:
I love the wood detail, beveled glass, size and oriental twist! Plus it was a steal!

Now, notice in the above pic, the basket of vintage magazines, under the coffee table? The mags are some of my fave things to thumb through and share. A few years ago, while we were in Fredericksburg, a realtor & I discovered them abandoned in an old rock barn. She let us keep them and I'll always cherish them. The tattered magazines are from the 50's & the articles , ads & pictures are priceless. What's so cool, is that alot of the design photos back then are modern styles we're all lovin' now.


Wouldn't you just LOVE to buy this house, at this price?!Check out the wallpaper they featured in that 1950's "dream" house! Love it and would really love this today in a kitchen , pantry or entry:


The week will get busy with preparing for Thanksgiving....but I hope to share another room redo this week, if time allows!

Also, we're working on getting the pillows finished for the "jvw home" online store and I'm hoping to share those in December. Did you notice the small graphic pillow on Molly's white chair? Here's the same one, in a larger size:

You can purchase both of these soon, from "jvw home" !
Will keep you posted on the "opening" details soon.

Until then , keep it calm this week while you prepare for your feasts........I know we all get "street rat crazy" preparing for turkey day. Cherish your family & loved ones this week....ya, we all have our family "moments" at the holidays, but remember to appreciate those loved ones while they're here.

(p.s. remember you can always click on a photo to enlarge the photo, for more detail, especially those old vintage magazines)




Cheers,