sandr018

At this past weekend's estate sale HERE I purchased a Biedermeier stool for use with my comfy reading chair, another estate sale find which I recently had reupholstered (see that transformation  HERE ). You can see the upholstery that came on the stool is in good shape, a synthetic material from the 1960s, but doesn't quite go with my apartment. Of course the easy answer is to use the remaining fabric I have on the chair, a linen printed with a white paisley. Is this too boring? I also worry the light colored fabric will soil easily. I have some lovely black mohair I purchased for another project and never used. I worry this is the opposite - too dark. Some striped velvet left from a chair I recently had reupholstered in my bedroom would work but I'm not sure it works here. The last choice I already own is an embroidered paisley silk in blues and french grays. I think the colors seem to go with the room, the darker colors may mask any dirt, and the paisley patterned fabric...

This past weekend I attended one of my favorite kind of estate sales: a very old Washingtonian family in a very old grand house. The family bought said house during the great depression after selling their huge estate and literally never touched the house again: not paint, no adding furniture, etc.  Shabby chic would be a great term (if it wasn't already attached to something quite different). I wish I had some pictures to share with you of the house but I never thought of taking any snapshots unfortunately. Sloans and Kenyon , a local auction house, hosts the best estate sales of the oldest families here in town. If they're hosting you know you need to be there! I had a huge haul (including literal armfuls of linens which I spent all day Sunday oxy-cleaning, laundering, and ironing) and just a few of the items are shown here in this post. One item I purchased remains a bit of  a mystery. This small pitcher reminds me of belleek ware - the collectible paper-thin Irish porcelai...