Let’s start at the beginning. I met the couple, figured out their styles and started shopping. I found the sofa first. I dug it out behind a ton of stuff, here’s proof:
It looked like this:
Fun, but kinda gross, itchy, dirty. etc. and too retro. In general when i say retro its not a good thing. I want everything to reference the past with my vintage pieces but feel current. A retro shape in a retro fabric is going back not moving forward. That’s a secret. except not at all.
Anywhoo, I bought it at Design Modern on Melrose. I thought it was such a piece and i knew that it wouldn’t be hard to re-upholster because it has really simple lines. I bought it for $700 and i figured the reupholstery would be $600 to equal a pretty affordable vintage sofa. I bought the fabric at the famous Pasadena rummage sale. Super sophisticated, for such a retro piece to help elevate it, make it more modern and so you know, you don’t get someone else’s years of dust mites and dander. I didn’t know this but in general all good reupholsterers re-foam everything and strip it down to the wood, so you don’t need to worry about it. And you have some foam options: you can have just foam, or foam with feather on top to make it more comfy for just a couple hundred more. This guy didn’t give me the option, but in general go for it – it makes a good difference.
Here’s where it went wrong: I gave the upholsterer 9-10 yards (i forget) and he said it was enough. but guess what? it was not. And this was the first time i used this guy (at the beginning i was tryng a few out to see who has the best prices/best quality). He was running WAY behind and he told me the day before (tuesday of shooting, we install first look on wednesday) that he ran out of fabric for the cushions. I didn’t have a swatch to match it, but sent people scrambling to find it. Sucked. So that is why it looks like this for first look:
There really wasn’t an option (except doing something diy that would probably look like Sh*t) and it didn’t look terrible, just really really low. and hard. and almost like there isn’t any bottom cushions. During the reveal Micah and Evee were kinda confused so i had to tell em.
Anywhoo, we matched the fabric with a linen and the contrasting textures actually looked pretty good.
He was supposed to have piped it though. Needless to say i’ll never use him again.
Anyway, the sofa ended up being $1300 with the fabric being $10 from the rummage sale and $40 for the cushion. Not bad for such a pretty piece.
And that’s the story of the sofa.
Ooh, lets talk coffee table. Now we all see industrial carts as coffee tables these days, but they can run a pretty penny (like $400-$800) but i got this one at the PCC flea market for $250 and its pretty great. Its the real deal, not one of the new repro’s and boys love this stuff. That’s a man’s coffee table right there. Dripping with testosterone. gross.
Alright then we have this piece:
Not pretty, but now it looks like this:
Cute, right? i wish those pillows were smaller – like 12×16 not 16×16. stupid regrets. This piece ended up being too expensive in my opinion. I bought it for $250 (too much) and it was $200 to reupholster and the fabric was $10 a yard and I needed 6 yards. You do the math, but it ended up being a pretty expensive piece for being vintage. In general i try to have chairs stay around $350 – $400 and i’ll splurge on some if its a huge talking piece or a show stopper (i have some coming up in this weeks episode with Joy).
More sources tomorrow/behind the scenes tomorrow. gotta get my hair and makeup did.