Happy Birthday to Me...

New re-upholstered chair in my office.

Recovered in silver grey velvet.

Close up of the tufted back.

 It was my birthday yesterday and this chair was a birthday gift from my parents. It once belonged to the late Yvonne Kyle, my beloved grandmother. The chair was previously covered in a peacock green velvet which was very worn after many years of use. To maintain the original qualities of the chair, I stayed with a velvet and chose a classic silver grey. My upholsterer has made a fantastic job keeping the chair exactly how it was and it now has pride of place beside my desk at my office. There is a blue and white ticking cushion on its way to complete the picture.
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

Seating - Before and After

The entrance wrought iron seating - before.

After.

Here is a piece of furniture that was once looking worse for wear. This entrance seating belonged to a client of mine - previously it was downtrodden and beaten up.
My client loved red and to negotiate removing the too-strong red on the walls opposite, I took the red (and a gorgeous pattern) to the cushions of the seating. The result - looks great, is the central focus in the entrance and no-one throws their things on it now...
Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Black and White

Here is one the of the many little jobs that has been installed leading up to Christmas...

This is my mother's formal living room. After 15 years of looking the same, she wanted this room updated. She is a talented designer herself, however this time she wanted me to lead the way.

The first move was the new Mokum Star Tile rug in black and white. We then re-upholstered the chairs, previously in coffee macrosuede, in a textured cream with black contrast piping.They look so effective and coincide with the existing cream sofas. We finished off with smaller scale patterned cushions to relate back to the rug. A new coffee table will be sourced in the New Year to completely finish the job.

The Minty family will enjoy our Christmas Day in this room - that's the family Christmas Tree in the background. Looking forward to it!

Photos by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Reupholstering

Chair - Before

After - in Leather

Sofa - Before (we had two of these)

After - Sofa One

After - Sofa Two

Armchair - Before

Armchair - After

I'm a fan of re-upholstering existing furniture. It is environmentally friendly, you can choose the fabric and it is hard to find good furniture that tick all the boxes these days.

These clients were open to buying new furniture - however, we realised that these pieces fitted well in the existing interiors and all were still comfortable.

So we re-holstered them all (a great upholsterer is essential and I have one of those) as well as improving the insides with new foam and feather. They were better than new when they came back and the clients very happy.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Bedroom

Bedroom - Before

Bedroom - After

Here was a bedroom that was looking okay - however, we didn't like the existing drapery and overall it was looking a bit bland.
The bedroom's new ensuite is black and white so it was logical to use this colour combination and this worked well with the exisiting iron poster bed and antique furniture.
We chose a large graphic pattern for the drapery and a striped sheer for privacy and we brought down the curtain rod to above the window rather than halfway up the wall. The smaller window got a sheer roman blind.
We continue the lattice pattern with the cushions and the sofa fabric, which has a smaller lattice weave. A darker grey for the sofa was chosen to give depth and contrast.
These moves gave the bedroom the 'pop' that it needed.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Living Room and Library.

Living Room - Before (looking from Library)

'Library' - Before (looking from Living Room)

Living Room and Library - After

Library

New Built in Sideboard

When I first visited this house, the clients barely used the main Living area. The furniture layout was not working and the little back room attached to the Living Room (what we now call the Library) was under utilised as it was uncertain of its function.

We placed a built-in Sideboard for the TV and storage against one wall. This created a focal point for the furniture to be placed against. The back room became a 'Library' and a shelving unit with a little desk was designed for its main wall. The joinery were finished in a light colour to contrast with the muted grey walls.

Finishing touches of new drapery, re-upholstering existing furniture, new cushions and accessories has helped this room become more cohesive and the clients now retire here every night.

There's still a coffee table to be found for the centre of the room and the clients are slowly filling the shelves for the library.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Re-upholstering

One of my jobs had a re-upholstery furniture delivery this afternoon. I quickly took these photos to show the great transformation!
Before, these chairs were in a hessian-like ink blue fabric and the seat cushions were too long, therefore sticking out at the front and uncomfortable under the knees. A bold graphic fabric, a 're-feather' to the insides and a re-shape to the seat cushion has resulted in looking brand new once again. They look amazing.
This particular job has had other great re-upholstered furniture and general interior work done - I will take more photos once it is completed.

Photos by Charlotte Minty.

New Work - Re-upholstering

Re-upholstering is such a great way to make old furniture look new again. Look at this lovely seat that was looking worse for wear and the apricot ribbed velvet competes with the warm timber.

We recovered this seat with a lovely almond cream velvet and all of the sudden the timber pops out and you notice the details more, don't you? We added beautiful vintage style lace cushions to finish it off. Looks so classy.

Photos by Charlotte Minty.