before & after: the Victorian throne

The Victorian throne chair was a collaborative effort between myself and Urban Threads as part of their Lab series.  Urban Threads knows embroidery, I know upholstery, and together we created an awe-inspiring chair!  You may have already seen a look at the chair here, when I announced (okay, more like jumped up and down and screamed in excitement) that we were very honored to have our chair featured on Design*Sponge as part of their before and after series. 

Without further ado, I present to you the Victorian throne...

after:

before:
We found this (very) large throne of a chair on craigslist.  The chair is Eastlake Victorian style and dates circa 1890's.  The lady I purchased it from shared with me that the chair had previously resided in a beautiful Victorian mansion in the historic district of St. Paul.  Wow.  I wish I could have seen the rest of the house.  I'm a sucker for antiques and old homes.  But back to the chair.  It had great bones and beautiful detailed woodwork, but we wanted to update it into the 21st century (think modern and bright). 

So I stripped off the old upholstery

and painted the chair white!

In the meantime, a team at Urban Threads was busy creating and embroidering large designs to be used on the new upholstery.  All of the designs and patterns used on the chair are available to purchase as a part of their Mendhika collection, so you can recreate this same look on your own chair if you wish.  A special, very thick thread call Burmilana was used in the embroidery for this chair.  Burmilana is yarn like thread that offers beautiful raised textured effects which gives the embroidery a wonderful, old world folk feel.

With the newly embroidered fabric complete I was able to get to work upholstering the chair.











The result is a throne fit for a modern king (or queen).  What was previously a dark and rather clunky chair has been brightened up into a bold and modern piece. 

Who would have thought to use machine embroidered upholstery!?!

Many many thanks to the lovely Niamh of Urban Threads for inviting me to be a part of this collaborative project. Also many thanks to amazing photographer Patrick Kelley for the beautiful after shots of the chair that he pulled together in a single afternoon.

linking up at:
Furniture Feature Fridays Mod Vintage Life Photobucket vif187 The Shabby Nest Primitive and Proper

28 comments:

  1. The chair is fabulous. It indeed does look like a Queen's throne.

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  2. WOW!!! that is gorgeous!!! simply gorgeous!

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    1. Thank you! It is proudly residing in my living room next to the fire place. :)

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  3. Amazing! It truly is fit for royalty now! Just beautiful!!! Hopped over from Wow Us Wednesday and I'm happy to be your newest follower. Would love for you to stop by for a visit! Blessings ~ Judy @ www.vintagestreetdesigns.com

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  4. Absolutely gorgeous! It still has a historic feel but looks so fresh and modern. I absolutely love the fabric, too.

    Have a great day!

    Angela

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  5. i love your chair, i would love to feature it , if that would be ok with you please let me know,
    lauren

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    1. awwww.. thank you!! Of course you may feature it! :)

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    2. excellent! I love this chair and i will feature it next monday, ill email you when i post it!
      LAUREN

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    3. not sure if you caught the feature you can check it out here
      http://westfurniturerevival.blogspot.com/2012/09/revival-monday-78.html#comment-form
      Thanks so much again,
      lauren

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  6. Wowsa! That is one beautiful chair and a real work of art!
    Brenda

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  7. What a fantastic contrast of modern and old world! Love it! The embroidered fabric is amazing!!

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  8. Beautiful makeover! Such a gorgeous chair!

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  9. What a great chair makeover! I have a big old Victorian house and I usually hate to see beautiful old antiques painted over unless the wood is past redemption but this is definitely an improvement. I would put it in my own house for sure. Great job!

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  10. love what you did....lots of contrast and a cool marriage of the old and the new....and new tech for the fabrication...a true makeover....I am like you can you imagine that house....

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  11. What a stunning piece of art. Your vision for a chair that I would have totally overlooked, is remarkable. The embroidered fabric in contrast to the white is breathtaking beyond words. All I can do is open my mouth, but I can't formulate the words to express myself. So, I will just say in simple terms: WOW!

    I am so glad I popped over from Common Ground, as I have not visited you before. Thanks for posting.

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    1. Thank you! I certainly couldn't have done it without Niamh from Urban Threads! :)

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  12. wow! what a transformation! it looked so formal before, now it's funky and fun. great job!

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  13. LOVE the embroidered fabric - what a cool and unique idea!! Beautiful job and congrats on the chairs features!!

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  14. I thought I saw this somewhere! Visiting from P&P. It really is a truly exquisite chair. Great idea and amazing job!

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  15. this chair is incredible. I'm a fan of Eastlake. What a cool interpretation, and the embroidery is just amazing. thanks for linking up to Vintage Inspiration!

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  16. I am in love with this chair! I am an upholstery girl as well, and this chair inspires me. I have an Eastlake set in storage waiting to be restored. To paint the wood or not paint? I am still deciding!

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  17. I featured this on Mod Mix Monday today!

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