Have you ever thought about how to save an item, a piece of furniture or anything else in your home?
Often we are fond of some furnishings or simply do not know where to put them, because they are out of fashion or because they do not match the rest of the room. We can think of saving them, giving them a new look and bringing them to new life.
Lately vintage is very present, but we must be careful not to abuse it.
I happened to refurbish armchairs that would once have ended up in landfills or transform furniture that seemed to have come out of the Addams family’s house... and then said: "Hey, not bad!".
How to evaluate if they deserve the transformation?
As in all jobs, you need to ask for help from experienced people. Otherwise you can spend too much money with a poor result.
The chair I photographed here is original from the 50s. I knew its origin, the shape and the legs show the era in which it was designed.
It was broken, even the dog was sleeping on it, but fortunately it had always been covered with cloth. Analyzing it with my trusted upholsterer we saw that the wooden structure and the elastic belts were in good condition. The polyurethane was quite intact and small reinforcement interventions would be enough.
The armchair could not be removed, therefore it was necessary to choose a practical and resistant material. I then opted for a blue synthetic velvet that gave it an iridescent effect recalling also the taste of those years.
The 70s armchair you see in the picture was the complete opposite. The intention to save it dropped miserably when we undressed it and found that the foam was flaking and progressively it would be consumed.
Here the intervention, although possible, would have given poor results!
Almost all the wooden furniture can be sanded and then repainted, as in the case of the beech wood table repainted in black. In old furniture, sometimes even beeswax can revive and clean an asphyxiated wood, keeping the beauty of the piece unaltered (like the old Thonets seen in photos).
Other times it is not possible to change everything and it may be necessary to mask it: here the example of the old parapet of a school that could not be removed, and which I incorporated into a wooden "sandwich" structure with a playful and colorful appearance, more suitable for the environment.
Often old objects, hidden in the attic, can be recovered and combined with taste in a modern context. This way the house or the corner you want to decorate is less cold. The new / old contrast denotes personality and brings back to life the memory and fascination of a past that no longer exists.
Another way can be to give a different meaning to objects that originally had another function.
A staircase can become a flowerpot for flowers, a wooden pallet a bench, a designer stool can be wedged around a table, an old chair can be decorated, a table painted and turned into a support for a washbasin or old doors to be used to close some niches etc ...
There are no limits to creativity: the important thing is to seek harmony that coordinates everything. And often only the trained eye can do it ... so trust the advice of those who do it professionally!
Have fun!
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