I ‘m so excited to finish my two side chair slipcovers and window treatments for my dinette. There’s just something about blue and red that is comforting and happy at the same time. These two chairs were initially stuck in the corners on both sides of a large window in the dining room. As we transition to this house, I didn’t see us using it as a dining room and wanted to repurpose this space to something that would be more useful and practical. This room is a project in itself (more on that later). I love my big white oak table and hated not being able to use it all the time. So, after a lot of convincing and a little whining, we moved the table into the dinette with the two benches and side chairs. It fills the space and feels so cozy and warm. Now to choose the color scheme and start the work.
In the essence of time, we hauled one chair back to our home in NOVA for me to work on during the week. I chose a blue and white geometric home decor fabric for the chairs at JoAnne’s Fabrics on sale for $6.99 a yard. Even though it says dry cleaning is recommended, I pre-washed it in cold water and it washed up beautifully. I started laying out and cutting the pieces to the slipcover. I kept the lines the same as the original chair but instead of making a piping with the same fabric, I decided to buy an accent piping in a rope or twine color.
I love the casual and nautical look it gave the chair. I also installed a zipper closer in the back side of the chair to ease of removal. Once I finished the first slipcover, I simply started over again to make the second slipcover for its mate left at the lake. It took me a total of seven hours to make each of the chair covers. What a transformation! And if I get tired of the color or pattern, it’s easy to make a new slipcover.
The window panels were made from a cotton fabric I found at a small home decorating fabric store, Fabric’s Unlimited, located just outside of Charlottesville, VA. For the past two years I would drive past this little store but was never able to stop as it was always after their business hours. Finally, the stars aligned and I had the opportunity to browse. They have a fantastic fabric selection and allow you to check out a two yard sample before investing in yards and yards only to find out it isn’t exactly what you wanted. The store houses rows and rows of these samples with a warehouse on the property where they hold most of the bolts of the fabrics on display. It sure makes a difference to be able to drape the fabric over the chair or window to see what it will look like. I found this wonderful red print with a dollops of blue to compliment the chair. I decided on tab tops for the casual feel but instead of using the same fabric for the tabs, I found a 1 1/2 inch trim that compliments the window shades and chair piping. It gives me that red accent in my kitchen that I was craving and finishes up the window area just perfectly.
Now to figure out the paint color. But until then, do something creative today!
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