Tricks For Working With Hideously Dated Living Room Furniture

Dear Laurel,

Ya know life is so difficult sometimes. My grandmother passed away 3 years ago at the age of 97, and then my mom just died last month. It was a sudden thing, and I’m lost without her. She was my best friend.

 

In addition, my husband and I have been renovating our home for over 13 months!  I know you can relate, Laurel.

 

It’s winding down, but I’m exhausted and seriously have nothing left. I mean, don’t worry about me. I’m okay. My husband is a doll– works long hours. Our kids are in college now.

What’s the problem aside from just about everyone I’ve ever cared about dying on me? Well, when Gran passed, my mom inherited all of her furniture.

My dad died when I was four. Apparently, he had undiagnosed narcolepsy, and yeah… he was in the car when it careened down a deep ravine. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt. My poor mom. Rough go of it…

Our family is tiny.

 

My sister is a nun who helps run a home for Somalian orphans… And the only other relative is Mom’s brother, who is in prison for embezzling funds from his clients.

Oh, someone, please shut me up! 

 

This note rambling letter is about Gran’s horribly dated living room furniture.

 

That’s the problem.

Sure, I could sell some of it, but I don’t want to, and even if I do, I don’t know how to incorporate what’s left with more contemporary pieces. I don’t know what pieces are maybe worth keeping. Maybe there’s something else I can do? 

I imagine that others have this dilemma too?

Thanks so much, Laurel!

Barb Brake-Frunt

 

*********

 

In my years of practice, I encountered this dilemma numerous times.

 

Dated living room furniture!

 

To be clear, dated is not necessarily the same thing as vintage or antique.

But some vintage and antique pieces feel out of place in our contemporary interiors. Or, they are in rough shape, or something isn’t working.

 

Over the years, whenever I encountered this situation, we always found a place for the items, and we made it work.

 

Below is one of my favorite examples, and it is the only piece of my work that was ever published in a national magazine.

The setting? An antique farmhouse that was home to two parents, three kids ages 5 – 14, and a beautiful golden retriever.

Above is the living room. Incidentally, we worked on the entire home 25 years ago! It was published four years later in BHG. The big wing chair and striped stool were inherited furnishings she wanted to keep. However, they sorely needed to be reupholstered. So, we used a beautiful linen and the high-end stripe.

I seem to recall that my client already had the needlepoint fabric, and we incorporated it into the rest of the upholstery for the bench on the left.

 

Everything else you see, she purchased through me.

 

For more of this house, please check it out here. The magazine did the styling and took away the beautiful Aubusson pillows on the sofa.

Incidentally, those two Chinoiserie tables are tea table height, so taller than my preferred coffee table height. I got them through Brunschwig and Fils. You can’t see it from here, but the end tables are Pembroke style, like you can see here.

 

So, let’s jump in and discuss Barb’s situation.

 

If Barb were my client, I’d probably advise her to keep some of the most special pieces that we could make work, and perhaps give the rest to charity, a friend, or sell.

Not knowing what she has, I’m going to go over some ways to update your dated living room furniture. The focus of this post is upholstery. For wood pieces, you’ll find some of my favorite ideas here,

 

And, this is a good one for updating vintage dining room furniture.

 

Let’s revisit the notion of old versus dated.

 

Above, in this tiny vignette from one of the late Furlow Gatewood’s living rooms, is an example of old and timeless. The gorgeous antique that feels fresh and current in its updated linen fabric. Image by Rodney Collins.

 

Below is a dated “French” settee.

 

My grandmother in Chicago had a settee almost exactly like this. At least that’s how I remember it looking some fifty years later.

Yes, a classic tufted French, Victorian interpretation of the Louis XV style.

Below is what I would expect an authentic Louis XV canape to look like.

 

A similar settee and an after shot from the wonderful site Chairloom, not to be confused with Chairish.

In a fresh, new blue linen, the piece almost looks contemporary!

 

Another Louis XV-style settee in an astonishing makeover from Chairloom.

I’m pretty sure that the cool fabric is from Timorous Beasties.

 

Above is the classic “Granny sofa” I found on Chairloom.

And below, is another dated treatment, and that looks like it went to a spa and then a shopping trip at Barney’s. ;]

 

Another Chairloom Granny sofa before and after.

 

Wow! The sofa above is a classic Lawson sofa with some very tired, dated fabric. They took off the back cushions and the skirt. Then, they gave it a new upholstery job, and it looks like a completely different piece of furniture.

 

Taking off the skirt to expose the legs is something I’ve done numerous times.

 

If the legs are good, it’s a great way to update a sofa or chair and lighten things up. However, it is also possible to change the legs. It definitely is, if they’re the screw-on type of legs. Even if they aren’t, a skilled upholsterer can remove the old legs and add new legs with dowels that are anchored into the existing frame.

Another way to update a sofa or chair, if you’d like to keep the skirt, is do either a very tall or a waterfall-style skirt.

The short skirt above makes the chair look dated. Will the short skirts come back in style?

They’ve been out of style for at least the last 25 years. I don’t think they’re coming back in a big way, but who knows?

 

 

Above is the Serena and Lily Cutler Sofa with a waterfall skirt

 

For those of you who own the Laurel Home Paint Collection bundle, you may recognize the red chair on the right. It appears on about 3 or 4 boards because I adore it to bits.

 

And yes, this is the same chair as the one on the left.

 

The lesson here, and it’s a good one, is that if there’s something you don’t like about a piece, even an upholstered piece, it can often be changed.

 

For this piece, they moved the legs over to the traditional position and changed the back cushions.

It now has a less mid-century look.

Above is a beautifully upholstered Chippendale-style sofa with fretwork legs from Chairish.

(Sorry, it’s no longer available.)

You can also have a tailored slip cover made for sofas like these, which also removes some of the formality.

 

Above is a wonderful slipcovered Chippendale-style sofa at the fabulous antique salon owned by Gerald Bland.

 

Below are some other old-fashioned sofas that feel positively modern/contemporary.

 

Julia Berolzheimer

 

That sure is one long drink of cool, don’t you think?

 

What keeps this from looking dated?

 

I think that a lot of it or maybe all of it has to do with context.

It’s the other pieces surrounding it. The white walls, the sleek Parsons coffee table…

Sleek and chic.

Above is a French settee reupholstered in white cotton, and below it’s in a fabulous urbane room setting.  What’s interesting here is that all of this furniture is from a company called Rent Patina that rents vintage furnishings. It could be for a special event, but they also rent furniture for photo shoots, films, and other purposes.

 

 

Scouted Home

How gorgeous is this antique settee upholstered in two fabrics.

 

A pretty French vignette from Rue Magazine – photo by Jen Altman

 

Fabulous sofa upholstered in a natural linen by Nancy Fishelson

 

Above is a beautiful vintage flame mahogany breakfront from English Classics.

Over a decade ago, they made a custom-painted breakfront for a client of mine. (below)

 

I wrote a brief post about this breakfront here.

 

I realize that some pieces should not be painted.

 

Yet, if you want a painted breakfront or other item that’s in a wood finish, and it’s not a priceless antique, I don’t have a problem with that. Of course, you are also allowed to not paint your furniture! :] It really depends on the over-all look and what else is going on.

 

Here’s a smaller version by Holly Mathis and beautifully photographed by Becki Griffin.

 

I love how painting formal pieces like this knocks back the formality.

Please notice the lovely linen slipcover on the wing chair. These are great ways to update old-fashioned pieces of furniture.

Also, I love the linen slipcover on what is likely a vintage wingback chair.

For more about slipcovers, please look at this  post that goes into greater detail.

 

Soon, I want to expand on some ways to update vintage upholstered furniture to make it into a totally updated, fresh piece.

 

There are some tricks I didn’t have time for today.

Oh, how I wish the old styles would return. Alas, it seems with each passing year, the furniture in this country keeps getting clunkier and more boxy.

Okay, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed these ideas for updating dated living room furniture.

xo,

 

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