Reupholstering the vintage French chair..

 

When we were in Paris in the Spring last year I was lucky enough to come across these two beauties.  I was instantly in love and on a mission to figure out how exactly to get these home for myself.  I was pleasantly surprised by a seller who was willing to translate my need to get these chairs to our rented apartment to a wonderful delivery man, and my heart was content.  The poor guy had to carry them up 3 flights of shallow steps and then another guy carried them down a week later and loaded them into our taxi van in route to Normandie.  It was worth every minute (note that I was not actually carrying them)!

Once they arrived here in California I had no clue what I wanted to do with them, so they stayed at home with me for a bit before I finally took the plunge.  I had them upholstered in vintage linen that we had purchased while we were in France along with some of my standard linen on the back and sides.  I added tufting to the seat back to create a little more interest for me as well as exposed flat rustic nail head details at the legs.. and I love love them!

   

 

top 2 images from the Paris flea market/bottom 2 images by Ashlee Raubach

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greige shops France...

 

As our sale draws near I have been going through all of the photos from our trip and falling in love with the pieces that we shopped for while we were in France.  It was a lot of work and I cannot wait to share the primped up version with you in a few days.  We found so many beautiful vintage pieces it is going to be hard to part with them!  This is just a little peek at the treasure.

Thank you again to Sharon at My French Country Home for a wonderful trip! 

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Reupholstering the Vintage French Chair..

 

 I am in the process of trying to figure out what I want to do with these little gems that I picked up at the Paris Flea market for myself.  The chairs above are my dreamy dream chairs!  But alas I did not find this style while I was shopping, however, I did find the pair below which I love very much.  So I am having a little delima that I need some help with.  I would love to know what you think- would you add tufting to the chair backs to make them look a little more like the dreamy dream chairs or would you keep them simple and clean as they are traditionally done?

Add a seat cushion?

Beef up the arms?

Welting?

There are so many possibilities...  

While I know I don't want to change them completely I want to add some pizzazz.. I am planning on either vintage linen which we also bought while in France but I have also thought of going for a simple washed linen that I use often... decisions decisions!

 

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Garden antiques shop in Paris...

 

While shopping the flea markets in Paris on our trip we happened upon this sweet garden shop in the area.  I am not sure if it was part of the flea markets or not but it stole my attention in less than a second.  The creative displays made my heart skip a beat.  I snapped a picture of the flower box hedge before I had a chance to see how many inspiring spaces they had created.  

Each was a simple collection of vintage pieces but they were done so well, maybe it was the repetition or the negative space around them I am not sure even now, but I know it was they type of display that sticks in your memory.  I left feeling extremely inspired.  I loved everything about it! 

 

 

images by christina for greige

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Flea markets of Paris...

When we visited Paris last month our goal, aside from eating and drinking everything in site was to shop.  I know it is terrible right!  We were in the process of trying to fill our first container to ship back to the States.  We started out in Paris at the flea markets and could have shopped there for days but as you know travel does not always allow for days and days of endless browsing and then going back to make final purchases and decisions.  Things move so fast it can be hard to know if you have made the right choices for weeks to come.  I know I should have bought the chairs that are shown below, I am kicking myself now for doubting my first inclination.  I love these chairs and I hope that they find a wonderful home somewhere in the world.. they are so amazing! 

Aside from that I tried not to pass up anything that spoke to me.   I finally had to realize that anything is possible with the right amount of determination and dare I say money behind it.  We did end up dragging dress forms and multiple goodies back with us on the metro, yep they looked at us like we were crazy but whatever, they did that every time we spoke to them in English after starting with "bonjour".  It was amazing to buy furnishings and accessories with the idea that we would be having them here in such a short time.  I am looking forward to getting all of our goodies and setting up for our first container sale!

 

 

We loved all of the displays, the talent in these flea markets blows away what we see here at home.  Although I must say that we have to remember these are permanent spaces not pop ups.

 

This space was amazing, I wanted every book!  I love the green blue!

 

This big guy was so cool and calm, he just wanted to chill not shop.

 

These two I did not manage to leave.  They are perfect and I love them.  I will also love them when they get home to me in my living room thank you very much!

 

I did pass this sweet little thing up.. I was tired and did not even ask the price - a mistake I know!

 

Gorgeous!

 

This vendor said this was a painting of his mother in law.  His booth was super cool!

 

(This picture is for Loi)

 

images by christina for greige

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