Magical Transformation - Tufted Back French Chair

Now here is a great transformation!  Several weeks ago, I blogged about buying several French style chairs at an estate sale on Lake Lanier - great sale, location, day - see blog!!  This is one of the chairs I bought that day and the one that was, arguably, in the worst condition.  The woodwork, however, is like none I have seen - the carvings mimic a graceful draping affect with actual bows and twists of fabric.  I just linked to this party WOW us Wednesday

The chair in my garage - my upholsterer had removed the piping and tied down the seat cushion for me so I could do the best possible job painting the woodwork. 

I always use Goof Off - it does a wonderful job of removing stains, old paint, surface oils and (almost always present in older pieces) smoke stains.  Note the details!

Before starting the chair, I decided that I wanted to use a two-tone color treatment to accent the woodwork - I wanted the carvings to really show up and be the stars of the show!   I decided on an undercoat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) link to site old white with an overcoat of duck egg blue (diluted about 15% with old white) and sparingly applied to allow much of the undercoat to show through.

The woodwork really showed after the second coat - see the bow and draped effect in the first photo.  The tweed fabric selected is shown here as well.

The chair was delivered to Song's Upholstery of Norcross, Georgia, to be professionally reupholstered. It came back the other day - they had done a WONDERFUL job with the tufting (a difficult and premium upholstery treatment.  I love how it turned out and think it demonstrates how you can use a somewhat contemporary fabric on an otherwise traditional chair and make it usable in any setting!  I can see this is a modern penthouse or French country keeping room!  It is now available for sale through eBay and my website - wish I could keep it!