chair ties antique stre cotton blend fabric performance velvet Schumacher

Upholstered tassel chairs

I reupholstered these antique chairs I found at an estate sale belonging to the late Arizona Cardinals owner. It was a lot of work but I’m so happy with them! And they come with a unique story!

upholstered old chairs Diana Elizabeth blog top Arizona lifestyle home decor blogger

I
went to the estate sale at the last hour which meant great savings! I scored these chairs for $237.50 for the pair! After adding tassels from Etsy, and $100 a yard velvet fabric (only needed 1 yard), the total was $207 a chair! What a steal considering you can get some pretty boring cheap furniture at those big box retailers we shall not name.

AND these come with a story!

I know it seems a bit crazy to spend $100 a yard on fabric. Well honestly the more I am shopping online and seeing designer quality of fabric and wallpaper the less pricey and more worth it they seem to me. And some prints, you just can’t get this fabric at a basic fabric store. This high-performance velvet is durable and has a subtle stripe pattern. It comes in a lot of colors about 41+ if you want to look here.

antique stre cotton blend fabric performance velvet Schumacherbamboo antique style chairs antique stre cotton blend fabric performance velvet Schumacher

I just love them so much! I added the chair ties back on – but instead of the red and white that had matched the original worn red chair, I found the perfect cream and blue shades!

chair ties antique stre cotton blend fabric performance velvet Schumacherchair ties antique stre cotton blend fabric performance velvet Schumacher

You can tie them in bows too which shortens the chair ties but I figured out a way to loop them where they hung generously.

chair ties antique stre cotton blend fabric performance velvet Schumacher

These chairs have so much personality and are just beautiful, the form, the color, the everything! Now they are a bit fragile and old – I noticed when I took the upholstery apart it was nailed in – no staples and also a very old newspaper was attached. I mean these are OLD!!! And we know everything gets better in time! :)

I also love the Pottery Barn wool rug here, I had swapped it from the living room as the living room is getting it’s final touches for a reveal. But boy was this rug so heavy I was sweating so badly like profusely dragging it across the house.

Anyway, the chairs are sitting here in the garden room for now (in front of the Murphy bed) and I will figure out where to place them. I would love to just randomly place them on walls like they do in European houses for extra seating but I’m running out of wall space haha.

I just bought this Upholster’s step-by-step handbook so I can look and see if this is something I want to do in the future (not as a profession) but it will also help me determine if I can buy a piece of furniture and reupholster it or how much skill would be involved.


Diana Elizabeth has a lamp and chair obsession. It’s just a thing. She more design books she reads and sees beauty in so much the more she needs to collect. She needs a chateau really.

Diana Elizabeth is an author, photographer, and obsessive thrift shopper. You can typically find her in the garden wrist deep in dirt, at a local estate sale or planning her next creative themed party. She continues to blog weekly.

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