TOILE UPHOLSTERY AND SOME INFO - french country chairs

The weather here has been so nice I have been running ragged working outside

getting all sorts of projects painted. Unfortunately not all of them get finished in order

as the next day ends up with the sun shining again so I start another, saving the final touches

for colder wetter days coming.

But I have managed to get something finally finished to share with you.

A little birdy recently dropped off these 4 pretty chairs asking if I thought I

could make them over and have someone love them again.

I just love the warm patina worn into the wood so of course I wanted to work with them.

I sprayed them black, sanded them smooth with a bit of distressing, and finished them with some wax.

I kept some of the beauty of the wood showing by not painting the seats.

I removed any old wood, upholstery, and all the nails.

I started to replace the seat upholstery with drop cloth stapled in place.

Then the right amount of cotton padding,

Before covering that with a heavy layer of vinyl to smooth out any lumps in the cotton

I tried several different fabric ideas but kept coming back to a red toile.
(I've added a bit of info about Toile fabric below)

This time I had to run to the fabric store cause I just didn't have any hiding around the house.

I cut and stapled each upholstery scene in place.

Before finally hot gluing trim to conceal the staples.

A set of 4 lovely French Country Chairs are now listed on the AVAILABLE page.

I thought you might like to read a bit about TOILE fabric:

Toile de Jouy, sometimes abbreviated to simply "toile", is a type of decorating pattern consisting of a usually white or off-white background on which a repeated pattern depicting a fairly complex scene, generally of a pastoral theme such as (for example) a couple having a picnic by a lake. Toiles also often consist of an arrangement of flowers. The pattern portion consists of a single color, most often black, dark red, or blue. Greens, browns, and magenta toile patterns are less common, but not unheard of. Toile is most associated with fabrics (curtains and upholstery in particular), though toile wallpaper is also popular. Toile can also be used on teapots, beddings, clothing, etc. In upper-class (primarily American, but also northern European) society, toile is often seen on dresses or aprons used at such events as country-themed garden parties or tea parties.

Toile de Jouy originated in France in the late 18th century. In the French language, the phrase literally means "cloth from Jouy-en-Josas", a town of north-central France. Although it has been continuously produced since then, it experienced a marked upsurge in popularity around the year 2000. Previously only a decorating design, designers have been recently experimenting with toile-patterned apparel as well, although toile-patterned shirts were widely worn in the 1970s.

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