From the Atelier

The Dining Chairs — Reimagining What I Already Owned

European-Style Home · Formal Dining Room · Ocala, Florida

These dining chairs came with me from my California farmhouse.

They were good chairs with elegant proportions and classical fluted legs, but the pale floral upholstery and original finish belonged to another house and another room.

I didn't see a reason to replace them simply because the surroundings had changed.

Dining chair with its pale floral upholstery and original wood finish before transformation — **Before** A good chair whose pale floral upholstery belonged to another room.

Dining chair during reupholstery with exposed green seat webbing — **Middle** The chair during reupholstery, with the new Ombrione back in place and the seat webbing exposed.

Completed dining chair with black velvet seat, Ombrione back and gilded details — **After** Black velvet, Ombrione and gilded fluting give the chair its new old-world character.

I found a reference image of a much more formal black-and-gold chair that made me look at mine differently. I wasn't interested in copying it. What interested me was the transformation—the way contrast and gilded details could emphasize architecture that was already there.

Black and gold classical chair used as a design reference — **The reference** Inspiration for contrast and gilded detail—not a chair to copy literally.

Close view of the transformed chair back upholstered in Designers Guild Ombrione — **The interpretation** The raised Ombrione pattern and restrained gold detailing emphasize the chair's existing architecture.

I refinished the frames, adding gold detailing to accentuate the fluting and classical lines. For the seats, I chose a deep black velvet. On the backs, I used Designers Guild Ombrione, a classically inspired cut velvet damask whose raised pattern gives the chairs both texture and old-world character.

The combination changed them completely.

Original pale floral upholstery on the back of the dining chair before it was replaced with Ombrione — **What came with the chair** The earlier pale floral upholstery before the move from California to Florida.

Against the scenic mural, Regent silk, black architectural details and collected pieces of the dining room, chairs that once belonged to a California farmhouse now feel entirely at home in a European-inspired room in Florida.

“A new house doesn't mean everything you owned before has to be replaced. Sometimes a beautiful piece simply needs to be seen differently.”

Good pieces can travel with us. Houses change, rooms change and our tastes evolve. Part of good design is recognizing when something already has the bones you need—and knowing how to give it a new life.

The chairs didn't need replacing. They needed another chapter.