Curiositaellya: Tale of Two Chairs

The very first time I read Chloe's email from One Kings Lane (here), I was unsure what she wanted me to do. After she clarified the task, I decided to participate in the challenge. I thought it should not be more difficult than any other home decor project that I had done before.

I have two antique chairs in my garage that needed a major renovation. I started the project but never got around to finishing it. I thought they would be perfect signature chairs for this challenge. Then winter came along and I came down with a bad cold. So I decided not to feature the chairs in my garage. Instead, I decided to feature two chairs that already graced our home.

I bought these two chairs at a flea market in Manhattan years ago when I was single, to decorate my apartment. I am not sure if they are an antique chairs but they look very old. What I love about them is that they are small chairs that are perfect accents to decorate any room. And the simple design reminded me of the Louis XVI chair that I love very much. The gold accent exude elegance to them. Since they are a pair, they would be nice to decorate an entry way or a small empty wall in a small room; so that is how I used the chairs to decorate our living room wall.

I probably would do a re-upholstery on these chairs in the future. And I probably would give a nice new color on the chair. I have not decided yet.

The chairs are stamped and marked "Viennesse Collection Henree..." and I cannot make out the rest! So I searched on Google for "Viennesse antique chairs." I learned that these are typical 19th century Viennesse side chairs with characteristics of splayed legs, circular seats, minimalist design and delicate shape. The characteristics of simple lines and design suggests that it was adopted from the Empire style in France. One can see that these chairs are similar to Louis XVI chairs but without the arm rests. It is said that this style of Viennese chairs provided inspiration to the craftsmen of Biedermeyer in the U.S. I suspect that these chairs could, perhaps, be made by a Biedermeyer craftsman in the U.S., but I am not sure since the chairs are stamped "Viennesse Collection Henree...."

I gathered some of the characteristics of these chairs at the One Kings Lane Home Decor Resource Guide (here).

The simplistic design is similar to the English Neo-Classical Design (here)

The leg is similar to a Sheraton style cane-backed arm chair (here)

The simplistic design is similar to the Louis XVI style (here)

The cane-backed and splayed legs are similar to the Viena Secession and Josef Hoffman styles (here)

I would like to talk about some of the items that I created (DIY,) displayed in the pictures above. I designed a repeat of a silk screen pillow cover on the right chair at fatto a mano studio (here) several years ago. It was a painstaking process to do just a 1/2 yard design. I was glad to do it once, but I will never do it again! The two collages that flank the mirror were also made by me. It is an intaglio--a medallion plaster that I bought from Ebay (here) and (here,) glued on a corrugated aqua paper. I then matted and framed them. The mirror belonged to my mother-in-law.

I was extra careful when choosing the other elements on this display with the two chairs. I love the mix of the modern, tribal and Morocco geometric shape of the rug and the tall vase. I tied them together with a modern drum-shaped black iron table in the middle. The gold on the top part of the lower vase picks up the gold accents of the chairs. The small bright orange vase gives the whole look a pop of color.