Some time ago I bought this gorgeous old chair through ebay for $20. I was the only bidder so clearly no one else could see its potential.
The chair looked quite small in the picture, so being the twit experienced decorator that I am, I didn't bother asking for the measurements until after I'd bought it. When they came back as larger than I'd expected, I just assumed the guy had made a mistake and excitedly packed Mr Gingham off to Wollongong to collect it.
As soon as I saw Mr G struggling to get the chair through our front door, I realised it wasn't going to fit where I'd intended. So I did what any other experienced decorator would do under the circumstances, which was to shove it in the spare room, come out, shut the door and try to pretend it didn't exist!
Some months later, our newly engaged youngest son was saying how much he liked the old chair. So, not being one to miss an opportunity to off load a mistake spare piece of furniture, I offered to organise the restoration of the chair and give it to him and his fiance as an engagement present.
And here it is, just back from the upholsterer and looking somewhat out of place in our 'decorated in the 90s' entrance. The fabric of course is David Hick's 'La Fiorentino' in domino. Isn't it dreamy? And at a total cost $1600, not bad for such a beautiful piece of furniture.
Here's the chair again, this time in Russell and Nelly's house with Russell on the morning of his wedding. BTW, if you're thinking the chair looks small, it isn't, at 2 metres tall, Russell is just plain big! And yes, that is Miss Sunny who managed to get into quite a few pictures that weekend.
Speaking of David Hicks.....
His was the first decorating book I ever bought.....
It cost $9.95, and still being at school, I had to save my pocket money to pay for it. I've seen copies sell for over $300 on ebay but I won't be parting with mine, at least not just yet!
