Vintage Settee: Before and After

As mentioned in this post, I’ve been working on decorating a cafe: Bumble.  The client wanted to bring a living room feel to the place and so we set out to find furniture that was more expected in a home then a restaurant.  One of the treasures we found was this fabulous high back settee…

Obviously, the tired upholstery needed to go.  However, the unique challenge in this situation was to find really durable fabric, due to the clientele.  While they may be the cutest most cuddly little things, they have been known to spill a juice box or two in their lifetimes. 

Bumble Cafe is a play cafe for families.  Keeping those youngsters in mind, we were on a mission to find upholstery that was soft and comfy but would stand up to the spills.  The answer: Crypton.  Doesn’t Crypton sound so futuristic?  It is virtually indestructible.  However, finding attractive Crypton is not as easy as you’d think.  I probably looked at 100 fabric books until I found a gem of a book  and I sent it over to my client and she picked this awesome fabric.

Beautiful!  I love how it updates the high back settee.  We lucked out and found the vintage Hickory settee at a resale shop.  Later that evening, I found the same one for sale at Jennifer DeLounge (reupholstered) for $3,000.   Ours didn’t have the hefty price tag but it sure has the same beautiful look!  Can’t wait until customers can be sitting in it fireside with a large glass of red wine.  No worries if you spill, the Crypton can handle it.