I just stepped into Ted Muehling's shop at the bottom of Crosby Street to buy a small birthday gift for Sara Kate (it was today! last week) and saw a great idea for today's email. Inside, where he sells exquisite and not inexpensive jewelry, he has taken a number of old, mismatched chairs and given them a whole new look by covering them with fur and dark wool pelts. The effect? They're luxurious, exotic and super comfortable. Artists always do the most creative things with interiors...
A few of the chairs are really nice vintage finds, while the others are not so remarkable. With the pelt coverings, however, they are all pulled together stylistically, and the not so nice parts are hidden. The dark wool lends drama (though you could also do this with white wool), and the makeover takes zero time.
Ironically, today on ATNY, someone with a chair TOTALLY like Ted Muehling's asked this question, Cheap Repair Ideas For This Chair?, which we think this also answers. BTW, it's a beautiful chair and a steal at $5.
While we don't know where Ted got the fur from, wool pelts like this are easy to find online and we've also found them at the Farmer's Market in NYC.
Here are some quick sources and if you have better ones, I'd love to hear from you (maxwell @ apartmenttherapy . com).
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Fred Flintstone would love this
view bepsf's profile
Meh. Looks a little sloppy to me. I like sheepskins/pelts on the floor or maybe just on on the back of a chair, but in very small doses.
view Monica's profile
happy belated birthday to sara kate!
view f.in.eur's profile
The first one looked a little muppety to me. I know, it's a sheep; I didn't think these looked too good. If the purpose was to quickly upgrade some chairs in bad condition by hiding (pun intended?) the fact, it just looks like it might be denial -- time to get a new chair.
view K T G's profile
That store is one of the most beautiful anywhere.
view Jaze's profile
several scandinavian classics were designed and originally sold with pelts...hans wegner's flag halyard chair for instance. i'm not sure if there is more than climate at work here (or a deeper cultural reference) but i love the look.
view healthyhome's profile
i saw this in a photo spread at his home in east hampton. there he used light skins. of course i got a sheepskin and put it on a mid century white wire chair.
view patrickmc's profile