For the love of woodgrain – Sidonie Straughn-Morse

It’s no big secret that I have a thing for faux bois. And it’s not just me, either — woodgrain, faux and fo’ real, has been popping up everywhere lately. Today I wanted to share with you a little of the woodgrain in my living room.

Back in 2009, I was decorating my apartment from scratch, having just moved back to Wisconsin from a long trip abroad. I came across fabric designer Joel Dewberry’s prints and fell a little bit in love with his Ginsing collection, which includes a beautiful faux bois pattern called Pine in some sweet colorways. It started with a few small pillows:

Pillows from Joel Dewberry's Ginsing collection

But when a structurally-sound and seriously outdated side-chair fell into our hands (picked up off the curb by my eagle-eyed mom, who keeps her re-upholsterer in business that way), I knew exactly how I wanted to recover it.

Combine my love for woodgrain with my obsession for anything rust-colored, and we have a winner. This was our first re-upholstery attempt, and over a year later, I’m still really pleased with the results:

With a pillow to match, of course I really wish I had a “before” picture to show you — it had probably been a lobby/waiting room chair for a bank, and it featured a charming ’80s print, shiny blue with little iridescent pink-and-gray triangles. Actually, that makes it sounds kind of good. It had seen better times. Since that was our first upholstery project, I had made a really rough estimate on how much fabric to buy. I tend to err on the side of “too much.” Now, if there’s any question what fabric to use, it gets the faux bois treatment. See for example, some jeans I recently fixed up for my partner: They almost look like they’re worn right through, right? Anything for a little tromp l’oeil. And even better, his wallet stays in the pocket now. Win-win. Conclusion: Want anything woodgrain-ified? Give me a call.

#joel dewberry #woodgrain

July 15, 2011

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