Chair Affair no.1

You might be wondering why you’ve been seeing me on social media lately, standing behind a big, old orange chair. Well, this year I’m participating in the Furniture Bank’s Chair Affair!

If you haven’t heard of Chair Affair or the Furniture Bank before, you should really check out their website. Furniture Bank is a charitable organization that accepts donations of household items like furniture and housewares. These items are collected, repaired if needed and then redistributed to those in need like refugees, woman fleeing abusive relationships and the formerly homeless.

Also when you donate your gently used furniture the Furniture Bank will provide you with a tax receipt for your donation!  I really think this is an amazing way to help another family build a home. If you’d like to find out how you can also donate your unwanted furniture and housewares, go here. Furniture Bank

 

the Event

Chair Affair is hosted by Furniture Bank and happens every year.  I’ve been following some of the chair designers over the past few years and have often fantasized about what I would do with the chairs they picked. At the end of the event,  I’m always amazed by the creativity of the final chair designs.  So this year I thought I would take a crack at a chair myself! On October 28th, the chairs will be auctioned off at the Fundraising Gala being held Casalife.  The money raised from the auction and the event will help to furnish the homes of over 500 families. To find out more about the event and to order your tickets, go here. Order Tickets

 

the Chair

So about my chair…. It was orange and it’s so cozy. I can envision someone curling up in it with a good book and maybe a glass of wine or a cup of tea. I wanted a chair that was somewhat traditional, but that I could re-imagine in a new and modern way. I’ve always been a big fan of wingback chairs and particularly love the unique shape of this one. I also love that it’s not a very big chair, making it the perfect accent chair.   I’ll be sharing more about my design once the chair is done, but for now I will share with you the inspiration behind colour palette I finally settled on.

Originally,  I had wanted to incorporate navy into my chair.  But every colour combo I tried I felt had too much contrast for the look I wanted. I also thought about using pale pink, but just wasn’t feeling it.

 

Finally, after going through recent photos on my phone, I found my inspiration…

This summer my family went on a camping trip to Inverhuron on Lake Huron. We spent three days on the beach. Each day, the sky and the water were the most amazing shades of blue!  I swear, at times it felt like we were on some tropical beach and not in northwestern Ontario. On our last day, it rained, but the kids (my two nieces and nephew) still wanted to go to the beach. And being the amazing auntie that I am ;),  I took them. It was probably my favourite day of the whole trip, jumping the waves with the kids, all of us laughing. Then the sky opened up and the water turned a beautiful shade of aquamarine. It was a day I will always remember and I hope they will too.

When choosing my fabric, I knew I wanted to use velvet and it was important to me to find a velvet that felt as amazing as it looked.  After going through a dozen or more fabric books, I fell in love with one collection from JF Fabrics. And it so happened that they also had the perfect shade of aquamarine that I had been thinking about using with the navy before I even found my inspiration!  So I took it as sign.  Don’t you love it when that happens?

To be continued…

C.

Many thanks!

There are some people I like to thank:  My amazing workroom, Drapes & More, for helping with the upholstery of the chair.  My good friend Robbin for being my sounding board when it came to the chair design.  My fabulous rep Cecilia at JF for making sure the fabric got ordered and delivered on time. And finally, JF Fabrics for donating the fabric and showing their support for this amazing cause.

You can order your Chair Affair tickets here: Order Tickets

To get 10% off your tickets use promo code CHRISTINE !