the imperial trellis of 1972? (but she's got good bones)

so do you think in thirty seven years people will look back on imperial trellis covered chairs, and wonder "what were they thinking?".

that's what maison21 wonders when he looks at the fabric covering his latest find- more like "what in the &*@#! were they thinking? did all the pot and boxed chablis kill their last tastemaking 1972 brain cell?".

now before anyone gets their knickers in a knot, maison21 still loves hisself some imperial trellis- it's a bit over exposed, yes, and he probably prefers it as wallpaper, as opposed to the more knocked-off fabric, but either way he still likes it. if a client said they'd always dreamed of using it, m21 would definitely say "let's do it!".but one wonders- will imperial trellis look as dated in 40 years as this hideous floral fabric? maison21 thinks not, as he doubts this fabric was selected as much for it's stunning pattern as it was for it's ability to hide stains, and withstand serious abuse. it was probably marketed as "herculon" or "duralon", or some such crazy trade name to denote it's strength and indestructibility. as a matter of fact, when maison21 was a wee child, his parents had a pair of loveseats in our family room covered with a similar plastic-y fabric (a multi-color flame stitch), and we kids were allowed to eat on them, draw on them (not directly on them of course, but on a pad- with marker, though) and anything else our little juvenile delinquent hearts desired, because as mom would often say "they're completely kid-proof". the only thing we probably couldn't do on them was play with matches- i'm sure they would have lit up like a molotov cocktail if we had- lots of petroleum products in them there indestructible fabrics...underneath all that hideousness though, she's pretty pretty, ain't she? m21 was sick of the wingback chair that graced the corner of our living room where she now now resides, and sold it at our yard sale pop-up store last weekend. we knew we wanted something a little less traditional in the spot- something a bit funkier- but we didn't know exactly what yet, we just knew we'd have to trust the decorating gods to direct us to what we needed. sometimes in decorating, as in life, you have to remove the old in order to open up a space for something better to come along to fill it. this little messed up beauty came along two days later- and trust us, she will be much better than what she replaced, once we pick the right fabric. just look at those bones.

so now the fun begins- we have to find a fabric to cover her in, hopefully one we won't hate in a few months or years (and one that won't break the bank today). we have some ideas, but we'll probably take our time, and live with her for a spell. if we are patient, and don't rush into a bad fabric choice we later regret, maybe she'll surprise us by telling us what she needs (even designers can make mistakes when rushed). we KNOW she needs to shed the floral herculon. maybe she'll even tell us she needs some imperial trellis!

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