The Nest

Friday, September 21, 2007 8:16 PM

Planet-friendly furniture makeover

So I’m going through one of those phases where I want all new furniture, even though we just bought most of our current stuff when we moved to LA two years ago. The living room and dining room that looked just fine to me only six months ago now feel tired and out of date. But rather than just swapping the old pieces for new ones, I’m going to go the eco-conscious (and budget-friendly) route by making over a few items instead of sending them to the scrap heap. One of the first things I’m doing is getting two chairs re-upholstered in a more fun fabric than their current brown microsuede. I’ve diagnosed my décor blahs as partly due to an overdose of neutrals, so I’m thinking that putting a colorful pattern on these boring chairs would help the entire room.

I love the organic cottons made by Mod Green Pod, which is by far the hippest earth-friendly fabric company I’ve ever come across. They have classic stripes, girlie-chic damask prints and a variety of cool graphics. I think I’m going to do stripes for those chairs and then use a swirly pattern on the headboard in our bedroom.

Of course, one of the drawbacks of natural materials is that they’re usually not as stain resistant as their synthetic counterparts. So my newly-upholstered chairs will probably be sabotaged by grubby toddler hands within weeks of their makeover (and I wouldn’t dream of using Scotchguard or anything like that, for reasons detailed here). But I guess a little cleaning inconvenience is the price I’ll have to pay for the green life . . . and the pursuit of a chic print.