What My Cats Did to My Hot Pink Retro Chair & How I Disguised the Damage

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Cats are wonderful things, aren’t they? Remind me again because when I see what they can do to furniture I forget momentarily.

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I loved this chair when we bought it (2015), even though I knew the linen-like fabric probably wouldn’t survive the cats. You have to admit, it looked damn good then and had pride of place in our condo living room.

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Then we only had Maisie, and she didn’t have a good track record. Follow the link to read more about what she did to our dining room chairs. In all fairness, she’s an anxious girl and no amount of medication or training has helped her. Only scratching furniture and destroying rolls of toilet paper.

Up until the two cats we have now, we always declawed our cats. But a friend convinced me that was inhumane, and so we left these guys’ claws intact. We have a new sofa on order mostly because of damage Maisie did to the existing one.

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Scout is more laid back, as you can see, but certainly not innocent. He just hasn’t been around as long–two years compared to Maisie’s 10. Admittedly, he uses the scratching post more often than not, but he’s been know to backslide. A guy’s gotta spread his scent around, ya know?

Back to the chair…

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Here’s a closer look at the damage:

This is the first piece of upholstered furniture I’ve owned reduced to the stuffing coming out. I bet you’re thinking I should just pitch it. But I LIKE the chair. I like it’s midcentury Jetson shape, right down to the splayed, tapered legs.

Yes, I know it will cost as much to have it reupholstered as replaced, but I’ve decided it’s worth salvaging, and until I can have it fixed, I’m disguising the damage. When I do have it reupholstered it will be in sturdier stuff.

You may also be thinking, either remove the cats’ claws or find them a new home. But neither of those are options.

Voila!

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I had to make this chair look decent again because it sits in my study, directly off the foyer. Come in the front door, look to the right, and this is what you see. Now anyways.

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The chair back cushion is removable, so I tucked in a handwoven Peruvian throw from Karma Living to cover the damage on the top of the back. The left arm doesn’t look too bad yet, so I just try to keep the snags trimmed there, while the tufted Centrale throw from Anthropologie (no longer available) disguises the torn right arm.

Here’s a closer look at the Anthro throw:

Anthropologie

You can get a closer look at the Karma Living throw HERE.

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Accessorizing helps draw attention away from the chair’s issues, too. The kilim ottoman is from Grandin Road, the knot pillow is Carpettee, and the Marrakech lumbar cushion is by Artistic Weavers.

The floor lamp I’ve had for at least 20 years, but it benefitted from a new shade and a garland of tassels and wood beads.

And ooooooh that shade!

It’s from Anthropologie and was a bit of a splurge for me, but I was smitten. It also comes in coral, which may seem the more logical choice since the room has a pink and orange thing happening.

But it was the blue I fell in love with.

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I wanted to accent the blue-clothed lady in the upper middle collage.

All the collages in this arrangement are by Edoardo De Falchi. Follow the links to see how these were arranged at my previous home and to learn more about the artist.

The two small “eyes” in the center of the arrangement are actually ceramic ashtrays and part of the vintage ashtray collection scattered around my house. Follow the link to read more about them if you missed that post.

So that’s my story & I’m sticking to it

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There’s nothing wrong with this chair. For now. It’s a great place to sit and read, sip coffee and watch the sun rise.

If you want more…

Several links of products and previous posts were referenced in this article. Here’s a listing so you don’t have to search back through:

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