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Orange Buttonback Armchair

orange buttonback armchair
orange buttonback armchair from Audenza

I don’t know why more manufacturers don’t do this when it comes up upholstering chairs and sofas. First up – it looks great Secondly, if you have bought a vintage item and need to pay for re-upholstery (hello pink chaise longue trashed by Enid will cost a fortune to recover) then you can use something cheaper – but no less striking – for the back and sides. Now not all of us have rooms big enough to put furniture in the middle so you can see the back but you can often see the sides or even some of the back through the window. Am currently quite distressed by the sight of the 16yo’s lime green bean bag up against the spare room window which I can see every time I walk down the street.

So there’s a thought. Or you can buy it readymade. From Audenza, which many of you will know as Mia Fleur. They’ve changed their name. Stock’s still good though. Like this chair. It’s £1,395 but made by one person, in the UK and guaranteed for 10 years.

You might as well prepare yourself for the burnt orange but it IS coming. That millennial pink is getting peachier and, perhaps if you’re like me, you might want to bypass the peach and head straight for this. Gorgeous against a dark grey wall.

 

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

9 Comments

  1. Thank you for the permission to just bypass the peach. If you have the sort of dining chairs where a patch of upholstery can be seen through the back, it’s also fabulous to use a second material there, as the backs of those chairs are seen much more, usually. (And LOL at the chapati rug comment!)

  2. I hate it. But I was traumatized in my youth by being raised in a house full of Danish Modern teak furniture, everything upholstered in burnt orange & avocado weave, so I have a valid excuse. otoh, I have always been a huge slut for velvet, so if that chair was sold in some dark moody colour I’d be all over it.

  3. is millennial pink really over??! I was psyching myself up to buy a chaise in pale pink velvet only to find no one (apart from me) likes it anymore.

    I love the chair against the dark walls (but that rug looks like a huge chapati!)

    1. NO! I still love it and may yet redo the chaise in it. It’s still very popular and will be for several years to come. The fashion forward will be all over orange but the rest of us won’t. Are you still wearing skinny jeans because you love them even though the fashionistas are all over flares? Exactly. Pick what you like. But I think in three years you might like orange! That’s how slowly it will come.

  4. So, I’ve had my eye on an orange velvet chair but… I recently bought a beauty of a blue velvet sofa. I know velvet is very “in” at the moment, but this is a long love affair so I’m comfortable with my choice of sofa. My question is whether it makes sense to then have additional pieces of velvet furniture. I want to try and mix fabrics and play around a bit but the orange velvet especially is so striking and I’ve not found anything as lovely in another fabric. Any thoughts for a burnt-out renovator? And thank you – your website has been a revelation (I only wish I’d found it sooner).

    1. Well we have two velvet sofas – I think you can have two out of three in different colours and/or patterns but not everything in velvet. Modern velvets are tougher than linens tbough so it can be the practical choice. Don’t forget that sort of tweedy wool for chairs too. Velvet is a classic, yes it’s having a moment but it always has been there and always will be there.

  5. Fabulous chair – looks great against the wall – and a I love the idea of contrasting fabrics.

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