Several months ago, I received a challenge to use a certain fabric on a chair. I love these kinds of challenges, and so when I have the time, I try to squeeze a good challenge into my schedule. Everyone probably knows by now how much I love Kim Parker’s fabrics that are based on her beautiful floral paintings. Well, this challenge came from her!  No pressure at all, people!

I ordered the floral, Martine, and then selected my frame. I wanted to do something a little bit different and not so obvious and expected. Kim’s fabrics look great on all types of furniture, and it would have been easy to select a Victorian frame. That would have been the obvious choice for me, but instead, I went with a French chair that had some natural weathering to it. 


Of course, that’s not good enough either…so I cleaned up the wood and applied a gold wax to it—something I’ve never done. It was a risk, but I felt it would accentuate the wood and the tones in the fabric. 

The gold wax gave a subtle shimmer to the wood, which I loved right away. It was something different, for sure!

Fabric placement came next. I just couldn’t get away from these large flowers for the backside and the frontside. It was a no-brainer. 


Then, I looked for fabric for the seat. I knew right away it would be a pink fabric. There were many choices I could have gone with, for sure. This floral has beautiful colors. I could have done the obvious and go with an orange color or even the subtle green.

The main question was, what kind of fabric would it be? Again, not wanting to do the obvious, I could have selected a velvet. Velvets are beautiful with her floral linens, so it’s a great choice and I knew I couldn’t go wrong in that way. But I wanted to make this hard on myself and select something “unexpected”, so I chose a textured linen to bring out the pinks in the fabric and to give it a light and airy feel to the chair. 

And here’s the finished product!  To me, it’s refreshing and light while also vibrant and fun…perfect for a table, desk, or accent chair. 




I don’t always take the time to explain why I select certain fabrics and finishes, but believe me, there’s a lot of thought that goes into these selections as well as some trial and error and mistakes. 

I call this “the big fat chair challenge” because I decided to challenge myself to do something different. And hopefully, if I’m lucky, the artist herself—as well as others—will like it too! I would love to know what you think in the comments section!
And finally, if you are in desperate need of this chair, it’s available on my Etsy shop. Click here!