Custom Suede Headboard & Base

We recently finished this custom headboard & base box for a project in Pacific Palisades. The bed is covered in a gorgeous and supple buff color suede, with single & double top stitch details and mitered corners on the base.

Happy Birthday Eero Saarinen

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Today would have been Eero Saarinen's 105 birthday! Born in Finland on August 20, 1910, he immigrated to the US, with his family, at the age of 13. His father, influential architect Eliel Saarien, taught at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where Eero took courses and became friends with fellow students, Charles & Ray Eames, and became good friends with Florence Knoll (it's like the mid-century brat pack, right?).

His accomplishments were many, and his talent was diverse. We are lucky to have so many of his wonderful and amazing designs in our lives. And, we at Classic Design, are so honored to have a part in restoring his legacy back to their original splendor.

Happy Birthday Mr. Saarinen!

Ico Parisi inspired Sofa

We are pushing through the last days of summer and finishing up some projects. One recently completed piece is this sofa, inspired by a design by Ico Parisi. This rendition is a bit smaller than the original, and only has three seat cushions, as opposed to four in the original.

It sits low, with a seating height of 16". The base and legs are walnut with a natural finish. 

Isn't this wood gorgeous? Walnut is one of those perfect wood species, especially for a period inspired piece such as this. It rarely needs a lot of color - there might be just a smidgen of color on this base, but it is very close to the natural wood color. What do you think?

Custom Vintage-inspired Chair

We recently finished this custom chair from a client design. As you can see, it has a tight seat and tight back, and the arms are also finished with inset fabric on the interior and exterior panels. The chair was challenging, and not only because of the design, but because of the fabric used. The upholsterers job is to make sure all those lines align so the pattern has a seamless flow.

Do you remember our lesson a couple of weeks ago about stitch/seam examples, and we illustrated a single welt? As you can see here, we used a double welt for the front and back of the lower seat.

The legs and arms are made of walnut that has a cerused finish (don't worry, there will be a lesson soon on wood!), and we finished it off with nail head trim.

Media: luxe. interiors + design

It was such a nice surprise, while flipping through the latest issue of luxe magazine, to see the beautiful story on a home Los Angeles designer Audrey Alberts designed. And then we came upon the set of nesting ottomans we made for the residence - even better!

We finished this project over 2 years ago, and love seeing how the piece is used in-residence. Here are some photos from our files.

It was a fun piece - nesting a set of four small ottomans together to make a large ottoman, or coffee table, allows for such versatility. And the recessed base (also leather covered) gives it that ethereal, floating aspect.