falling in love with a chair

Well, it seems once again, I've failed at buying neutrals. After buying this floral rug, I set out to find a new armchair in a complimentary solid color. I started out looking for a nice charcoal gray, or even a petrol blue.  Towards the end of a day of searching consignment stores with no luck, I stumbled across this chair. I was immediately drawn to it, but told myself I couldn't possibly buy it. 

What was once bright red upholstery has faded to shades of coral and dusty pink. The striking pattern is reminiscent of a Navajo print, but the sun fading gives it sort of an ombre effect. The upholstery seems a somewhat odd match for the antique shape and nail head trim, but does make it look a bit less formal. The intricate wood frame has been painted a deep gold, covering who knows how many previous coats of paint. The chair is old, and pretty funky. It is, 100% without a doubt, not a neutral chair. 

So I snapped a photo of it on my phone and left the store. And then, for the next week, could not stop thinking about the chair. I found myself daydreaming about ways I could rearrange my furniture to somehow find a place for this giant armchair in another corner of my apartment. I held up the tiny phone photo in different spots to try to visualize how the chair would look. As the days went on, I became increasingly anxious that someone else was going to buy this one-of-a-kind vintage chair and then it would be gone forever. After a week, I decided that I needed to find a way to make it work.

Maybe my living room could handle one more dose of pattern after all?

Well, we all know how this story ends. Here is the chair in it's new home: my living room. Turns out I cannot say no once I've fallen in love with a print. The chair and the rug definitely don't match, but I think they work together in their own way. I'm hoping to find a magical throw pillow that will help unite the chair with the rest of the room, but I haven't figured out yet what that might look like. For now, I'm content to sit back and enjoy my crazy awesome new chair.