I like it as-is...but then I'm into MCM. And I could make orange work. That looks like quality construction...I'd be tempted to pay a pro to re-do it. OR...you could take a class at your local community college. Won't be heinously expensive and you'll learn a new skill.

I've only done simple things (DR chairs and the like) but I've linked a site that looks pretty comprehensive below.

And if you decide you DON'T want to mess with it...email me. (via the GW email option in my profile.) Depending on where you are...I may be able to take it off your hands. ;^)

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: How to re-upholster a couch

Great find!

I agree, find an upholstering course. I took one at the local high school(adult evening education) and learned alot. It would be the perfect size piece to work on, not too complicated.

Have fun!

Wonderful buy! Very elegant and very "Hollywood Regency!"

Looking for an upholstery course was the first thing I did, but we're in a small town and I couldn't find anything at all. So, as usual, I'm going to have to learn as I go, through books, videos or online tutorials.

mjsee: No! LOL! I've been stalking craigslist and the auction house for about six months, for a piece like this! I knew when I'd know it when I found the right piece, and I knew instantly!

Crying here....I love it! Good for you~~~

mjsee...thank you SO MUCH! That website is a great start!

That won't be the easiest piece of furniture you could have started with, because of all the button tufting, but if you're crafty and read up on upholstering online, you should be able to do this! It's a great settee, and would look wonderful in a bedroom setting.

I've put in a link to a site I've gone to many times for tips, and have done one chair with a similar button tufted back, as well as many larger pieces - all from online tutorials. Here's photos of some that I've done.

Here is a link that might be useful: Upholstery tutorials

nanny2a: beautiful work! You got the seats nice and tight!
We have so few listing around here. I'd love to find something like that beautiful bedroom chair, to start with, but I've been searching for months, and this is the first piece I've found, so that's what I have to work with.

I'll still be on the lookout for simpler pieces, but I'm not too hopeful.

Great 60's Mediterranean piece. Love the shape and the caning.

If you are patient and good with your handwork, I am sure you can learn to do this. I would consider making a muslin pattern first, which will give you practice with fabric but also give you a test run before you use expensive fabric.

Choose your fabric carefully. Tufting changes the character of a patterned fabric a lot, and it will look very different from how the plain seat looks if you aren't careful.

Good luck - be sure and post the results.

Thanks, les! I was a seamstress in another life, so I ALWAYS make a muslin of everything!
I've been "studying" upholstery all day, and am learning so much.
This is the room that the settee will go in. It's a work in progress.
Any color suggestions?
My first thought was a pale green, for the upholstery, and creamy or pale green wood and caning. Or a rich, chocolately brown? Or a gold? LOL!

I'd paint the wood a pale green to match the green in the bedding and I'd leave the fabric orange. I think it would work well with your bedding.

I was playing with the colors and by accident colored the wood a green to match the green in your bedding. Surprisingly, the orange looks very attractive with that green!

I'd do the wood a bit darker and leave the orange upholstery, using wonderful throw pillows in colors pulled from your bedding. Beautiful piece and congratulations on the bargain--

I wouldn't change the settee at all, now having seen the room. Add a great decorative pillow or two and you are done. This one from Pier 1 would work, I think:

paisley pillow

or this one:

embroidered pillow

I think the warm tones of the wood are needed in the space, as the furniture and wall color (and it sounds like the carpeting) are all very cool colors and feel.

I would move the art that is over the bed, find a larger piece that has a wood frame in the tones of the settee, and hang those little pieces elsewhere in a grouping.

Remove the crochet look tray on the dresser, add some curly willow stems to the vase, and pull all the items in to sit more in front of the mirror. Change out the lampshade for something with some color, or add a band of orange ribbon and one of green or blue around the top and bottom of the existing shade.

Excellent ideas for the whole room from Les -- yes! another vote for larger artwork over the bed with all of those colors in it!

And yes -- just try the settee in the room FIRST. Then see if the color might need to go a bit darker chocolate brown BUT the fabric would work so well with bedding!

I'm with les917--assuming the original upholstery is in good shape (not stinky) I wouldn't change it either...make that orange work FOR you! You know---that piece is hip again! And orange is one of the "in" colors these days...

And my offer stands! Heck---I'll quadruple what you paid AND pay the shipping... ;^)

Thanks for the advice!

OK...I'll try the settee in the room, but I'll have to find a way to clean it first. It had plenty of cat hair on it, and I'm terribly allergic. I've vacuumed it three times now, with my new Dyson, but still find lots of hair.

The orange is one of my favorite colors, which is one of the things that drew me to it. I've always used warm colors in my home, but am trying to "reach" a little, in our new home, and I'm going for a SUPER calm, restful vibe in the bedroom, to counter severe insomnia that I'm being treated for.

Heck, maybe the insomnia is BECAUSE of the cool colors!

LOVE the pillows, Les. The next weekend we have clear roads, I'll drive to Pier 1 (2 hours round trip).

I love the color and proportions and agree that it goes well with your bedspread. I'm more skeptical about the bed lines and the fact that the feel of the room that you are trying to achieve feels different.

Torsade, you might try calling the Pier1 that is close to you and seeing if they have the pillows in stock, and would ship them to you. Of course, I don't mind shopping at Pier1, so perhaps it is a good reason to check it out. LOL

I would also be happy to check them out for you - I have a Pier1 ten minutes from my house, directly on my route to work.

They tend to have lots of things with touches of the orange color, plus things that can add to the restful vibe you are seeking.

Hope the insomnia gets better soon. I am trying to retrain myself from my horrible sleeping habits, so I have some small sense of how draining that must be.

It's really a nice piece!
That tufted back looks like a challenge to reupholsters to me. Then again I have only tackled the simple projects like a basic seat cushion. Which brings me to my thought....just reupholster the seat in maybe an orange ticking stripe or a paisley and add some throw pillows as suggested.

I love your settee. That would have been a super deal at $100 but to get it for $17 is sheer joy.

Vac it good again. Clean up the wood really good. Clean the upholstery that's on it. (I sometimes just use a mild cleaner like simple green in some warm water and brush it on, then, dry rag rinse it off with a wrung-out cloth, let it dry and call it good. I'm allergic to Hello Kitty too so have to get found items really clean.)
Try it out and see what you think since you already know you like the orange. Why mess with something you already find beautiful?

Red

"Excellent ideas for the whole room from Les -- yes! another vote for larger artwork over the bed with all of those colors in it!"

Ditto!!

UGLY Orange Settee?????
More like "Shockingly Awesome Settee Treasure in orange"
It is beautiful and what a deal at only $17.
I would not go with brown unless you are painting the
wood. Instead a fresh soft blue that is in your spread
that your adroable puppy is resting on.
~boxer

Here is a link that might be useful: How to upholster a settee by E-How.

When you try it out in your bedroom, please take a picture so we can see?

Button tufting is quite a bit of work. I've done it on a smaller scale with this piece on the back oval:

Try this. With scrap fabric, mark four dots in a squre/diamond shape. Then fold the fabric between two dots (such as the left and the bottom) and sew a very shallow scallop shape beteen the two dots -- an elongated arc. Repeat until you've done it for all four, sewing the diamond shape. That gives you the diamond tufting. A gal at Joann Fabric taught me that.

The buttons are generally covered with the same fabric as the sofa. They have forms for making those and those were one of the slowest details I did for the fainting couch.

It had NOT been previously tufted and I didn't want to drill holes in this beautiful antique to pull and tie the buttons through. So, I cut out a piece of cardboard, put holes in that, pulled the buttons threads through, and since I couldn't think of anything else, I anchored them to bobby pins on the back. Then I attached the whole piece to the back of the FC and nobody was the wiser.

Here are some inspiration chairs for you:

Here are some fun chair redos:

Have fun and be sure to post pictures for us, k?

Not to thread jack - but after looking at the inspiration pictures can you dye leather?

I have a beautiful chair with a dark blue leather seat and fabric back. The colors no longer work in my new home to save money and aggrevation I thought maybe I could just replace the fabric and dye the seat. It's a Hancock & Moore chair that I paid $$$ for, so I want to save alittle on the reupolstering of it.

I'll work on cleaning it this week, and post pics this weekend, of it in the room.

Les, it was so kind of you to offer. The "nearby" Pier 1 has only your second suggestion, which I've paid for and is waiting for me to pick up. I'll look around while I'm there, for more and maybe some art.

I am SO pleased you are going to clean it and try it "as is".If, heaven forfend, you can't ge-cat it...well, I have kitties. So my offer still stands! Can you tell I want that piece?

It would go so nicely with my "new" bedroom dresser:

That is a lovely settee and can't wait to see how it looks in your room. I agree I don't think I'd try to reupolster it yourself. If you don't like to orange I'd consider either slipcovers or painting it. Magnaverde has shown some excellent examples of painted sofa in the past. Wouldn't have believed it myself. Hopefully, you can remove the cat dander and hair from the piece.

I got a free blue chair on CL just like it. Here are my 2 inspiration pics. It should be an easy job....seriously....altho I do agree that Les knows what she's doing and if she says she likes it in orange....:0)

My chair:

nice settee!!(for a GREAT price!)

based on your room and bedframe, i vote on painting the wood a creamy color and the fabric the same...but maybe a fabric with texture or tone on tone pattern...

mjsee, I had to chuckle when I saw your lovely chest against a gray wall with white woodwork, between two natural wood doors!

Nicole...great find! Will be interesting to see what you do with yours!

2 lovely treasures! Can't wait to see!

Your settee reminds me of the one on the Ticking and Toile blog. Here is a link so you can see how she did hers!

http://tickingandtoile.blogspot.com/2010/05/settee-rehab.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Settee

So cute!

I saw your post yesterday, and I immediately thought of your settee when I just saw this listing.

http://newlondon.craigslist.org/fuo/2177604625.html

Here is a link that might be useful: orange matching chair

This week's Houzz.com ideabook collection includes caned chairs like yours!

Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz.com ideabook: caned chairs[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/flea-market-treasures-the-cane-chair-stsetivw-vs~216232?utm_campaign=updates&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery5&w=77568)

Try the blog "better after" for some amazing transformations. I don't think you need to do much to yours though....

Here is a link that might be useful: better after

Thanks, Necia! What a lovely re-do, on that settee. I appreciate everyone's thoughts!

I took some advice here, and cleaned the settee up. I vacuumed underneath it well (still need to tack the lining back up), and think I got all the cat hair off of it.
It's in the room now, with a pillow Les recommended from Pier 1.

I know it's hard to get a feel for how it'll "work" in the room, and know some of you don't believe it'll work at all.

I'm thinking a small round pedestal table would look nice with it, and give me place to set a cuppa if I need to chat with dh while he does bills. Do you agree, about a round pedestal table?

Also, I need to do something with his "bills" desk. This used to be in our den, and he wants it in the bedroom as a dedicated work area. You can sort of see the desk. We need a chair as well, for the desk. I don't think I want a computer type task chair. I think I'd like a real wood chair, stained to match whatever the desk looks like when I'm "done."

Also, I'm struggling with window treatments! DH wanted to keep the traverse rods, but these old white ones need to go, and I'm not willing to pay more than $70 rod, so I don't think I'll find nice decorative traverse rods.

Also, light in the bedroom is a bit of an issue. What do you think about high dark rods, with drapes that hang from clip-rings? I can make those easily enough, but I haven't found a fabric I like. Then, I was thinking of mounting cellular shades just under the rod, for light control???

So many scattered thoughts! Oh, and I so identify with the poster working around the sea foam carpet! I like the advice on working with what's going to stay, and that's what I'm doing right now.

Just a first thought .... could you place the settee at the end of the bed -- facing the window?

Then try the desk (without the top part) under the window -- and add a vintage orange-painted desk chair. Or -- perhaps an orange painted square stool that would slide under the desk?

With the desk under the window -- the guitar could stand in one corner -- and if needed for bill/file storage -- you could add a small dark cabinet/bookshelf with baskets on one side of the desk.

JUST thoughts! Hope you don't mind!

No! I don't mind! I'm so happy for some help :)

I'll try the settee at the bottom of the bed. I thought of that, but the finish is so vintage/wierd, I thought it would look awful. Will try it and post a pic.

I knew the hutch over the desk would need to be removed or altered. I never thought of something next to the desk for storage (other than a new file cabinet). I was thinking he could lower the hutch by one "square". I'll go move those now and repost pics. Yes, I was thinking a vintage painted chair. Or, one with a finishe to match the desk, with a seat in a coordinating shade.

Sette at end of bed:

Desk under window with hutch. Could it be shortened?

Desk under window without hutch:

How about this? I'm thinking for those times we're sitting together, talking. I'd like to be able to see his face, and for him to be able to see mine, with him at the desk and me. Sorry about the lighting today!

This is the only decorator's fabric I have enough of, for the drapes. I think I need a cooler color. What do you think?

It'd save ALOT of money, if I didn't have to buy fabric. Not to mention another million hours looking online. We don't have any reasonble sources nearby.

LOVE the fabric! :) And you could always add a trim down the center of the panels where they meet ....

Hmmmm ... just a thought ... if you add fabric-covered cornice boxes across the top of the two windows -- and then added simple panels -- the windows might appear to be visually "taller" to the viewer's eye ...

As for the set-up -- I REALLY like the desk under the window -- it seems to "finish" the window space. If you add the shorter top part -- and the lamp -- it will "connect" the desk to the window. I vote for a dark wood square stool with an orange cushion to push under the desk.

Yes -- the settee looks good in the corner! Just add a couple of artworks to each corner to add more "orange" to the area. OR take a bunch of black-and-white photos -- and mat them in orange and create a family/friend gallery on those two walls. And a tiny table or maybe an ottoman with a tray on top to hold drinks would be nice! Maybe add a silver standing lamp too?

i like the settee best in the corner(the orange isn't my favorite, but looks better than i thought it would- especially when away from the bed-don't like it at the end of bed...)
the desk looks like it would just fit if you took the bottom "squares" off the desk hutch- would just fit under window...
i also think the fabric looks fine in the room-doesn't look too warm on my monitor!

I think the fabric is perfect. I brings a warmer element into the room, and feels like a perfect match for the bedding as far as warm tones.

Consider adding banding down the sides in the solid blue of the bedding to bring a little of the cool color to the look.

I would hang the drapery higher above the window, on a simple pewter rod, and hang the panels more to the outside of each window frame. You have a lot of open wall space, and it will give the windows a grander feeling.

The settee in the corner is great, and I love the pillow - I think it really connects to your bedding. I would move the settee to the left a bit, tho. It doesn't have to sit exactly in the corner angled perfectly, and you have more wall space to the left. Plus that will give a little more visual breathing room between the settee and the desk. Be sure to pull it away from the corner a bit, which I think the drapery panels will force you to do on the right side. You don't want it to feel like someone came in the room and told the furniture to "get up against the wall"!

Change the art over the bed, and lower and re-arrange the rest of the art in the room. Not sure if the hutch could be used upside down on the desk by reversing the drawers, so that your DH would still have the use of the storage but not have the shelf going across the top of the unit.

Thanks! Square stool type seat...will watch for one. Will check to see if hutch can be set upside down on the desk, and dh has been looking at it to see if he could shorten it as well.

Banding on the drapes, can do.

Any thoughts on cellular shades or another option to filter or block light? Inside mount on the windows is not an option, because they are old metal casement windows.

Yes--- perfect additions...the orange settee, the pillow, the desk moved, the drape fabric!!!

Oh...I like it in the corner. Lower that artwork (or add some more) and you're good!

I love the setee in the corner. I know it's gonna take some work, but THAT curtain fabic is NICE You should make long drapes with that!!!! :0) I agree about needing new art work around the setee and maybe a sisal rug???? maybe?????