Like this? What did she say about matching the existing leather colour?

Yes exactly!! You're great at this! The upholsterer specializes in color matching. They do a lot of leather repair and I have seen the pictures online. The photo you sent makes me think I could do a shade lighter for the sofa back cushions, or maybe orange with little flecks of cream kind of like this material thats on the seat bottom of this attached photo...I like the way the little flecks of white or cream brighter the gray color, and help it blend with the furniture.

I edited the above text so many times you may have to refresh to understand what I was trying to say! (I'm typing too fast!)

I guess once you decide about fabric you can put it over the sofa and decide if you want all cushions fabric or mixed with leather.

I really like the olive sofa with the back cushions in a different fabric than the seat cushions. I like the difference in texture of the back cushions too. The trick will be in finding the right colors, patterns and styles in keeping with the period of the sofa. I like painting your dining set too. I went through the same thing with my grandmother's dining set. It wasn't worth any money. I decided Granny would have said she couldn't believe we had hung on to it so long! :)

sondramartina, you are right. The price from these new upholstery people came in similar to the first quote I got which of course means the price will be even better if I only recover the seat bottoms. This seems like the best option so far for overall satisfaction--look and price.

hanna1984, my Mom said something similar about my antique dining set. She said "Get rid of it!" :) But I didn't. I ended up selling Mom's mid century set and now I sort of wish I would have kept it since thats what I like now. Hindsight. I dream of having a beautiful ultra modern dining set that I actually use. Soon I think I will be able to make the change, but not yet. It's so hard to let go of some things!

Oh, I understand hypnokeke. Hubby and I shed more than a few tears when we give away things we had accumulated from both of our families over our 30+ years of marraige, but we decide it was time for us to start new when we bought our new house this past June. :)

RE your dining set, have you thought of painting and getting new seats for the chairs and leaving the table? You could do your bright colors for the chairs, maybe two different colors, two chairs one color, 2 another with the same fabric seats to tie them together. It seams that would fit your style too. RE: the orange sofa, I'd keep all the cushions backs and seats in coordinating fabric with some orange in the patern but mostly another color( s), You have lots of color and patterns all ready, and this way you could change things up really easily, and the cost for fabric will be much less than the leather I would imagine. Just my 2 cents worth, your project is so very interesting!! :)

Last call. Why not double duty, and control costs? If you are confident that you can match the orange leather use it on the band and piping of the seat cushions. Any of the other options for the top of the seat panel and back cushions. I am leaning toward ultrasuede or chenile in a solid (orange, blue, or red were my faves). Then add a large rectangular button, in the orange leather, to each of the back cushions.
I am new to the whole blog scene. I have tried to load a picture of my couch. It is not for everyone but I love it!
If you want to experiment, standard pillow shams should fit the back cushions. It is a much less permanent way to change things up.

If you think the cushions are original to the sofa, I would stay with this style in order to retain the authenticity of this period piece. )

Take care not to make it look too 80s. I would not match the leather. How about a nubbly, wool-type taupe with some flecks of orange? Fun couch!

Here's one that incorporates orange and green. https://www.knoll.com/knolltextileproductdetail/Atelier

Something a little different. http://www.maharam.com/products/bevel/colors/003-amber

Another. http://www.maharam.com/products/candid/colors/003-sisal

Probably too much with the rug, but so cool! http://www.maharam.com/products/ditto/colors/006-aztec

I could do this all day! http://www.maharam.com/products/divide-crypton/colors/009

I know...I've lost my mind! http://www.maharam.com/products/hinge/colors/007-mars

http://www.maharam.com/products/pavement-by-george-nelson-1950/colors/005-rust

http://www.maharam.com/products/reel/colors/008-redwood

hanna1984...yes. I agree. I actually asked one of the upholstery people about the option of piping and they refused to do it to keep the integrity of the piece!! However I do think babysitters sofa is amazing! So unique and colorful...I love when people are not afraid to express who they are!

More normal. http://www.maharam.com/products/scribe/colors/003-speckle

jen046...PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING!!! I actually really really REALLY like the first one you sent, the confetti one. It's very close to what I had been thinking about only reversed. I thought I should do orange with some flecks of cream, but this one you sent is beautiful. What about the one called FIREWORKS, it also could work and has more orange. Thanks so much for posting!

So I've switched rugs! I wanted to see what it would look like so here are the photos. I kind of like the orange rug with the orange sofa. It keeps the orange all in one area instead of spreading it out across two rooms, and the dark table seems to work well with the darker colors in the colorful rug. If I keep it this way, then painting the dining set cream may not be a good look. Let me know your thoughts please! Thanks! :)

There is lots of orange now but i stil like it better than the other rug
Or not? Really not sure

I like Jen's Atelier best I think. I didn't check to see what samples cost, but go through the other colors and fabrics and give Jen's choices a whirl! Maybe your designer can get fabric for you at trade cost :)

Me too. Atelier is the best in my oppinion

Yes atelier is definitely the best. Yay Jen! And I think it will help blend the cream colored chair too. Things are coming together! All of that orange doesn't bother me, in fact, I'm more comfortable with it. I tend to think more in terms of shades of a color, and I have a hard time combining more than 2 colors. The colorful rug purchase was really a stretch for me and forced me to go in a new direction. Worst case scenario I have a living room to decorate and it can go in there. I've been looking at orange rooms all day and have found some really bright and fantastic ones so I was encouraged to put the orange rug under the orange sofa. When I get home I will post photos. :)

Atelier fireworks:

Here are the photos of the rooms I liked that had a lot of orange...thanks!

With the orange rug, Which I do like best, you could go with patterned cushions if you wanted, but like that first one very well. then go crazy with pattern in pillows :)

You can order samples from both Knoll and Maharam for free...five per day. One of them will let "mere mortals" order the fabric directly. The other one you have to go through a professional. I forget which one was which as I have ordered from both, but one I had to have my upholsterer order. The thing I like is you can see the price, so you know what mark up the upholsterer is taking. My guy told me that some upholsterers mark up fabric over 100%! These companies have been around forever and the quality is excellent.

Definitely order samples of Atlier in both Confetti and Fireworks. One thing I learned in my recent forays into reupholstering furniture, you need to see the fabric on the piece, in the room where it is going, and in the room's lighting. I can't tell you how many times hubs and I received the samples at the office, looked at one and said "this is it" and then got home and wondered what we were thinking.

One last thing...I LOVE. The orange rug! Change out the sofa cushions to something more interesting (like the Atlier), then add some of your cool pillows and you have it.

jen046...YES! The orange rug wins! The more I look at it the more I love it too!! I am still thinking about possibly covering the sofa seat bottom cushions in leather, and using either Confetti or Fireworks for the sofa cushion backs (you know, the cushions you lean back on) kind of like the photo below. I feel that the sofa would look better if the bottom seat cushions were leather like the sofa itself. Maybe if I say groveraxle, groveraxle, groveraxle 3 times...she will photoshop it for me!?! Time to order my samples.

This is the fireworks fabric, the first fabric listed on thread, but alternate color

Confetti

Confetti and fireworks are my favorites out of that line, too. :)

Just add pillows to it in colors from rug.

I like both-Fireworks and Confetti. The samples will help! travisinteriors...do you mean just leave the sofa cushions the way they are?

Fireworks and orange rug

yes I think so too sondramartina...

Sofa with orange rug next to fireworks... hoping these photos have good color quality for you... I can't do the photo shop but thought maybe seeing side by side would help. I like this combination best.

Thank you Lynne! Yes Fireworks really looks good with the sofa. I will be ordering the sample!!

It's very long, so I gave up reading everything. I'd go for very dark burnt orange, which I haven't seen anyone suggest. Good luck!

Thanks karelina!

Don't forget posting pix when you're done!

Absolutely karelina!

Good advice regarding fibre make up of upholstery.
http://houzz.com/discussions/370196

Hypnokeka any updates?