Thrifted: Beautiful Antique French Bergere Chair

Have I mentioned that vintage chairs always talk to me? Farm chairs. French chairs. Rustic, elegant, unique, upholstered and simple wood. If they have a beautiful well loved patina? In my cart. Old tattered upholstery? In my cart also. I just fall in love with antique chairs all.the.time. It is true that they whisper sweet nothings in my ear and tell me how beautiful they will look with flowers set just so on them. And as a photographer- I am all about something talking to me in ‘photo’ language. Today I am sharing more about an antique French bergere chair that I fell for instantly when I saw it on marketplace.

Antique French Chair

I knew the minute I saw this antique French chair in the marketplace listing – that I was already head over heels. I knew nothing about the condition or anything else- but I fell hard for it. The soft sage color velvet with the caned back. The round barrel shape and of course, the carved details. I decided after looking at it for about 5 seconds that I needed it and loved it so much that we actually stopped to pick it up on our way to the airport. Haha. My husband was THRILLED with me- but the sellers place was in a town on the way and just off the fwy so it worked well.

First Impressions

My first impressions upon seeing it in person- LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. I literally LOVED it just as much as I thought I would and then some. Condition of my husband stopping on the way to our flight was a QUICK stop – so we were only there about 5 minutes to take a look at it so I honestly didn’t have a lot of time to really look it over until we got back from our trip. But I already knew enough to know it was going in the car before we even got there.

All the Details

Of course the details of this antique chair were the selling point. Can we talk about that velvet upholstery! Beyond beautiful. It reminds me of the soft muted colors of shutters and doors in France.

The frame is carved- lots of dainty carvings all around and usual chair leg carvings with little rosette & fluting details.

The caning was in perfect condition. No tears or breaks or missing spots. I love that it wraps around the whole back. And honestly, seeing it and photographing it from that perspective? So beautiful.

The surprises

The Legs: Being that I didn’t take a super close look at it until we were back from our trip- I didn’t know all the things about it yet. But I did ponder the legs a bit while looking at them in the car while we were driving to the airport – I could tell something didn’t seem to add up with their length. And when we were back home, I took a close look and confirmed that the back legs were cut off a bit at some point. Likely to allow the chair to sit ‘back’ a bit more. (see above photo) No big deal in person- the chair works perfectly and is comfortable- though from a photography perspective, it sits odd in some photos. Not a Huge deal, of course, but I plan to add wheels to the back legs to raise it back up a bit.

The Upholstery: I thought it was a soft almost sage green color velvet, which is what it looks like in person. But upon closer look-by removing the small pillows and flipping the cushion over, I noticed it looked like it perhaps was actually a rich blue color velvet originally. But to be honest, though the rich blue is delicious, if it is all just faded, it faded to a most perfect color that was so lovely! And I love the little ‘surprise’ of boldness.

The Pillows: There was one small matching velvet lumbar pillow that came with the chair. And underneath the chair cushion, I found another matching pillow that was a quilted mosaic type pillow.

It looks to be handmade and is well loved- and though a little flat from being sat on – it is so sweet.

The price? $100 and well worth it in my opinion.

This chair is such a little charmer and I absolutely adore it. I have already shared in holiday stylings and you will be seeing it pop up here and there in photography projects as well. I am restyling our living room seating areas and am thinking it may land in our bedroom. I will keep you posted.

So is it a Love it or Leave it? Would you have brought it home?