Hello! My name is Pam. I am so glad you want to learn more about O and O. The Olive and Owl concept is based on a chair project my mother-in-law, Debbie, started around 2014. She had an old, well loved wing back chair and decided to reupholster the chair with a quilt. She did some research and began to take the old chair apart. Pretty soon, the problem became clear — she was really good at making quilts, but not so much reupholstering furniture! When our professional upholsterer with years of experience arrived and looked at the chair and the quilt, he was skeptical — but he took the project and what he brought back was stunning. At the time, the chair sat in Debbie’s quilt shop for weeks and everyone loved it.
Some time went by and I got a new house and thought it was the time for me to do some pieces. Some more time went by, add in a quarantine, and we now have a few pieces to bring to the market.
Each piece is carefully sourced and curated based on the condition of wood and shape of the furniture. We take a photo of the piece of furniture and hang it in our studio, and we look at it, we take it in, we study it. Each piece gets a color and a quilt pattern direction. Not all quilts can be used for upholstery and not all furniture can be reupholstered with quilts. It takes time to look past its current state and envision what it will look like in its finished glory. And WOW. I have to say that is the best part. We love watching something go from needy to striking!
It’s been a ton of fun and so very rewarding breathing new life into these pieces of unwanted and tossed aside furniture.
I hope you enjoy visiting our shop and that you find the perfect Olive and Owl piece to enhance a special place in your home.