Custom upholsterer recovers furniture in rodeo, religious or even Elvis style

The Buffalo Girl Furniture showroom is a kooky clash of kitsch, where Our Lady of Guadalupe and Elvis are preserved under vinyl; a deer rug is reincarnated as a decorative chair; and Bucky the Bucking Bronco sits silently, waiting for a rider to bring him to life for 25 cents.

To the creator of this world, owner Libby Knudson, the combination of Americana, religious imagery and rodeo makes total sense. She grew up attending a Catholic School in Everett and riding horses in Poulsbo. She likes buffalo so much, the woman who gave Knudson her start in furniture, Ruby Montana of the now-defunct Ruby Montana's Pinto Pony store, christened her "Buffalo Girl." What else is there to know?

"I just think everything melted together, and this is what came out," Knudson said.

A colorful style

Her furniture features her obsessions. Knudson is a custom upholsterer who can give new life to a 50-year-old sofa. Leave it up to her, and perhaps the sofa will acquire poker-playing dogs. Be more specific, and Knudson accommodates preferences, of course.

"It comes down to what you want to do," she said. "It's your world. I don't live with you. I try to give good advice."

But what she likes isn't for the staid and stuffy. Her style is outrageous and colorful, a combination of materials she finds through fabric representatives and by scouring eBay. The fabric reps bring her vinyl rejects in colors nobody else would buy, she said.

Knudson's orange, blue and pink showroom stores piles of vinyl fabrics, displays furniture and sells cowhide handbags. She works on the sewing machine with her dog Tango by the door. On a recent day, bright turquoise vinyl scraps for a client's sofa were strewn about the counter.

Rockin' her art

The rodeo-going 42-year-old's true love is more artistic, including her calling-card design of rugs with animals or images like Liberace or the Virgin Mary tucked under clear vinyl.

Her pieces show up in local music venues, like Ballard's Tractor Tavern and The Crocodile Café, and stores looking for an amped-up style, including downtown's Powder Room and Ian in Fremont.

Rock stars work, too. She's renovating an Airstream travel trailer for Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder and has done pieces for chanteuse Lucinda Williams. Knudson sells her furniture line, Buffalo Girl, through the company she appropriately named Ranch-n-Roll.

"No humor-impaired people buy my stuff," she said.

Her living space boasts an extensive collection of cowboy boots and an eclectic assortment of vintage dishes in addition to some of her own pieces, like the Guadalupe chair, which sells for $895 in the showroom. She sits on an oil-cloth covered chair ($95) as she works.

Redo it right

Seattleites, however, aren't always as inclined toward her style. She sent three pieces over to Archie McPhee's novelty store a couple years ago, including a glittery ottoman with dogs playing poker, and they still haven't sold, she said.

Knudson gets really excited when someone loves one of her pieces, but she knows her sensibility isn't universal. Mid-century modern — not ranch and Americana — is in vogue, she said.

People often hire her for her specialty vintage work, and she reupholsters beloved furniture, including mid-century pieces. She is good at hunting down period fabric and redoing sagging cushions.

"If you have a piece you love and it kind of crapped out, you redo it," she said. "These old objects have energy."

But redoing your home Knudson's way is another matter. Take it slowly, one piece at a time.

"If you're going to have a little chair, why not have the Virgin Mary [on it]?" she said. "Or the deer; it's so pretty. People are so matchy-matchy."

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com