I have been pining for some new kitchen chairs for a loooooong while. Some might call them dining chairs. Ours. Were. Hideous. They had been recovered twice… some 3 times. One broke in the process, and I ended up stripping 2 of them down to their original fabric to recover and never got around to it. 2 were painted white and 2 were natural wood.
So, I decided that I wanted to find something that had no upholstery. Just wood. Or metal. And something sturdy. Because we have kids as well as a few friends that are grown ups. The thing is, new chairs are kind of expensive. For something half decent I was looking at $100+ per chair… at least. I also needed at least 6. The problem was I didn’t have $600 to burn.
So, I was scouring kijiji one fine eve, as I often do, when I came across 6 chairs. Matt and I drove to look at them with our 3 kids in the van after supper one night, on a cold windy eve. The lady was skeptical that we could get 6 chairs in our van. But we did. Ta da! We kind of felt pumped. I had emailed Matt the ad a day before {does anyone else email their spouse so you don’t forget to tell them things? More sleep or coffee might help us remember…} He didn’t reply. When I asked him what he thought of the chairs he said “Yeah…. they look old?”
Oh my sweet dear. Isn’t that the point?
They actually don’t seem that old in real life. They are so solid! A little oaky/red so I sense a paint job in the future… but maybe not. I love the little turned legs.
The thing I like most about the photo below is my dirty table. #reallife #fingerprints
So one of the best things about these little treasures is the price tag. We paid $100 for 6 chairs. That’s $16.67 per chair! Holla. The other amazing thing is, I quite like them.
Do you thrift/kijiji or craig’s list? I never seem to find the amazing scores here in Canada that I hear about in the US. My mom seems to find crazy amazing antiques from the garbage and some old guy’s land that is a gold mind for treasures… but here in Canada, at least in Alberta, it seems much more rare. Our kijiji especially is often ridiculous- with items being way over priced- but I have had a few successes…
You may remember the free Vogel chairs I scored during the summer. They are now out of the shed and into the house. I have purchased a drop cloth and need to bleach it up… I have plans to go through slip cover 101 over at Miss Mustard Seed {have you figured out my favorite blog yet?} and get to work. Now that we have moved the boys to their new room I am taking over their old room as a workshop and office. At least until we need to move sweet girl into her own space. Here is my inspiration:
Any sweet chair stories? Or any stories for that matter?
-Miss Ash