The Summer of Chairs

I've mentioned before that I think I have a thing for chairs. When Mike and I first married, we simply combined household goods in an effort to furnish this house. Over time, we have culled some of those furnishings and added something new. Then, weeded those out and started again. Chairs seem to be one of those things that have come and gone the most in this household. 

We both had a version of an arrow-back or Windsor-type chair to start with. Mike had a couple that were a blonde wood finish and they were sturdy and pretty comfortable for everyday seating and dining. 

I had a set of four - two arm chairs and two side chairs - that I had picked up at a thrift store. The style was a wee bit different and the seat finish was a bit darker and the legs and bowed top was red. We blended the two together for a few years and made things work. 

It bugged me a little that they didn't match and things were a bit disjointed but they were close enough and fairly comfortable and, again, we made things work. Mike also had a set of four chairs that sat around the dining table. They featured a hand carved back and were antique and sort of small and not all that comfortable but when all the family came around, they were sturdy and worked out so that everybody had a place to sit and eat.

I always seemed to be on the prowl to find a big lot of matching chairs for a reasonable cost. I sold those four smaller chairs when I found a fellow selling a set of eight chairs that were just like the red ones I had brought except they were finished more like the blonde wood of Mike's. I bought the eight matching and we had a collection of chairs that were pretty similar then. Those worked for a short time but they began to drop a leg or just broke altogether. 

Just before Mike's mother moved into our basement, she gifted him eight ladder back chairs along with the lazy Susan table that had belonged to his grandparents. So, all the hodge-podged collected chairs were offered in a yard sale (but I think we wound up hauling them off to Goodwill at the end of the day). Finally, we had a matching set of nice and nice looking chairs.

After a week or so, Mike mentioned that now we don't have a single chair to sit in and eat that is comfortable. He was so right! While I loved the ladder back chairs and thought they were beautiful, I realized that they truly were some of the most uncomfortable sitting chairs I had ever plopped my fanny into. So, my chair hunt began again. Soon, I stumbled across four chairs that were exactly what I wanted. Sturdy, comfy, and attractive all wrapped into one.

They started off with burlap seat covers. However, even though burlap is a rugged fabric, it does not hold up well as a chair seat cover. So, I covered them with a lattice print after a while. We both liked the style and comfiness of those chairs. So, I always kept my scouting eye out for a few more that matched to add to the collection but never found anything that I thought was close enough to really pursue. So, the comfy chairs sat at the everyday small dining table and the ladder backed chairs sat at the larger table with the lazy Susan. Plus, Mike's mother had brought six more ladder backed chairs when she moved into the basement. So, we now owned a total of fourteen beautiful but highly uncomfortable chairs.

I continued to keep a look out for something that might coordinate or blend with the Queen Anne style cane backed chairs that we both loved. Of course, I was only scouting in thrift stores and second hand offerings at places like Facebook Marketplace. Plus, I was surfing the internet and gathering ideas and dreams for future decorating projects. One of the things I noticed was that the ideas I tend to gather often included chairs with a padded seat that was covered in a checked fabric. Then, one morning last fall on Facebook Marketplace I saw a set of eight urn backed chairs with Queen Anne legs and checked seats offered at a reasonable price. I waited till Mike came in to eat and asked his opinion on them. He was impressed and encouraged me to buy them. Sadly, that was just enough time that the seller had sold them. 

What that sad event did do, however, is open my eyes to look for something similar where I could cover the seats and blend them all together. So, the casual perusal continued. Then, one day in June, I felt like I had hit the jackpot. A lady who lived about forty minutes away was downsizing and offered eight urn backed chairs with Queen Anne legs. While they were not my first love of more cane backed chairs, they did look like nice, sturdy, comfy chairs that I could cover seats to match and have a set for visitors as well as us for every day that would be nice. Plus, they were really a bargain! So, I didn't even wait to get the Mister's opinion. I just took off.

Let me just say, that finding eight chairs alike felt like quite a coupe. I was determined that I would not settle for fewer chairs than we already have. Plus, I wanted something that would blend well with the furniture we already have. Those chairs filled those criterion and were a bargain - costing me less than one of the chairs would new. The chairs were made by Crescent in 1998 and the seat covers were almost like new. I really felt like I had hit the mother lode. We gifted the ladder back chairs to Mike's son because they had inherited a drop leaf table from Mike's mother that would match them well. So, I hauled them up the hill. 

I thought my chair searching days were over but Facebook Marketplace didn't seem to agree. Every now and then a post for dining chairs would pop into my feed and I would give them a look. However, I was in no hurry to replace the chairs downstairs and decided that if something wonderful popped up, I would take a look but I was not searching at all. Then, in late August, a cane back Queen Anne style chair flashed across Facebook Marketplace. Again, the drive was less than an hour away and the price was down right cheap. So, off I went.

This time, the six chairs were so close to the ones Mike and I had been loving and using for a few years and at the bargain price they were offered at, I just could not let that pass. The young woman said that she still really loved the chairs but had inherited some from her husband's family and didn't have room to keep these. Even though the seat covers are not the neutral beige that the urn back chairs are, the navy would fit right into my house, I thought. Four of the side chairs were covered in a nice navy fabric. 

I am a firm believer that we don't always have to have something brand spanking new and expensive to update and refine our style and our household. Part of the fun of furnishing this house and updating it to be our style is in the hunt for just the right thing and in putting forth a little extra effort to customize it and make it personal to our tastes. I must share that rarely does Mike say anything about my home decorating and styling. He will object at times to something he doesn't like or complain if he doesn't think it is to his taste. This is one update, though, that he has been very complementary of from start to finish. 

So, part of my summer was spent searching for chairs. A small part of the summer was just perusing what happened to pop up in front of me suggesting that I need more chairs. Then, part of the summer found me picking up chairs and hauling them home. I'm so pleased with all of our dining chairs and find myself just plopping down in different ones from time to time because I like them so much. Of course, just because we are now well into fall according to the calendar, that doesn't mean that the chair project is done. Stay tuned for a chair update coming soon!