Well....this has turned into a discussion of pain ted vs not painted furniture.....when the forum is about antiques. To me things that were not originally made to be painted and get painted looks like "early marriage" decorating on a shoe string and if it looks beat up...paint it! And this assumption affirmed by all who says a Duncan Phyfe looks "Fresh and young" painted.... It would be criminal to paint those chairs...And I really think a painted Duncan Phyfe style looks very "improvised" painted....like look....I couldn't afford new....so I painted this! A real wood finish, with a coat of good paste wax....or if you must refinish it a coat of oil based poly is pretty resistant to wet glasses and milk spills.

Sweetbean I just went through this in our small 11'x11' DR that was largely over furnished with a lot of "this n that" - part of our entire home reno was out with it ALL! Yea DR set, 2 sideboards - one that matched the set, on that was a beast & did not - a PIANO , a beautiful built in I searched, searched , searched - DON"T give up - You will find a table/chairs I scoured all ads, and Craigslist - what I found were LOTS of DR Sets - I'm close to NYC and found people giving high quality sets away - I think people are moving away from formal DRs blowing kitchens into DRs So my advice is don't settle - live without and enjoy the hunt I did. I found a Duncan Phyfe Mahogany set which is really what I wanted - our house dutch col 1930 so it suited the home as well as the small scale of our DR - it was dirty, dirty dirty - I'm still working on cleaning waxing -It is really well made & found incredible fabrics on ebay that were really reasonable - so they will get a big face lift. The owners were asking $2,200 for the set - DR table, 4 side chairs, 2 arms - mirror ,sideboard, and tall china cab I didn't want the china cab (we have lovely built in) got them to $1300 Dh thought i was crazy - wait til he sees it in DR Here is a pic in the prior owners DR In my almost completed DR chair w/proposed fabric sitting on it Guess I wanted to inspire you - I know the furnishings aren't your choice but to illustrate they are out there - get on a mission Link to craigslist good luck eileen Here is a link that might be useful: Craigslist

Don't write off fabric just yet. You could use microsuede, Crypton, or any of the newer indoor/outdoor fabrics available now. My DD chucked a whole bowl of tomato soup on one of my pale blue microsuede chairs and I swear it cleaned up perfectly. I think softer lines, and fabric, would bring some balance to the angularity of your room. I love the artwork and might think about pulling some color from the painting next to the stairs into said fabric. I know and love your kitchen from the KB. Nice to see you over here. looking forward to seeing more! :-)

Shee, Ha, I found out today, it will be at least another 6-8 weeks now before we get the sofa because it isn't expected to ship now till the mid part of August and then there's another couple of weeks for shipping & delivery time! I sure hope we have it before the holidays. LOL In regards to the chairs, I'm not willing to brush paint 4 chairs but we are seriously considering painting them with spray paint. (if DeeDee's idea doesn't work out) Deedee, You are brilliant! Thank you so much! I hadn't even thought of that but the owner of the store we got the cabinet from is a real character and he just loves to wheel and deal. He has a woman on staff who does all their painting and he once offered to refinish our dining room table for us. She uses a sprayer for all the base coats and seems to do a good job on other pieces I've seen. I don't see why he wouldn't be willing to work something out with me. Oh! Then they'd match the hutch! We're picking it up tomorrow morning, I'll ask him if he's in. Oh boy, I'm excited now, wouldn't that be great! Suero, That's a great price unfinished but buying them online means I'd have to paint them and I'm not really up for that. There were a couple of styles we were considering at our local naked furniture store. They had that same chair for something like 109.99 and they wanted 70 to stain it or 80.00 to paint it. Add tax and it was close to 200/chair, which was just more than our budget for the dining room would allow. Thank you for your help though, it was a good suggestion and I do appreciate it.