Wow, what great chairs for a great price! I don't know anything about what is appropriate or would fit your décor, but I personally like the red background with white flowers. I need to shop where you shop! It is 104 here in Texas and I have little energy to fight that heat to go garage sale-ing!

I think #4 is most suited.

I like the toile but the medallion would have to be carefully centered.

i like the fabric on them right now! though it REALLY bugs me that they didn't center the pattern on the chairs. oy!

so brutal honesty, i really dislike the first fabric in your list. i think when you finish them and post a before/after pic, people will think you got the before/after labels wrong. it just looks very dated and not in a good, vintage kind of way. i'm so sorry if that hurts your feelings, but i'm so pleased if you were wavering and that helped your decision.

that said, i'm not a fan of choosing based on what's textbook or "right." so which one is your favorite, putting the chair aside? if it's the first one that i don't like, still use it because it's your favorite!

i like the red floral (#3) personally the best.

i'm about to tackle a big chair project myself, so i wish you lots of luck!!

The red toile would be my choice, but then I have always loved toile! Great buy on your beautiful chairs and please post pics when you are finished!

Great buy! The floral may get dirty more quickly, but I think any of them that work with your decor would be fine. Do you a picture of the room? That will help a LOT with us helping you. Personally, if you aren't painting them. I love what looks like a Ralph Lauren Folia Juno ticking in the last pic. :-)

I bought a similar chair from Craigslist for what you paid for FOUR! Before -

After -

I like the stripes, the 2nd one best.

#4 but it also depends on what the rest of the room looks like.

Thanks for the input!

Maggiepie11, the current fabric really does not look good in person so it needs to be replaced. It's dirty and low quality.

I'm not planning to paint them. It looks like the RL Foila Juno Ticking wins (good eye My3dogs)! Which is good, because it was my first choice/favorite.

I also considered a red/cream check like you used on your lovely chair, it looks great with the white paint.

I vote for either of the darker fabrics. Stripe more classic. Toile more feminine.

I like the red and white stripes best. Is that ticking? Second, the red with the white flowers.

I like the toile best because the pattern echoes the shield back.

Thanks for the visual, Beverly27, it is very helpful!

I ordered a yard of #4 to try out. I also kind of like the idea of mixing a couple of fabrics, although I'm not sure the stripe and toile are an ideal pairing...

I'm still not sure if I'll use these in my dining room or kitchen, but any of the fabrics would work in either room.

I also found this chair at the same sale for $5 and stripped the seat down to its original upholstery. Much better then the turquoise vinyl that was there when I found it. I have several yards of chocolate brown mohair that I've been saving for a while, it may work on this one if I can keep the kitties off of it.

{{!gwi}}

#3, red floral. I don't think the rigid structure of the stripes would mesh with the flowing curves of the chair.

juliaraen,
Just to get you to really look at the whole chair.........Have you noticed the straight lines on the bottom of the chair, are the perfect foil (contrast) to the curved lines of the top of the chair?

Cozy, I don't know where you live, but that was a FANTASTIC sale! The lowest I have ever paid for one of my chairs to re-do was $10. That last one is a beauty, but I bet those kitties will LOVE mohair. :-)

My3dogs, I think it was a pretty great price for my area too. Even though I didn't really need any more chairs I just couldn't pass them up (and DH likes them a lot better then what we had in the DR). And yes, I'm sure the cats would love the mohair, maybe too much :)

Here are a few photos for those who asked about the room. The dining room is pretty much a blank slate, table, chairs and a few ferns. No window treatments yet and a light fixture that needs replacing.

The room connects to the living room so I'm including a photo of it as well so you can see the colors I'm using and my general style. You can see the chairs that these will be replacing in the second photo. I really like them too, but they are just a little too fancy and delicate for the way we live.

Every time I see someone post this photo I think of my antique cream chairs (a CL find, 6 for $200). I think they would be perfect for this look. Maybe someday...

{{!gwi}}

Great choice. The visual provided really helps to select. I like the stripes to contrast the curves.

I LOVE that photo, too, and have for a long time! The mix of the pattern, the check and the stripe in beautiful in that room. Now, show us your CL chairs that you may do like that!!

Here they are:

{{!gwi}}

Two of the six need some repair work done on the legs and they are all kind of dirty. I got them last fall after hunting for several years for some decent antique/vintage chairs.

We bought 6 Hepplewhite chairs to go with a Duncan Phyfe table for our Cape house. The chairs had been professionally painted and recovered. You got a steal! We paid over $400 for the 6 chairs and the DF table (from an antique dealer in NH), but we love it, and most importantly, it functions well. We can add a leaf to accomodate more people.

I need to update this pic We have added a wood hutch, lowered the panels and have totally rearranged things, but this gives you an idea of what a stripped fabric looks like. It's a heavy fabric with blue, green, yellow and white stripes. The fabric, combined with the painted wood, makes it less formal.

Cozy, those chairs are incredible! They don't look bad at all, compared to some I have brought home, with broken arms, etc. Some of them I strip out on the picnic table as the mess is so bad with hundreds of tiny old nails, horse hair and other goodies. Getting all those nail heads is going to be a job.

Allow me to recommend this tool. It's very tough and I couldn't do without it. That is the best price on eBay for it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Berry Staple Remover Puller

What a STEAL!!!!

Gorgeous eye candy here! Thanks for posting pics, everyone!!!

BTW, what is up with turquoise vinyl? We bought a DP type table and the chairs have turquoise vinyl!

The stripes look right at home on your chairs, Bonnieann. How is the surface of your table holding up? White paint sure does give everything a fresh new look.

Thank you for the Berry Staple Puller rec, My3dogs. I'll have to get myself one of those. Four of the chairs are in really good condition, just some dirty upholstery, the two in the basement need some help. They were well used :)

Good question, Anele! Turquoise vinyl must have been the "it" thing at some point. Not attractive or comfortable but it did protect the layers underneath.

Bonnie,
these look amazing. Thanks so much for posting.

Cozy,
The surface is holding up very well. We do use runners, placemats and/or a tablecloth. I even bought a couple of vinyl (gasp!) print tablecloths at Marshalls for summer use. Not only do they add color, but they really protect the table for large gatherings.

Can't wait to see what you do with your great "find"!

Thanks nosoccermom! Half the fun in is in the pursuit!

Thanks for the reply about the painted table Bonnieann925! I've been debating painting our kitchen table but worry that it won't hold up very well. May have to give it a try some day in the future.

I finished up the chairs last weekend and think they came out pretty well. The 1yd of fabric I ordered ended up being a generous 1 1/3 yds. so I had enough fabric to do all four chairs.

Very nice. You did a great job and the fabric works really well with the wood.

Love your fabric, and it looks great with the wood color. Perfect choice!

Looks great!

Lovely work. That was my favourite fabric. I love stripes.

Thanks, everyone :)

Well done!
That fabric turned out very nice. Glad you had enough to do all four chairs : )

I remember my parents had a couple of turquoise vinyl upholstered chairs.