Oh wow....those are great chairs....and they want Ikea instead...well you are a lucky duck. I can't say as to fabric....have to see the rooms and what else you have. But a generic one would be best, as you say, so that it holds up to the test of time. Great find ! c

Wow, you did get a steal, they are beautiful! As far as picking fabric, I'm with Trailrunner, do you have pics of the room you could share?

Thanks! Unfortunately, I'm at work and don't have current photos of the room, so perhaps you can look at these photos and use your imagination?? Tall order - I know that's hard and I cannot do it well myself, but some of you are more talented than me. :)

We have replaced the dining chairs you see with Pottery Barn Megan chairs I also got on craigslist. They're like a Parson's chair, and currently covered in a tan, white and navy blue stripe slipcover. The bird prints leaning on the mantle are now on either side of the door. The tan in the print mat goes nicely with the tan in the slipcover. The two chairs would go on either side of the window, where the green chair currently is in these photos.

The wall color looks washed out in these pics, but it's EK's Buttercream. Haven't found any artwork for over the mantle, but have hung a large grapevine wreath there and loaded goards and candles on the mantle itself for a seasonal display.

Does that help? I'm thinking if I use navy blue, I could find a fun print to make pillows out of for each chair, and maybe also use that same print to cover an ottoman for in front of the chairs.

Still trying to find a replacement chandelier and figuring out what to do with that pink brick!

I can post an updated pic tonight.
{{!gwi}}


{{!gwi}}

Oh, in 20 years or so, that young couple will be slapping their palms to their foreheads in disbelief of what they did. Send them a set of before and after photos.

Nice chairs...silly young people.

Does that $400 include fabric...I hope?

I would be careful with navy blue if the chairs are going to be anywhere near a window. Darker fabrics fade so fast! They would need to be recovered when your guy is 82. :)

I like them as they are now. The fabric looks fine in the picture.

Newhombuilder - Yes, $400 includes the fabric. Each chair will take 6 yards. Does that price sound high?

Thanks for mentioning the window factor, as these chairs will be sitting by a southern exposure window. We don't get a lot of light in through those windows, but that's definitely something we need to consider.

Robyn - I actually like the current fabric, too, however it's in terrible shape. Lots of cat scratching, stains and just general wear. These chairs have a lot of miles on them. The current upholstery does NOT look good in person.

No, I think $400 per chair w/fabric is a good price. Can't wait to see them finished.

I can't believe they got rid of those!!! That's awesome for you! I would send them before and afters too. :)

Oh, very nice chairs!!! Your upholstery guy is correct--the frames alone are worth over $1,000. While you are reupholstering them you may want to also consider touching up the frames with Restore-a-Finish. Since you mentioned there were cats, if anyone in the house has allergies you may want to consider new cushions for the chairs as well.

As for fabrics, since you already have stripes in the room, I like the idea of a textured solid with some print pillows to change the look. I'm not so sure about the navy, though, given the sun. It looks like your room is open to the kitchen with some green cabinets.

I think a brownish toile or a William Morris print. Navy isn't a favorite for me, and I like the wood on the chairs, and wood makes me think of nature prints, so you can see how my mind works. (Or doesn't.)

A solid color will turn them into two big lumps, I think, and as you have a solid chair, why not a print? Take a look at how 3dogs mixes her fabrics--she's a real artist.

Oh wow -- what delicious chairs! (Can I describe them that way? ;-))

I agree with Ideefixe on the fabric. I think a pattern would be preferable to a solid. These chairs are absolutely gorgeous and deserve to be treated as works of art, IMO.

I love the chairs, but think you might be happier in the long run with a muted tan, light to medium brown or dark cream mini check, stripe or (very small) print fabric. One of these colors would still work well with many other colors you might want to use in that room over the years, but be more neutral than navy. Not only will navy fade faster, but it will probably look dated sooner, as well. If you like navy, you can use it as your major accent color instead. JMHO.
Lynn

Fabulous find, congrats!

Thanks for the additional ideas. I agree a solid color will look like a lump, but can't find any patterns that will work with what we already have, that I think I'll be happy with long term. I love the idea of a nature-y type pattern.

The upholstery guy suggested that he put some small buttons on the upright portion where your back rests against, which I think will look nice and add some detail no matter which fabric we go with. (He assures me we will not feel these buttons.)

I'm curious about how navy will look dated eventually. Is it trendy right now? (I'm asking out of true curiousity as I have no fashion, design or decorating sense!)

Thanks again!

Those are great chairs and you were so lucky to find them. I agree with others who suggested a color other than navy.

Buttons? Oh noooo, not on those chairs! Sounds to me like your upholstery guy is thinking Early American, which those chairs are not at all. Please reconsider on the buttons.

I agree on the no buttons - please! (ideefixe, thanks for the compliment!)

If you want a 'nature print' and a blue color, and maybe even a toile, I have been admiring this fabric called 'Pointer' by P. Kaufmann lately. They call it navy, but it looks like a steely blue to me. It also comes in a color called Woodrose, which to me looks like an orangy red. I want to order samples of these to see them IRL, but online, I love them. I love toile, I love dogs - what's not to love?

Here is a link that might be useful: link to both fabric colors

What a great bargain you found! We paid about $35 for a similar chair, and it was only one! Please post pics when you have them finished. I chose to do mine in a solid green cotton velvet and make it a little more interesting with a variety of throw pillows.

Here is the beforeÂ

I can only find one after unfortunately and its kind of hard to see the upholstery, but you can get the idea

My3Dogs, I do love that fabric! In the photo the blue leans a bit teal on my monitor, but I like the concept. And thanks Jenny for the visual - I think your chair looks great in a solid!

As for the update of my chair, I regret to inform you all that by the time I called the upholsterer to STOP him from going any further until I had more time to think about this, he had one chair almost done. I have a sick feeling about this in the pit of my stomach. :( Everyone else here seems to think a navy chair with buttons is a big mistake, and I have no idea if it'll look good or not. But at least on one chair, that's what I'm getting. How come I had to choose the fastest 80-year old upholsterer in the country???

I hope to God it doesn't look early American with the buttons, as it is not my favorite style.

I'm frantically thinking of how to make this better if I continue with navy on the other chair. If I don't go with navy on the second chair, I am stuck with 6 yards of this stuff, one blue chair and one original chair.

I don't want to be melodramatic, but I think I'm going to have a difficult time sleeping tonight! Oy!

I want a chair like that!!! :(

Don't lose sleep. I may be the only one but I think Navy will look great and will never be outdated. It will actually add a little spunk to your room. Your chair will be more transitional/traditional and will lighten up the room. I like the idea of buttons. You can always trade out accent pillows at your whim and not be tied to a pattern. If you want toile than do it in a pillow. Get tired of the toile than change the pillow. It will cost less than upholstery.

Jerseygirl, you're very sweet to help me feel better. I sure hope you're right! Maybe I could use whatever pillow fabric we choose to make some sort of drape or valance, too. I saw a nice navy/white toile that might look good.

Here is the room as it looks right now. My original hope was that the navy will add some much needed color to our anemic room. Still working on my mantle decor - need to add some oomph to the wreath and revamp the gourd display a bit to be more colorful.

If nothing else, I think navy chairs will look great in our living room, so if they look terrible here, I'll just move them to the LR.

Thanks!!
{{gwi:35931}}


{{gwi:35932}}

Love those chairs! Does anyone know what they're called?

Kimberly,

The Navy chairs will look great with the stripe fabric of your dining chairs. I can't believe your CL finds. Great job.

Think about using a different fabrics for your drapes and accent pillows (not the same). Adding different textures adds interest. Are you sure you would like a Toile in that room? I'm not seeing it. JMHO.

I think navy blue will be fine, its a very neutral color, almost any color will go with it.

Jersey,

You're probably right, toile won't look right with what I already have going on. Other than some toiles, I'm not much into florals, and I can't do a check unless it's really tiny. I already have a lot of vertical and horizontal lines going on in the room. I like really simple and clean, and other than solids and stripes, I have a hard time coming up with anything that works for me.

Thanks for making me see I really need to think this through a bit more.

Kim

I think the navy will go well with our new DR chairs--though I would try to see the one before he starts the other one. I'm just not seeing the buttons (tufting) on those chairs.