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

I love your dining furniture! Your chairs are soundly designed, and I agree with itltrot that the backs of the chairs look especially nice. The chairs appear well built, and the wood tone matches your table exactly. I would see if they could be reupholstered in a darker color to contrast with your light rug, or even an ivory color leather if you like lighter tones, as I do. Leather or even a leather look-alike would be easy to maintain. Surely the cost to reupholster those great chairs would not be more than their replacement cost.

Hi, This one might not be what you're thinking of but it has a lot of good information! Here is a link that might be useful: Link

I'm going to disagree with advice to paint first and hold off on reupholstering the chairs. You say you've been waiting three years to do this. Selecting fabric can take a lot of time--esp. when working with an open floorplan where you want the colors/fabrics to flow from room to room. You have some lovely fabrics to choose from that can be incorporated into your space in a variety of ways--or even into the adjacent rooms. I recovered my DR chairs last year and am so glad that I did. Mine also were hard and uncomfortable--which you said yours are as well. One thing that was important to me was the fabric not only coordinate with my DR, but my LR since I planned to occasionally move the DR chairs into the LR if I needed extra seating for a party. Personally I found a stripe to be the most versatile choice. I do also agree that you are more likely to tire of a floral or find it more limiting as time goes on. To me, your ivory will always read more formal due to the sheen of the present fabric--not so much the color. If you still like the floral, I would again consider using two complimentary fabrics and use the floral in smaller doses. For instance, you could do the host chairs in floral and others in stripe or solid, or do different backs/fronts as I suggested earlier. Or bring in your floral fabric in a less permanent way via a table or buffet runner. Calico Corners is also really good with suggesting complimentary fabrics. It may be worthwhile to bring in a swatch of the valance fabric and ask for advice on complementary fabrics.