New craigslist chairs - should they stay or should they go?
So my living room furniture consists of a sofa and two chairs. All were purchased secondhand and they don't exactly match. But I have kind of grown to love the shabby "bohemian" vibe -- one chair is an old leather club chair with a tapestry seat cover (by necessity - the original leather seat was trashed.) The other is an Archie Bunker-esque orange plaid club chair that I'm almost certain is the comfiest chair my butt has ever experienced. I purchased it thinking I would recover it eventually, but haven't gotten around to it yet. The sofa is from Lee Industries - again, I recovered the seat because the original seat fabric was a hideous lavender floral. The sofa stays.
However, thanks to my kitty, both chairs are looking a little more shabby than I would like. I have been keeping my eye on craigslist on and off for the past few years hoping the perfect set of vintage matching club chairs would fall into my lap, and I recently took a chance on a set. I'm guessing they date to around the 1950s and have beautiful lines. And for old chairs, they aren't too offensive - the fabric is kind of a creamy gold crushed velvet. I thought they'd look great in the room and they seem more kitty proof than the current chairs (she doesn't seem to hurt our velvet or microfiber sofas -- but leather seems to be irresistible to her and the orange chair has kind of a burlap-y texture that also seems to invite her to maul it.)
But when I got them in there, I don't know...something seems off. The color of the chairs is ever so slightly off from the sofa -- not in a clashy way, but almost in a "I tried to match this but failed" kind of way. More disconcerting is the fact that the lines of these chairs seem a bit more formal than the rest of the room -- the sofa has rolled arms as did the old chairs but the new ones are squared off and swoopy -- they feel more modern or something. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm not used to the look or if it really truly doesn't go. They are also deeper and narrower than the old chairs, which seems to result in a weirdly large amount of space between the two chairs. But again, maybe I am just not used to it.
I have been switching out between the two sets trying to decide which one I like better and I think my husband will kill me if I make him switch them out one more time. There is no room in my house for four chairs so I need to pick a set and sell/donate/toss the others. I don't think I'll have a problem selling the new ones (probably for a profit, as I got a great deal and they are pretty chairs.) The old chairs will probably go to a dumpster as my cat has done a number on them. And maybe that's part of why I don't like the new chairs -- I do really like the old ones and I don't want to toss them.
Here are some pictures (please ignore the unfluffed pillows, excess chairs, kitty scratching posts and other clutter - we are still in the middle of cleaning up Christmas and rearranging furniture and I didn't have the energy to primp the room before taking the picture, LOL!) The pink throw is on the back of the leather chair in the hope of kitty proofing it a bit.
So which chairs should stay?
Old chairs:
New chairs:
Comments (23)
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lkplatow
8 years agoThanks for all the responses. You have given me a lot to mull over but alas, not a consensus! You all seem about as evenly split as my thinking has been!
If it's any help, here's a pic of the new chairs with the pillows and throw from the other chairs. My pillow and throw selection is a bit lacking, but it might give you an idea. Not sure the throw and pillows help.
I do think that the new chairs are a bit more sophisticated than my decorating style -- the New York City apartment is a great comparison (as I studied the pictures I posted, I was thinking they looked like something Emily Henderson would put in her Hollywood-rich-people makeovers.) My house is a farmhouse with wide-width pine floors and pretty much all the furniture is vintage/antique and kind of country/shabby/farmhouse in style. I'm just not sure the new chairs fit with the style. (But then again, maybe my style could use some shaking-up!) Also Ingrid - the coffee table is a chest brought back from China by a relative. It has odd Chinese paintings on it featuring little bald people with fishing poles. I hated it at first and had planned to paint the whole thing black but over time the paintings have grown on me. And though you can't tell in the picture, that exact shade of turquoise is in the rug. Really the rug has pretty much every shade in the room which I guess is handy for giving lots of choices for accessorizing -- and my accessorizing skills can clearly use all the help they can get!
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
8 years agolkplatow
8 years ago
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