Have a Seat
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One of the things I'd been looking forward to most after the wedding, aside from just generally no longer planning a wedding, was finally buying some chairs for our dining room. The black ikea folding chairs we'd been pulling up seemed, to me, unworthy of my newly stained table.
So when we got back from our honeymoon, I got as quickly as I could to our local used furniture store. I sat in a bunch of chairs, mulled over a few, brought Navah back with me to look at some, and finally left with only a single chair that I would use at my sewing table (and will share with you later). No dining room chairs.
There were some that I liked but were available only with the matching table. There were some that were comfortable but so ugly that even a paint job wouldn't have fixed them. There were some that pulled me in with their good looks but were wildly uncomfortable to sit on.
And I was having trouble deciding what exactly I wanted. A set of four? To buy one at a time and put together a mismatched set, like I pined over here? While I love the idea of that, it takes a lot of trips to the used furniture store to pull off. And I was becoming aware that they didn't sell many nice single chairs.
So I turned to Craigslist. And after scanning the ads for a few days, I came across one for a set of four, straight-backed solid white chairs. I liked the simple look and the ease of buying four at once and for a reasonable $100 for the set.
When I picked them up, the woman selling them had gotten them from her mother, who had purchased them in the 60s from a convent. So I'm giving them bonus points for being holy.
All set, they lend a country vibe to the dining room. They're quite comfortable, though not necessarily chairs you'd choose to lounge all day in. I may whip together some cushy seat covers for them, which will take the country look even further.
Not wanting to go whole hog with that vibe, I went ahead and purchased a modern rug from West Elm (for only $99!) to balance things out.
I love the rug, and I really like the chairs. But I can't lose the feeling in the dining room that it's just not complete. Maybe it's the keyboard that I can't find another space for? Or the lack of curtains? Or the fact that it's a thruway between the living room and kitchen? Maybe the rug isn't big enough?
I'm just not sure. Certainly it's a huge improvement from our first month in the house, before we bought the dining room table that I sanded and stained and my sewing cabinet or put up art.
I'm going to give myself some more time to sit with it and see if the feeling changes before I do anything drastic (you know, like hang curtains - gasp!). And I'll enjoy our new chairs and West Elm rug in the meantime.
What do you think? How do you make your spaces feel "finished"? Any suggestions for mine?
And how do you feel about the white? Would you paint the chairs a different color? Or several different colors?
Katie
So when we got back from our honeymoon, I got as quickly as I could to our local used furniture store. I sat in a bunch of chairs, mulled over a few, brought Navah back with me to look at some, and finally left with only a single chair that I would use at my sewing table (and will share with you later). No dining room chairs.
There were some that I liked but were available only with the matching table. There were some that were comfortable but so ugly that even a paint job wouldn't have fixed them. There were some that pulled me in with their good looks but were wildly uncomfortable to sit on.
And I was having trouble deciding what exactly I wanted. A set of four? To buy one at a time and put together a mismatched set, like I pined over here? While I love the idea of that, it takes a lot of trips to the used furniture store to pull off. And I was becoming aware that they didn't sell many nice single chairs.
So I turned to Craigslist. And after scanning the ads for a few days, I came across one for a set of four, straight-backed solid white chairs. I liked the simple look and the ease of buying four at once and for a reasonable $100 for the set.
When I picked them up, the woman selling them had gotten them from her mother, who had purchased them in the 60s from a convent. So I'm giving them bonus points for being holy.
All set, they lend a country vibe to the dining room. They're quite comfortable, though not necessarily chairs you'd choose to lounge all day in. I may whip together some cushy seat covers for them, which will take the country look even further.
Not wanting to go whole hog with that vibe, I went ahead and purchased a modern rug from West Elm (for only $99!) to balance things out.
I love the rug, and I really like the chairs. But I can't lose the feeling in the dining room that it's just not complete. Maybe it's the keyboard that I can't find another space for? Or the lack of curtains? Or the fact that it's a thruway between the living room and kitchen? Maybe the rug isn't big enough?
I'm just not sure. Certainly it's a huge improvement from our first month in the house, before we bought the dining room table that I sanded and stained and my sewing cabinet or put up art.
I'm going to give myself some more time to sit with it and see if the feeling changes before I do anything drastic (you know, like hang curtains - gasp!). And I'll enjoy our new chairs and West Elm rug in the meantime.
And how do you feel about the white? Would you paint the chairs a different color? Or several different colors?
Katie
