The search for Dining Chairs

If you know me at all you know that we've moved quite a few times in the last couple of years.  Our first house was a teeny tiny Trinity in Philadelphia and our second purchase was a Huge Victorian also in Philadelphia (could we get more extreme!!  I know!).  I'll get into more detail on both homes later, but know that between those two homes, our move to Los Angeles and most recently our move to Nashville-we've had tons of furniture.  Some beautiful, some cheap filler furniture, but most of it has gone to a new home.  We sold some (at waaayyy to cheap a price!) to friends, family and strangers on craigslist.  We have some in storage in Philadelphia and some has made the two cross country journey's with us.  Somedays I don't know whether I am coming or going let alone where all my stuff is.  One day I hope to have everything we own in the same place--heck, I'll settle for the same state!

Since we didn't have a dining room in LA our dining table which my hubby made with his own two hands never made the journey.  Same goes for our dining chairs.  I believe we sold the chairs and I honestly don't know where the table ended up.  I think it went to our neighbor.  We moved to LA before our house sold so if it was left in the house, our parents helped remove/store/sell for us.  So....now that we are in Nashville we have once again found ourselves with a dining space and no furniture to put in it.  Soon I will post pics of our amazing little house in the woods.  It's a historic home, with all original solid wood paneling and a very mountain cabin feel.  Certainly completely different from our spanish bungalow in LA!  But, that's a completely different post for another day. 

Anyhoo.....the search for dining chairs began and I knew that I wanted to find something I could redo.  Nothing from a big box store.  We searched a few antique stores and this is what we found.

They had a total of 6 chairs.  5 armless and 1 arm chair and all for $125!
I purchased the fabric below from Fabric.com.  Both were $6.99/yard. 

To paint the bases I used Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint in Old White and I used the soft clear wax over them.  I decided not to distress them, but now I think I may want to...What do you think?  To distress or not distress? That is the question.

Here they are...

xo, dani

$2.50 chairs? Yes, please!!

I LOVE to frequent the Goodwill.  It's hit or miss.  Somedays there is absolutely nothing but junk and  somedays you score a find like these chairs!  When I found them they were in dire need of some love.  They didn't even have seats, but the details are amazing, and at $2.50 a piece how could I not buy them??  Look at the detail on the back or splat of the chair--love the music reference!

Here's a quick look at before...

$2.50 each!!

Love the detail!

I gave them both a quick sand and had to glue and tack a few of the parts to make it sturdy.  Then I hit it them with Rustoleum Black Satin spray paint and a spray polyurethane to protect them.  I made seats out of plywood (yes, I used a jigsaw and still have my extremities!) and attached foam and batting and covered them with fabric I picked up at Joann's a while back on clearance.  Total all in it's under $10.00 for each chair. 

So, what do you think?  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out especially considering how much the entire project cost.  I just picked up a table at the big Nashville flea market that will go perfect with this pair and make for a great set.  I'll keep you posted on that project as well.  The table was $5.00 and also in desperate need of some TLC...

xo, dani