1. I haven't redone a whole lot of stuff.
2. More importantly, I forget to take "before" photos thus lessening the "ooh and ahh" effect. Because seriously, who cares what something looks like now if you didn't bother to record the piece of crap it was before.
But, I did happen to find some great shield-back dining chairs on Craigslist a few months back AND I remembered to take a couple of photos. I knew they would need to be reupholstered, but I also got the idea to paint them white making them look a little less granny and a little more current.
Without further ado . . . here is the BEFORE:
And drum roll, please . . . the AFTER:
Some people, and you may be among those, think I'm crazy for painting these perfectly nice mahogany chairs white. First of all, I actually paid a nice lady and her daughter to paint them for me. Secondly, I like the effect and just wanted something different that would contrast with my fairly traditional dining room table. I re-upholstered the seats myself. They're not perfect, but who cares.
I ordered a host and hostess chair in the same fabric for either end of the table from one of my best friends Kristen, the interior designer (who has access to great stuff).
I could have gone with a coordinating fabric but I had already purchased way more of this fabric than I needed, so I used what I had. Plus, I liked the idea of having different styles of chair with the same upholstery.
So, finally, after almost two years of having just a dining room table with no chairs (I can be indecisive at times, and at other times just lack the funds), I have a somewhat complete dining room.
Ta-da!
So what do you think? Should I have left well enough alone?
10 comments:
I love what you did with our dining room. I love even more how you went about doing it. The wall color, the shield chairs, and even the lamp you pilfered from Inga ... it's all good and I love it!!!
I love the chairs. They really pop in that room. We also went almost two years without dining room chairs before we found our Danish Modern ones on Craigslist (and in Nashville)!
I am really enjoying your blog. You are inspiring me to work some more on the one I have been writing in my head for months!
Thanks for reading, Erika, and I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it. Now go write that blog so I can read it!
And thanks, Matt. I appreciate your support and am glad you love our dining room!
Love it! Can't wait to eat dinner around the table sitting on the new chairs. Well worth the wait. I agree the chairs definitely pop against the dark wood and the grey/blue walls.
Love Love!!
I think the chairs are fun! Besides if you ever get tired of the white, you can always strip the paint off and refinish them again.
Also, I need you to teach me how to reupholster the cushions in our dining room chairs. They came from my grandmother, and they could use a major major facelift.
Thanks, everyone! And, Jennifer, I'm not sure I'd be much of a teacher, but I'll be happy to share what I did.
I love your chairs, I'm dying to redo mine. I NEED THOSE HOSTESS CHAIRS!! It's between doing that and using a settee on one side. I'm not sure which way I'll go.
Love it!! I have some shield back chairs that I'm dying to repaint! I am definitely doing white and think it looks so much better than the mahogany! Quick question - did you use paint or spray paint??
I love the idea of using a settee on one side of a table. I'm dying to do that in my casual eat-in kitchen area.
Fran, I didn't actually paint the chairs myself. I didn't think I'd have the patience to sand them and paint them correctly. But the mother-daughter team I hired to paint them, used paint I'm pretty sure because I had to pick out a white from their paint decks (which is a lot harder than it seems). I believe we went with Decorator's White by BM. I'm assuming they used an oil-based paint, but I'm not positive. Hope that helps, and good luck with your chairs! I'm sure they'll look great!
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