I Have a Problem

Hi, my name is Kathy, and I'm addicted to chairs. Especially inexpensive ones. I know the first step to recovery is admitting I have a problem, but I'm not sure I want to be cured. The latest fix? Two Brno Knoll chairs (or knock-offs, I'm no expert) from the Habitat for Humanity Store. I'm sorry, I just couldn't pass them up. They were $12.50 each!

I've been feeling the need for some chrome chairs as of late. A little bit of mod to throw in with my mostly traditional fare. Then like magic, there they were. There were about 15 of these chairs at the store, most with little red sold signs on them. Except for these two. It was destiny.

Now, I just have to live with them for a while and figure out where I want to put them and what fabric to recover them in. They're currently covered in black naugahyde that has seen better days. They have stickers on them that read, "Gresham, Smith and Partners" which is an architectural firm in town. I'm assuming they're redoing their conference room.

Are you familiar with the Brno chair? This is the tubular version, but I've actually had a crush on the flat bar variation for a while. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1930 and made by Knoll, it's one of the first cantilevered chairs to be produced. It has experienced enduring popularity since it was first introduced. 

I'm not sure if mine are authentic Knoll chairs (I can't find any markings), but they look like decent knock-offs if they're not. If they were good enough for an architect's office, they're good enough for me.

This is the Knoll chair from DWR's website. Theirs (with leather) retails for $1,831. I think I'll take my version, thank you very much.

Here is the flat bar version that Lulu de Kwiatkowski has in her California home that was recently featured in Lonny Magazine. This is what started my wheels turning I think. Love her house. You must check it out if you have not.

The white upholstery is so chic.

Some more shots of the Brno chair . . .

The flat bar version again. I'm liking the cowhide. That's an interesting treatment.

Here are some yellow ones I found on Apartment Therapy. Kind of cool.

For fabric, I was thinking of something like this I found on eBay . . .

It's an Ostrich Skin Faux Leather in cream. I'm thinking faux leather might be the way to go. Of course, I need to decide where the chairs are going to help me determine my selection. But I think this might be neutral enough to be moved around. I'm open to suggestions. Any thoughts?

Are you a fan of the Brno?

Sources: Design Within Reach, Knoll, Lonny Magazine, eBay, Apartment Therapy

Round-Up

I've done a little browsing here and there this week between other obligations. Here's what I found:

First, a set of four klismos-style chairs I spotted at the Habitat for Humanity store today for $50 each . . .

I loved the shape and thought they would be great around a round table. The problem? Three were side chairs and one had arms. Very strange. Anyway, while perusing blogs today, I ran across this photo from the Elle Decor Showhouse in San Francisco on Katiedid. Check out the dining room by Palmer Weiss (a designer I love): 

Don't these chairs look similar? You could lime the wood and possibly even add fabric to the wood backs for  a similar effect. What do you think?

My big find at the Habitat store was a $3 black cylinder shade for my $4.99 lamp. That's right, my entire lamp came in for a grand total of $8 and some change. Woo hoo!

I'm kind of digging the retro vibe of the lamp. Sorry, I took this at night, so the lighting is not good.

Earlier in the week, I spotted a pair of ceramic foo dogs at an antique mall for $30 for the pair. Thought that was a great deal. Some people don't like the foo, but I still do.

And this French mirror looked extremely familiar, and while I don't remember the exact price, I think it was pretty reasonable. These last two items were at the Winchester Antique Mall in Franklin.

And although this version is much smaller, I knew I had spotted this look recently both here and here.

Wishing you all a Happy Weekend. I'll be hosting our supper club tomorrow night and I'll try and remember to snap some pics of the finished table before dinner.

Sources: Katiedid

The Week in Review

Life with a new puppy can be exhausting, but this past week has mainly been heartbreaking. Our sweet puppy Piper got violently sick on Tuesday evening so my husband rushed her to the after-hours emergency vet. She was diagnosed with parvo, a severe gastrointestinal virus that can afflict puppies. The bad news is that she spent Tuesday through Saturday at the vet's office. The good news is that our prayers were answered, and she got to come home last night . . . thank God!

Now, that I know that she is recovering, I can share some other things I experienced over the past week. Last Sunday, I got the opportunity to hit the Whitland Neighborhood Home Tour. Whitland is one of Nashville's oldest neighborhoods established in 1910 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. 

One of my favorite homes was this one on Carden Avenue - a new home built to blend in with the older homes in the neighborhood.

 Love these dark gray built-in bookshelves.

 The open floor plan with dark hardwoods was very inviting.

 And the piece de resistance - this fabulous screened-in porch. That view, that lighting, that gabled ceiling. All good.

 I also loved the orange and blue combination they had going on. Wish I could have snuck out with that wingback chair!

Also, the peaceful bedroom. I loved the art throughout the house. It's hard to see but there's a very unique landscape photo of an old beautiful tree above the bed.

In other news . . . 

Pierce lost his first tooth this week. The funny thing? We have no idea where it went. We assume he swallowed it. No worries, the tooth fairy came anyway . . . of course. 

And later in the week, I got the chance to stop by my friends and neighbors' new shop called The Perfect Setting on Hillsboro Road in the Grassland area of Franklin. They have some great things - antiques, new pieces, consignment furniture and wonderful gift items. Of course, they are not new to retail already owning the Antiques at the Factory in downtown Franklin. As a bonus, they are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. So you should stop in and see all the goodies "Mrs. Sheri" and "Mr. Chuck" (as my children call them) have in store.

 

Gray leather, yum.

A cool modern take on the barrel chair.

Yet another chair I covet. Okay, so I have a thing for chairs.

And I LOVE this mirror. Two people put it on hold. It's okay, she can order more.

We're all glad our puppy is home. Now, I'm concentrating on some projects around the house. Stay tuned.

Caveat Emptor

Somehow during my two years of high school Latin, I missed an important lesson . . . caveat emptor or "buyer beware." I should have known better. I should have checked things out more thoroughly, but my enthusiasm clouded my judgment.


Remember this table and chairs . . .

I bought them several weeks ago at the Habitat for Humanity store. I looked them over, noticed some fretwork missing, some scratches and wear, but nothing that would prevent me from buying them. My big mistake? Not sitting in the chairs. I didn't think I needed to . . . they felt solid. I pushed on them. They weren't wobbly. Plus, they had plywood seats with rusty, jagged holes where the screws had been attached. Who would want to sit on that? I might tear my clothes.

So, I got the table and chairs home, put them in the garage until I could get my husband to help me move the table upstairs. Then got to work on sanding and painting the chairs. This was quite the process. I finally got them to the point where I thought they looked just right. But I was still on the hunt for the perfect fabric. Remember this post, where I obsessed over my options?

After ordering swatches online, getting my sister to bring me some from Memphis, and hitting every fabric store in town, I still didn't feel like I had found "the one."

I felt I needed a fabric that had the color of the chairs in it as well as other colors. I wasn't willing to change the chair color, so I kept searching. Then, I remembered a tablecloth and some curtains I had seen at World Market.

So, I bought a couple of curtains to use as my seat fabric. I love a good Tree of Life pattern, and I really thought the vivid colors of this one worked well with my chairs.

So, I cut the fabric, draped it on top of some foam and sat down to test the height of the chair with the cushion. Then I heard the crack. 

That's right, the fretwork on the back of the chairs was broken in two places. And not just on one chair, but on three out of the four chairs! Nice. And, it's not even wood. The fretwork is composite or plastic, if you will. The outside frame of the chair is wood, but not the backs. 

So, I'm trying to make lemonade out of lemons. My friend Becky had this stuff in her garage:

I glued and clamped and let the chairs harden for 24 hours, then repainted the patched area. The result? Only time will tell. They're holding for now, but I don't have much confidence that they can take much wear and tear.  I need to put signs on the chairs that read "lean back gently."

I think they look nice . . . pretty much what I envisioned. I just hate that they might snap at any moment. Not a good feeling. I haven't attached the seats to the chair yet. Still need to find the right screws. Now, I just need to buy or have a banquette made for the other side of the table, but that has its own set of issues. By the way, I sold the old chairs on Craigslist, so those are no longer an option either. Way to burn my design bridges, huh?

In some ways, I feel like this was a DIY disaster. Do you have any projects that did not turn out the way you planned?

Editor's Note: I'm so sorry I've been gone for two weeks now! I was sick for the first week with some mysterious illness that basically made me feel like hell with the vague symptoms of a headache and nausea. And, no, I'm not pregnant. Then my husband was out of town for 10 days on a scuba diving excursion with his dad, and I just didn't have the energy at the end of the day to write a blog post. I so admire single parents. I endeavor to be better about blogging once my son finally starts back to pre-K on Friday!

Help Wanted

While on a little thrifting excursion Monday morning, I happened upon this: 

My love of Chinoiserie is no secret, so my jaw about dropped to the floor when I saw it. I've been looking for a different table and chairs for my breakfast nook since we moved in four years ago. I've always thought an oval table would fit the space better than my dark, rectangular farm table with cabriole legs.

In our old house, we only had one dining area and this table and chairs fit the space and style perfectly. However, in our current house we have a dining room and a breakfast area. This table was too small for the dining room, so into the breakfast area it went.   I've always thought this space needed a different set-up - specifically, an oval table with chairs and a banquette or settee.

So, four years later, I'm excited to announce that I purchased the Chinoiserie-style faux bamboo dining table (with 2 leaves) and four chairs for what I consider to be an absolute steal. Now comes the fun part - figuring out what to do with the finishes and fabric.

It's been suggested I should leave the table as it is . . .

Please excuse my super messy garage.

And paint the chairs a fun color. But it has to be a color that fits in with the rest of my house because of my very open floor plan. Luckily, most of my furniture is fairly neutral. Yet another reason a pop of color might be in order. I'm leaning towards a rich saturated peacock blue shiny lacquer.

Something like the color of this Miles Redd living room maybe. Of course, it would be on the chairs not the wall so you'll have to use your imagination.

I don't think I could pull off anything too bright a la Jonathan Adler:

Of course, there's always white . . .

Although white would not look great against my creamy cabinets. I guess I could go with a creamy white, but that's pretty close to how they look now. So, I could just leave them the way they are if I decide on that route.

Then, of course, there's the all important fabric selection. Should I pick that first, then pick a paint color to complement it?

I've always loved Chiang Mai dragon by Schumacher in the aquamarine colorway. I know some people might think it's overexposed or trendy, but I don't care - it's still one of my favorites. 

Unfortunately, it's super expensive. However, I shouldn't need much since there are just four seats to cover. I'll have to check with my designer friend Kristen to see how the price breaks down and if they have a minimum yardage ordering requirement. 

If it turns out that Chiang Mai is out of my budget (which it might very well be), I've found some other cute fabric options. Please excuse the sheer multitude, I went a little overboard.

Tazo by Premier Fabrics in Cocoa

Tazo in Denton

Tazo in Chartreuse

Key West by Premier Fabrics

Cadence by Premier

Waverly Sun N Shade Tile Trellis Lagoon

Richloom Cornwall Garden

 Waverly Sun n Shade Koi Coral Reef

Milton Creek Indoor/Outdoor Felton Kiwi

Waverly Sun n Shade Sea Scallop Coral Reef

Vertical Chocolate/Natural by Premier Fabrics

Zig Zag in Village Green/Natural by Premier Fabrics

Okay, so that's about a dozen fabrics. I have an obvious love of fabrics too. So, what do you think? Any keepers in the bunch? Would you prefer cream-colored chairs with bright seats? Or brightly painted chairs with a more geometric pattern? Oh, too many choices. So, please give me your opinion. I really do want your help!

Oh, and don't worry about the table and chairs that I'm replacing. I'm planning on using them in my basement once we re-do that (about 5- 7 years from now, if we're lucky) or I might sell the chairs and keep the table. Haven't totally decided yet. I'm a little indecisive. Can you tell?

Sources: House Beautiful, Jonathan Adler, Absolutely Beautiful Things, F. Schumacher, Aesthetic Oiseau, Sweet Nothings, Premier Fabrics, and www.fabric.com.