My Easter post will be coming soon, but I’d love some input from all of you brilliant bloggers and readers about this lovely (read sarcasm) piece of furniture. We inherited a decent table and four of these chairs a few months ago (Don’t you love how I never pay for things?). The table is oak, but will look really nice if I can get a dark stain on it. But for the record let me state that I hate these chairs! No offense to anyone who has them–they are all over the place–but I hate everything about them. The oak. The busy shape. and especially the busy carving design. To me it looks “wanna-be western.”
Here’s the shocker…dh likes them! Especially the price tag, but he LIKES oak, and LIKES the carvings. And now we have the opportunity to get another 6 of the same chairs for cheap. They are actually a lighter wood, (but the exact same style) so something would have to be done to unify them.
So here is my big question, since it isn’t in the budget to go out and buy new chairs that I love, is there anyway to spiff these up enough that I won’t hate them? I am considering a very dark stain. That would take care of the oak, but what about all of the busy carving? Would it look better then? Could I make them look like cool antiques (not 80’s wanna-be western)? I have seen some fantastic makeovers in blogland, and I’m wondering if any of you have come across one featuring these chairs. I would love to see some inspiration!
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Could you do some kind of upholstery over the back? The only thing “bad” about the chairs is all the frilly-ness on the back. The arms, seat, and legs are good. There’s got to be a good way to disguise the back.
I’d paint them a creamy white and then distress them by rubbing off some paint and making some dings and dents; then, maybe a burlap seat cushion.
I’m a BIG fan of free, just like you! Depending on your decor, I lean towards painting a light color (as the previous poster suggested). There are chair covers that could fit just over the back, carved portion…almost like a tie on vest for the chair. Do ALL the chairs have arms? If so, there might not be room for all the chairs….that takes up a lot of room!
depending on your “style” I think you could pop them up with bright colors. In the plain spot on the top you could put… something like a name, or a themed something (like birds or flowers or what ever you are into) I also like the idea of painting them a lighter color and then brighten them up on the legs and then put a name or something in the middle!
you would sure have your work cut out for you sanding and re-staining all of them. Because in order to get them all the same color wouldn’t you have to stain first? But I agree, I think they can be worked with. It’s only the carving on the back that is bugging me. My vote would be painting and distressing – though I would go with a nice rich red or a green, or even a black instead of white but I don’t know if that would match your kitchen.
I wonder if you couldn’t remove the arms. It seems to me that this would improve the look dramatically, just by simplifying it. Besides like Susan before me said, the armed chairs do take up a lot of room. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but I wonder if you wouldn’t want to sand/cut down the seat a little bit–maybe make it less “wavy.” Then you could easily make a chair cover for the back, or I like the paint idea better. Slightly distressed red? I actually think they could look pretty cool.
OK. You guys have got me thinking. Thanks for the input! Keep it coming! Not all of the chairs have arms, but I think I would probably end up with 4 arm chairs between the two sets, so I would need to try and remove the arms off of a couple of them. The wood in my kitchen nearby is kind of a deep maple (but not super dark). Lots of neutrals on the walls and floor, but my decor is mostly reds and greens. I have sage curtains. I am wondering about a martha stewart green? I’d love to do something fabric-wise, but it would have to be cleanable (young kids), and I’m still trying to visualize where it would go.
Thanks for the inspiration. If you see any pics I should take a look at, leave me the URL.
Kendra…Yes, they are fussy, but they have LOTS of charm. I’m with A Touch Of Country on doing them white-washed white. I think it would cut down on all the frou-frou that way. Good luck with them!! I can’t wait to see what you decide.
If you really want that busy design to fade away I would paint them black.
The other thing you could do is make slip covers (using a table runner is an easy way to do it) that cover the middle. Paint the chair any color you want and that would make them pop and the busy design would be hidden. It’s also a great way to give your dining set a new look at each change of seasons.
my first thougth was to paint them a flat black. Then I thought of red. Or you could do them black and then red and distress the red so the black shows through (using wax)
what are you going to do with 10 chairs?! that’s a heard of chairs!
Those are kind of cool. I think I would paint them either black or white. Or off white. I kind of like the carving. My in-laws have some that are almost exactly like that. They like the oak. I personally hate oak, so I would paint them. I think it would look great!
XOXO
Jen
Lisa said exactly what I was thinking. I totally see “Meeka” with some little birds, and I would paint them all different colors because I’m a big color dork. I wouldn’t remove any arms that I didn’t have to… but then EVERY chair in my kitchen has arms. I Love me some arm chairs! But I think these are a fabulous opportunity! If you didn’t want more arm chairs, it’s easy enough to make them into rocking chairs and have two porch chairs instantly. I like the shape of those arms for other things, too. You could hang them in a wave pattern on the wall for a hip chunky board bookshelf or turn them perpendicular and make them into very snappy coat/hat hooks. Or… hang a chair on the wall. I have a chair hanging that has a vining plant on it. the vine grows up and around it, but is easy enough to remove for Thanksgiving when everyone is here. These would be easy to make into a 3-chair bench, too. Okay. As the possibilities are swimming through my thoughts, I am becoming jealous of the chairs. Time to go, I guess. Can’t wait to see the finished product!
Oh my gosh. I am so in love with your blog. I just found it, and I wish I had found it earlier because your easter decorations were AMAZING. And the idea about “She’s about to POP”…also Amazing. Cannot wait to read more.
All right Kendra…i am so done looking at this chair! No wonder you want to do something about them. If it was a rocking chair I think it would be pretty cool but a little much for a dining room chair. I think you have lots of great ideas and I would love a new post. I know I am a brat but I am your little sister so I am aloud no matter how grown up we get. 😉
I inherited the same thing! {well close to it} And I painted them all black. It totally looks so classy. It really disguised the nasty carving and made it look so nice.
I love the chairs….I’d give my eye teeth for a set of them….and in oak….I’d strip them and let the natural wood shine through…..your so lucky. I think Dark stain would ruin them…..But being younger than me I can see you want something different…..but what is wrong with bare Oak…..:
my two cents…..they are your chairs……and am sure what ever you do will look great………
Hi! I just found your blog and I think it's great. You do a wonderful job.
I feel the same way you do about the carvings on the chair and the oak wood. If the carvings were gone, I'd see a great chair with interesting lines.
On the chance that you're still open for ideas, I'll leave a comment. I have a bit of experience with this type of thing, having refinished (in one form or another) my share of ugly furniture/chairs that initially came to me at a great, frugal price: free (or pretty close to it).
So many elements in just one chair. 🙂 If I were given these chairs, I'd carefully sand the carvings in an effort to either eliminate them or at least reduce their prominence. First, I'd try my hand at getting rid of the flowers (or greatly reducing their impact), then see how the scroll work looks by itself. Does that make sense? If the scroll work is still too busy, I'd try to sand down some of the busier aspects of it. I know oak is a harder wood, but with a bit of elbow grease, time & patience, you'll be rewarded for your efforts.
As for a final finished look, I, too, would lean toward a dark stain. However, stripping and then staining something with this much detail work (even after you remove the flowers) would drive me insane…not to mention the huge mountain of laundry that would pile up. LOL
If you go with paining them, say, an ecru or off white color, take some sand paper and remove a bit of the paint so the carved elements you do like, if any, can stand out a bit.
Good luck with whatever you choose. They have great promise.