We finally scored some chairs for the dining room, thanks to this craiglist ad emailed to us by our friend Sandra (muchas gracias!).
You’re probably thinking: what are they thinking?! Parsons chairs? Yup, that’s exactly what we’ve wanted since day one. Thirty bucks? Yeah baby. Weird green and blue swirly pattern? Um… no comment.
But since the price was right (we actually bargained them down to $25 per chair, coming to $200 total for all 8) and the shape/lines were right (they’re solid and very well-made) we figured it was time to pounce (with some reassurance from a few online tutorials about dyeing fabric, making slipcovers, or reupholstering parsons chairs). So in the end we hope to end up with eight affordable and well made parsons chairs without this… uh… “unique” fabric. Hopefully sooner rather than later…
As for how we got them home, I borrowed my sister’s Explorer (since I knew we couldn’t fit them in our Altima without making at least three trips) and drove 90 minutes round trip to Mechanicsville to pick up the chairs. I wish I’d brought the camera (or was fancy enough to have a decent cell phone cam) because the guy selling them lived on a giant horse farm, so the scenery was beautiful. And since Sherry and Clara stayed at home (to make room for more chairs in the car) I wished that I could have taken some photos so they could see it.
The guy selling them was a real character. I expected to pick up the chairs from his dining room, but instead he led me back to a bunch of large storage crates in his backyard (I must admit this is where craigslist horror stories started flashing through my mind and I wondered if I was being kidnapped). Then he rolled up the door to one of the storage crates to reveal that it was FILLED TO THE BRIM with these chairs. I never got the story behind how he ended up with so many, but my guess is that they came from some hotel auction or something. All that mattered is that they were in good condition (solid, sturdy, clean, no pet/smoke odors, etc) and that he was happy to let me put a dent in his collection and leave with eight of those babies.
Here I am back home with my booty (that’s not a butt reference, I mean the chairs), cheesy pose and all (sometimes I defer to cheesy poses when Sherry runs towards me with the camera, you know, just to humor her). And yes, I was extremely proud of fitting all eight of them into my sister’s car in one trip. There was even a call to Sherry where I told her I could only fit six so I needed to make two trips with a big fat “just kidding!” at the end.
As a reminder, here’s what the dining room looked like back when it was chair-less…
…and here it is now with eight new occupants. Actually only seven are pictured because Sherry likes that more breathable look for “everyday” (we can easily add in the eighth one when we need it – until then it’s hanging out in our chaotic playroom with 99% of our other “extra stuff”).
We keep having to remind ourselves to look past the crazy pattern and enjoy the fact that we scored a serious deal on the exact style of chair (with clean lines and solid construction) that we’ve been eying.
The best price we’ve seen so far on any new parsons chair is around $85 (Pottery Barn sells similar ones for $299!), so as long as we can correct the swirly fabric for less than $60 per chair, we made the right call. Even if it means that our dining room looks a bit like a hotel conference room for the time being…
Sherry found a few online tutorials for dyeing fabric directly on furniture that we might try (although dye = scary, so we might skip right to the next step, which would be to make slipcovers or reupholster them in the crisp apple green color that Sherry has been dreaming of from day one). So that’s the story of driving out to a farm and squeezing eight $25 chairs into my sisters car. Maybe you guys have recent craigstlist deals to share? Or an “I can’t believe I got that to fit into my car” tale to tell?
Angela says
The very day after I read this post, I went to our local library, into the periodicals room….and they have five or six chairs covered in the lovely hotelesque generic commercial fabric that adorns your parsons chairs. I almost laughed out loud!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, that’s awesome!
xo,
s
Bari says
I totally know that fabric – it’s a contract grade fabric by Momentum
Schmooze Lake
https://www.themomgroup.com/servlet/quickSearchSpecs.jsp?prodNo=09044308&patternPos=189&colorPos=5&chairImgKey=&backToPage=/servlet/quickSearch.jsp&favorites=&navDirection=detail&searchType=library
Thought you two might get a kick out of knowing the fabric name for your new chairs!
YoungHouseLove says
Love it!!
xo,
s
Katie says
I’m a huge fan of your blog! You both have given me so many great ideas. Your new house looks great and I’m always excited to see what will happen next.
I love the style of your new dining chairs. I’m in the market for some new parsons style dining chairs. I know this is a lot to ask, but would you mind looking at these avington parsons chair from target and giving me your opinion? I’m trying to decide between the stripes or leaf pattern. I’m nervous b/c I need 6 of them and I don’t want it to look too much.
Your opinion on this would mean so much. Just tell me if you think it would look crazy or if you like one pattern better than the other.
Thanks so much. I truly appreciate it.
http://www.target.com/Avington-Parsons-Chairs-Set-Leaf/dp/B00239OXF4/ref=in_de_detail-item-display
Katie
YoungHouseLove says
I have been obsessed with the striped ones for years! They even pop up in our old mood boards from time to time. That’s our vote for sure! Good luck with everything!
xo,
s
Katie says
Sherry,
Thanks so much!! I just told my husband how lucky I was to be able to ask such experts questions about our little house! :)
You guys are the best!
Katie
Denise says
You mentioned that dye=scary. How about paint? You know you love to paint. I just emailed you a tutorial link. Whatever you do, I know they will be fabulous. Price wise – what a steal.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah we love the chair painting tutorials we’ve found (there’s a headboard one too) but we’re skeeeered! Maybe we’ll find the courage someday…
xo,
s
Denise says
I hear you! But if anyone can muster up the courage, it’s YHL. Have a great weekend.
Rosalyn says
I saw this in my blog perusing today and thought of you. http://primitiveandproper.blogspot.com/2010/06/french-bed-transformation_17.html
The blogger painted the fabric. Interesting but looks great – I just thought I would share.
Can’t wait to see the end results!
YoungHouseLove says
Yeah we love that project! So gutsy!
xo,
s
Meggan Britton says
Oooh! I just had an amazing find on craigslist. An armoire that I got for free! I actually love everything about it, from the color, to the solid wood construction, to the fact that it was made in Italy where I lived for a year and a half! I posted pictures of it on my blog. I was going to use it as an extra pantry, but now I want to turn it into my sewing cupboard…so many choices!
Jenni says
I once fit three tall leather bar stools into my VW Beetle. The sales guys couldn’t believe it.
sonya says
When I first saw the pattern, I thought “yuck”, but then when I see the pic with the chairs around your table, I think they actually look kinda unexpected and funky (in a good way) and the colors in the fabric go really well with the paint tones in the room. But they probably look better in the pic than in person…
Emily says
Drat, the photo disappeared. That’s what I get for only posting it on twitter, I guess.
I was on the hunt for a cheap wing chair that I could adopt. Thanks to Craig, I found one… Yippee, skippy, I convince the Huz to drive down with me to get it. In my Honda Civic Sedan.
Yes, the wing chair fit in the car. Without detaching anything (on the chair or car). Huz & I had to squeeze in around it.
lmao… it’s pretty classic. And I may have the pix still somewhere, if you would like to giggle.
:-)
Joy says
Call me crazy, but I don’t hate the fabric. But, I also don’t have to live with it.
Reagen says
Don’t know if someone’s already suggested this, but since John loved the hack of Ana White’s furniture for your upcoming console table, did you know that she also has a pretty easy tutorial for slipcovering parson’s chairs using drop cloths? Cheap, basic straight-line sewing, and it’ll cover that conference room look that you currently have. Of course, you could use a fancier material in the green color your looking for too. Here’s the link: http://ana-white.com/2010/11/drop-cloth-parson-chair-slipcovers.html
I love seeing the bold new choices you’re making. Thanks for inviting us into your home on a daily basis!
Reagen
YoungHouseLove says
Yes- I love that post! It will definitely come in handy when it comes to slipcovers!
xo,
s
katie says
waaaaaay too many comments to go through and see if this has already been suggested but…just saw another blog undertake a similar project. they posted the results, and promised a how-to — thought you’d be interested!
http://itsgreattobehome.net/2011/04/07/the-saga-of-the-breakfast-room-chairs-finished/
YoungHouseLove says
Yes! Those look so amazing! Can’t wait for her how-to post!
xo,
s
Rebecca @This Nest is Best says
We wanted to purchase a daybed from Ikea, which is a two hour drive from our home. Since we drive a Prius, we were skeptical that it would fit, but I diligently called the service center for dimensions. Score! Everything should fit with room to spare. Fast forward to grabbing the boxes from Ikea…I had been told that the longest box (the one most problematic) was 9″ high. When we pulled the box off the shelf, it was more like 29″. Mild panic set in. We decided to go ahead and purchase just to see (we could always return it right away). After stripping off the box, rearranging the pieces several times, and only slightly scratching the center console, we drove home with a large panel not 3″ from my face. But, hey, we made it home!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man- so glad you made it home! What a close call!
xo,
s
Grace says
I was so excited to see this post, my husband and I got the same chairs off Craigslist for our dining room. Apparently they are from a casino in North Carolina, according to the man that sold them to us. We haven’t purchased slipcovers yet (we are still deciding on a a color) but we bought them for the same reason as you: a great deal and excellent lines to work with. Good to know they clean up nicely with a simple slipcover!!
YoungHouseLove says
THANK YOU THANK YOU for solving the mystery of where they are from. When I picked them up i asked where he got them but I don’t think he heard me so I just sort of let it go (at the time I was too focused on getting them to fit in the car anyways). How funny to say we own casino chairs. Wonder if anyone won big in any of them…
-John
Catherine says
Hi.
Tell me about the table please.. I would love to have something like that for my place… the chairs look great too!
:)
Catherine
YoungHouseLove says
That’s something we found super on sale at a discount store in Richmond called The Dump. It’s made of solid sheesham wood and i think originally made by Haverty’s. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Michael says
as a few other posters suggested–as much as i dislike the fabric, i have to admit as a “temporary” fabric, a lot of the tones are eerily reminiscent of Suem if not a dated and uglier version….long term solution? no….in a pinch? honestly, they could have been hot pink. these actually work with your decor until you get them “fixed.” go, Craigslist!
and should you ever need, like 1 or 72 more….you know whose door (er, storage shed) to go knocking on! bonus!
Stacey says
I just saw your new post about your new kitchen table. I am so jealous! I just thought I would share that I also have the same hotel chairs from the same character in Mechanicsville! John – I had the same Craigslist horror story thoughts that you did! My chairs are still a work in progress as well, but I have heavy off-white duck fabric slipcovers that seem to be doing the trick for my West End abode!
YoungHouseLove says
So funny!
xo
s