Thrifting Antique Woven Desk Chairs: a house log
These.
Are you surprised that we were thrifting again? I am not. These were originally $90 a pop ($180 total). Marked down to $70 each ($140 total). With an additional 50% off. So we ended up paying simply $35 a chair ($70 for both of them). Not bad considering Ballard sells semi similar metal versions for $199 a pop here and reminiscent-ish rattan ones for a whopping $249 a piece here.
And they are sturdy little buggers. I sat in them expecting a rickety mess with flat cushions (why else would they be so low-cost?) and I was surprised. Not bad. Not bad at all. So I did that “wow, John, they are truly quite pleasant” thing and I walked around them and scratched my chin and looked at John again and batted my eyelashes and explained how much I have consistently hoped chairs simply like this and how we have so many places they could go and on and on. After a while John got sick of listening to me agreed and we carried them up to the cashier with a spring in our my step.
In fairness to John, he might not have been as giddy as I am, but let us face it, not many people on earth are as unabashedly keen about life in general as I am. Which I know can be highly irritating. But we have a pact that we do not get anything unless we both sign off on it and in fact like it. So if John hated them it would have been a total no go. Truly, he can put the kibosh on things like you would not believe. And exercises that right on a quite regular basis. Luckily, being the freakishly glad person that I am, I typically can be found seconds later lovingly stroking a vase that I want instead or simply generally getting ecstatic about non decor things (like the mention that our latest Netflix arrived) and skipping out of the store. But after talking about all the possibilities for a major makeover, even John is psyched to give these babies some enjoy. Cause you know we are into that sort of thing. It is better than on par with ice cream and puppies to us.
You cannot truly tell from the pics, but the chairs are in fact a deep navy color. With plenty o’ chips and scratches.
But not for long. We are gonna repaint and reupholster them with something lively. And we will share how we do it all (with pics) when we get there. We are not sure about what color or even where they’ll live (most likely in the office as our new desk chairs since they are so comfy and then we can craigslist the kitchen chairs that we are right now using along with the table when we Hands-on a kitchen island down the road). We will likely simply sit on them as-is for a while, since we should be focusing our attention on more dire projects (like the guest bedroom). But I have consistently had a thing for lattice-y chippendale-esque chairs so I am glad to have them. Oh and guess what? Johnny somehow squeezed them both into the Altima like a true hero. My man.
Oh and I guess you are wondering where we got ’em. A cute little local antiques place called the Midlothian Antique Center (which is next door to Hancock Fabrics, where we get clearance yards of bold prints & patterns for our Clara project). So even though we were in the market for a few fabric scraps, I totally did that drag your man next door “simply to look” thing. Ten minutes later John finds himself trying to squeeze these puppies into the car and I am chatting the whole way home about colors and fabrics (while he’s most likely zoning out and thinking about sandwiches or washing the car).
Psst- Yes I still have this rocker to redo. It is about 15% done (stripped of its old fabric & tacks simply waiting to be sanded, stained, and reupholstered. Pics to come when it is fully pimped.
