Before & After: Our Craigslist Dining Chairs

Some people have all the luck. They find the most AMAZING deals in the most unlikely of places and can spot a diamond in the rough in an instant. Well, I don’t consider myself one of those people. Sure, I’ve had my fair share of good finds, but I’m definitely not the kind of person who can hop on Craigslist and score the deal of the century.

That is until recently.

While trolling said Craigslist app on my phone one unassuming day back in the fall, I happened to land upon a listing for four Eero Saarinen-style Tulip Chairs. At $350 for the set, I was captured—hook, line and sinker. After confirming with John that these were The Ones, I shot the seller an email and offered $300—SOLD! So, we made the one hour trek out of town to pick them up and then made a date night of it at a local restaurant there to celebrate.

The only problem was the fabric. Now, I fully appreciate that red is sort of an iconic look for these types of chairs, but I rarely embrace warm colors in our house aside from yellow. The red (as you can see a couple of photos up from our Thanksgiving feast) just never felt quite right against our mostly minty fresh and cool gray decor. So I eventually pulled the trigger on two yards of this Sunbrella fabric after hearing about its merits via Kim and Scott, of Yellow Brick Home. Happily, it was a match made in heaven in our household, too.

If you’re wondering if I did the recovering work myself, the answer is an enthusiastic “NO!” I know my limits and sewing is definitely one of them. This time, I decided to let the pros handle the work and took them to my favorite local upholsterer, Phil’s Upholstery. In total, I think I spent about $100 getting all four cushions recovered (including fabric) and while that ain’t nothin’, the finished results are well worth the investment.

^^^Flipping around to the other side of the dining room, you’ll find our china hutch. With Christmas behind us, I switched out my holiday card display to hold a bunch of family photos that my sister had printed for me from Artifact Uprising. It makes me smile every time I catch sight of it.^^^

So, would you have kept the red? And have you landed on any extra fabulous Craigslist finds? I’m ready and willing to live vicariously through you since this story seems to be the exception to my rule of missing out!

Have a great weekend.