One of our dining chairs…

One of our dining chairs broke underneath a guest (embarrassing!) -- the others were rickety too, so since then, we've been looking for replacements. We were aiming for a mismatched (yet coordinated) look, which is admittedly tricky to pull off. I found two chairs I really liked at Nadeau, solid rosewood with metal jali work in the back. The seat is wood slats, and could probably use a cushion, which I will sew when I get a chance.

Then we got a gift card to Restoration Hardware, which led to buying the two head and foot armchairs there -- and they arrived today! They're pretty big and dramatic, but the dining room does have ten foot ceilings and really tall windows, so I think it can take it. Yes? We're aiming for a dining room with something of a library feel; we have three bookshelves in there (securely mounted to the walls last week, hooray -- no more worrying about Anand climbing on them!), and I expect that even with our offices upstairs, there will be a lot of times when Kev or I (or someday the kids) will end up working at the dining table (or playing games, or doing jigsaw puzzles). I like rooms to be multipurpose, if it can be done in a coherent way. So I wanted the head chairs to be super-comfy, so we could easily sit in them for a long time. For me, these work; hopefully they will for the rest of the family too.

They don't go particularly well with the table, but the table is going to be replaced when we can afford it. (Still debating round versus oval versus rectangle, feel free to weigh in if you have an opinion.) If I sew seat cushions for the Indian chairs in a neutral shade similar to the fabric on the new chairs, I think it'll help marry them. And then for the other 2-4 chairs we buy, we'll probably aim for something quite simple in that same neutral shade, again to try to marry them together into a coordinating set. Ideally with a bit of carved wood detail somewhere, to echo the details in the other chairs. It may be a while before we find them, which is okay, because we're out of furniture money for a year or so anyway. :-)

Anyway, here they are -- I think they're awfully purty, in a medieval sort of way. It's the English baroque with a printed burlap back and seat. Our last set of dining chairs lasted about ten years; I'm hoping these last a lot longer. Fingers crossed.

3 thoughts on “One of our dining chairs…”

  1. I like the ensemble a lot as is!

    But, if you are going to replace the table, in my experience an oval (elliptical) table seats more people with less wasted space than any other. One of my former Ph. D. students is an avid woodworker; he made his family an oval table which was about six feet long and maybe three feet wide at the widest point. It seated six people comfortably and fit nicely into a limited space. I don’t know how this fits with your decor, but I have liked the concept ever since.

  2. Oval is great, the only problem is finding oval tablecloths…

    Whatever you get, make sure it extends, so you can seat more people. My favorite concept from my grandparents was the idea of being able to use a bench from elsewhere in the house as extra dining seating….

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *