I had been using outdoor furniture to sit on in the dining room. I didn't get a picture of the benches at the new dining room table, but they were some wooden benches that my boyfriend made earlier this year when he was still in grad school. This is what they looked like:
So, yea, not exactly suitable for indoor use. Or at least not for my taste. I looked around for chairs, and I found plenty of affordable options at Ikea. Here's the Ingolf chair at $59.99 each:
I found a lot of chairs that were very modern, some with metal legs, like the Scoop-back chairs from West Elm:
But I knew they wouldn't really work with the old farm dining table that we bought at a vintage store. And my unprofessional observation is that modern is very in-style right now. So it was difficult to find what I was looking for. (But it didn't help that I didn't know what I was looking for, either.) Suddenly, I had an epiphany. I could buy cheap Ikea chairs, but then I would have to gussy them up with cushions which could potentially be a total pain so that the chairs themselves wouldn't be totally uncomfortable. Where would I find the cushions? How would I pick the fabric? So I started looking at upholstered chairs. Not the best choice for a dining room where food is often spilled, granted, but very, very comfortable. THen I realized that cushy chairs are expensive. Like these Grid-tufted dining chairs at $199 each from West Elm:
So I basically gave up all hope and enjoyed my lovely handmade wooden benches. However, this story does have a happy ending! While my dad was in town last month, we decided to look for chairs. We ended up going to World Market, whose chairs I had looked at before, and found that they had the perfect cushy upholstered chairs on sale! The only catch was that one store had one on display that was broken and dirty, another store had only one, and a third store had three. So we figured it out and ended up going to three stores. My dad was a wonderfully good sport throughout the entire process. As far as I can tell, they discontinued the chairs and that's why they were such a good deal. World Market currently has other sort-of similar styles in stock (Anna Slipcover collection at $99/chair + $30/slipcover = $129/each and the Sand Tufted Chair at $130/each). So, without further ado, here is the new dining room:
And yes, one chair is missing from this picture (although I do have four, and they fit just fine, thank you). And yes, again, it is a bit of a squeeze for these chairs in this space. But I couldn't be happier. They are so comfy, and the white of the chairs goes well with the white painted legs of the table. (Notice the lovely light fixture! And the walls still haven't been painted. I'm having a bit of a chicken or the egg problem with the backsplash tile colors in the kitchen versus the wall colors. In short, I want to retile the kitchen backsplash, but I don't know which color to choose.)
Here's the dining room table from the 'window' opening in the living room:
And, I couldn't resist, here is the table actually being used while I studied for my midterms:
That thing sticking out of the floor is where one of the previous owners removed a radiator. Good thing too. Or else I would definitely not be able to use my awesome dining room chairs. Soooo now the dining room is fully functional. Awesome!
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