a tale of 3 chairs.

Stefan, how I loathe thee.

Let me explain: When we purchased our Bjursta table from Ikea a few years ago, we paired it with the Stefan chair- their cheapest dining chair option (I think they run about $20 a piece). They chip really easily. They're flimsy (We had a larger friend often over for dinner, and I could see the chair legs tremble beneath her whenever we ate a meal). And ultimately, they remain a bit lacklustre in our home which we've strived to put our stamp on.

Thus began our search for a suitable replacement. Something that we could customize and would motivate us to actually sit at our expensive table for meals (rather than our comfy leather couch).

We headed to Bibles For Missions- a local secondhand store, where we had previously lucked out on some other furniture finds. Jackie had been there a few days prior and wanted to show me a trio of dining chairs that had a bit of character (something that I initially didn't see... but I think she's better at envisioning an end result than I am). The chairs were a real wood with engraved floral and scroll designs, and the padding was... well, I'm still not sure what color the chair padding was- pink? peach? puce? a combination of the three?

We snapped the 3 up for $40, and headed to Home Depot to select a color for our newfound treasures. 4 cans of Almond Bisque spray paint and 1 can of spray lacquer later, our chairs were transformed! Jackie reupholstered the awkwardly-colored chair seats with a fancy fabric we found at a local quiliting store, and voila!- it was magic!

The chairs have certainly brought an element of brightness to our dark dining nook. For future spray paint jobs, I will definetly be purchasing a spray primer to start the job off (the paint has chipped a bit in some areas... some people seem to think that adds a bit of character, but it's not really the look we were going for).

Shortly after we brought the chairs home, we discovered that they were somewhat of an heirloom for me- my Grandparents recently downsized to move into an assisted living home, and these chairs did in fact belong to them! What are the odds? In a roundabout way, I inherited a peace of history and was able to breathe some new life into it. True, had I asked them, they probably would've given me the chairs for free... but let's not focus too much on the negative.

And so, our trio of chairs will bring many years of happiness to the 3 of us... that is, until a fourth family member comes along...