Dining Chair Transformation: From Drab to White and Fab

I have a billion projects going at once.  I am so busy with them that have not been good about blogging about any of them!  In fact, today I went on a treasure hunt in consignment shops and forgot to take my camera!  I haven't posted in a week, so I thought I would share something that I am pretty excited about.

About a month ago, I was hunting around in a consignment store looking for all sorts of stuff, when I found these dining chairs.  Before we even closed on the new house, I knew that I wanted to make the foyer, living and dining room all in whites and neutrals.  Since my farmhouse dining table had red ladder back chairs, I knew I would have to switch them out.  Don't worry though, those red ladder backs are super happy in a new location that I might show you soon.

before

So back to the chair I found.  I knew the light wood was perfect for my farmhouse table and the wonderful shell motif across the top of the back added a nice tropical "I live in Florida" feel.  I didn't care about the fabric on them and it's a good thing because this fabric is u g l y!   I knew that I was most likely going to have them recovered.  I have the best upholsterer, Chris Green, so all I had to do was find the perfect chairs and fabric.  I knew these chairs were most likely pretty high end and after doing a little research, I found out that they were in fact, Bernhardt dining chairs that were originally about $425 each!  The gal selling them had marked them down three times and after speaking with her, she took $80 each for them. Steal!  

I checked out Calico Corners for fabric, but in the end used materials ordered through Chris.  Since white dining chairs can be a frightful thought.  I mean, what happens when Sloppy Poppy comes over and spills in his lap?!!  My solution?  White leather seat cushions, leaving the lovely white on white floral silk pattern for the backs.  The leather is easily wiped clean of any spills.

Chris just finished them this week and delivered them.  I'm in love! They look great in the dining room, which I will show you at another time.  It's still being re-designed.

After

After

One of the fun projects that is keeping me from blogging.  I am hoping to get better about this. I promise!

-The End-