Surprise, we have new blue tweed dining chairs!
You know how when you lose something, you inevitably find it when you stop looking? I’m starting the think that the same thing happens when you’re questing for “the perfect thing”. I yammered on for years about wanting to replace our brown vinyl dining room chairs and as soon as I stopped looking, I found a set I liked! I actually stumbled across them at HomeSense, and hauled them home from Toronto (I love having a truck).
Although they were but humble chairs from Jysk, our brown chairs were seriously comfy, so every chair I contemplated paled in comparison. I’d recently decided to just spring for new upholstery, but the cost of that seemed daunting – as did attempting to tackle the job ourselves. And, if I’m being honest, I was leery about spending hundreds to reupholster cheap, made in China chairs – even if they were comfy, and we hadn’t had a single problem with them in nearly a decade of use. (We picked them up for $69.97 each, 50% off their original sticker price because they were discontinued and on clearance).
After eight years of looking at brown vinyl, I’m so excited to see these beauties every morning!
What a difference!
The new blue tweed dining chairs are supremely comfortable and the blue tweed upholstery is gorgeous. It’s eerily similar to the fabric I had chosen for re-upholstery – and a perfect match to my stolen Lotte lamps. Actually, this shade of blue pops up in the living room artwork, the dining room painting – even in the kitchen, courtesy of one of the little enamel pieces above the stove and my cathrineholm bowl.
They’re solidly built and made in the USA, which I love. They have a slightly curvier, more interesting shape which is nice, plus the silver upholstery tacks are a fun touch! I like that they look modern because although I love mid-century, I don’t want my house to look like a time capsule. I would have preferred walnut(ish) legs instead of espresso, but I could easily paint or re-stain them later. I recently added furniture with a really dark stain somewhere else in the house, so the finish doesn’t look too out of place here. They were $149 a chair, which isn’t bad for something manufactured in North America. I’m always willing to pay a bit more for stuff that isn’t made in China!
I just love the blue tweed dining chairs with the teak!
The first day that I made the switch, I couldn’t get over how much brighter and airier the dining room felt. I hadn’t realized that the darker chairs made the room feel heavy and really grabbed my attention. Now my eyes travel over the dining room table to the lake view beyond. Next to go is the dark brown ottoman in the living room. It’s falling apart, so we plan to build a custom one – with storage – this fall, and we’ll probably still stick with the blue tweed I was ogling.
For anyone who is on a similar hunt for comfy dining chairs, these are made by Sole Designs. I scooped mine up at HomeSense (like HomeGoods, for my American friends). But the company sells their chairs on Amazon too, and I found the same shape in an insanely adorable orange and aqua, Mondrian-inspired print. They make a mid-century inspired ottoman with the same pattern and I want it. Sole Designs also sells this style chair in a sweet pink Greek key pattern and busier blue and pale purple fabric. I’ll keep you posted on how these wear. I already gave them two coats of ScotchGuard (which I’ve never, ever used) in the hopes of protecting the upholstery from stains. I’ve grown very accustomed to wipe-able, dirt hiding brown vinyl!
They look amazing and you're right, they do make the room look brighter.
Thanks! I spent about two weeks eating in the living room with the tags still on the dining room chairs, thinking "is this is? is the quest really over?" I just love how much brighter and airier the space looks – happy you see it too!
These look fantastic! I love the fabric and the shape which is similar but a little more unique than the old chairs. Interesting how they make the blue velvet chair in the corner look! I thought they were almost the same color, but then you look at the two in the same shot, and they're very different! Photography is a funny thing, isn't it!
Thanks! It's my old camera that's been causing the colour confusion. Its colour sensor has been failing for a long time and it makes any green/aquas appear bluer and duller. I finally bought a new camera – a DSLR – and have only recently begun experimenting with it. The very last photo is taken with the new camera and it's the most true to life. The photo with Szuka is with the new camera too, but the others are with my old camera. I'm going to learn how to use it more in the next few weeks – and I just ordered a wide angle lens – then I plan to photograph the whole house again. I'm very excited to be able to more accurately depict it, because it's always lost something in photos…
First of all, LOVE the new chairs – they are gorgeous and absolutely perfect for your home! Second, YES about the color sensor – my camera is the worst with greens and teals, which is problematic since emerald green is one of my favorite colors to use in my home… I feel your pain! Your photos always look fantastic anyway, by the way 🙂 A new camera is super exciting though!
Thanks!! I'm SO pleased with them. The brown vinyl was such a jarring attention grabber between my cheery aqua kitchen and living room.Isn't that colour sensor problem the worst!?! Argh. Why is that these cameras seem to narrow in our favorite colours to not photograph properly? Well, I've always thought your photos look gorgeous too and your malachite curtains seem the perfect colour! I am very, very excited to figure out how my new camera works. The pictures already seem sharper and richer.
They look great!! PS Your house is amazing. I'm in love with your dining/family room. In love.
Thanks! I've been slowly, slowly (slowly!) working on this space, tweaking it here and there. I think after a new ottoman and maybe some new throw pillows I'll be done-ish! I'm so happy that most of the furniture from our old place transitioned nicely – it made it easier to splash out on a few new additions.
I really like them. I wasn't sure at first glance if I liked em in the space because all I saw was the mint chair behind them…but when I saw the 3rd to last pic, with the lamps and all the art work, they look great! Everything ties together very nice, but anything blue with nail head trim is good in my book! Good thing I'm not a decorator lol, I have no vision of how things will look together. I just buy what I like, mash it all together and hope it works lol.
I knew you'd like these! I wasn't sure exactly what shade they were in the fluorescent store lighting but I liked the colour. When I finally got them home, I was surprised how identical they are to the lotte lamps and the same blue pops up elsewhere. I got lucky!! Although I'd probably try to make any shade of blue or teal work, haha.
lolllll
It is amazing how different they look at different angles and against different backdrops. I love the darker teal shades in the blue green family. Like, can't get enough of it. Those chairs go so perfectly in your house. Just lovely.
Some of that might be my switching between two cameras, but the blue is shot with a black or dark grey so they do transform a bit in different light and, like you said, from different angles. Happy to hear you're a fellow teal fan!! We need more teal in this world 🙂
Perfect! The colour is gorgeous. Good find!
Thanks!! I had a stroke of luck – finally 🙂
Love the chairs! They go so great with the charcoal color of your fireplace/mantle and with your doggy! All around beautiful design in the room as well! : )
Thank you!! My dog loves them a little too much. She rubs along them, depositing white curly fur (which never stuck to the vinyl ones). Hopefully she tires of the newness soon. But I can't blame her for liking them 😉
Awesome find. Your room NEEDS to be in a magazine!!!
Awww, you're too sweet!
beautiful! I love their color and the texture looks great as well.
Thanks! I'm really liking anything tweed or tweed-ish right now. Hoping my interest doesn't wane because I've got two sets of tweed drapes on the horizon for other rooms, haha!
We've been away so I'm just catching up on my favourite blog. I love, love the chairs. They belong in that space.As you know you're the one who inspired my chair fabric choice so I can't imagine another colour.
Hi Again!! I hope you've had a good summer so far. I knew you'd like the chairs! I'm lucky to have found them (finding a good upholstering service in town seemed daunting)