Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I'll Show You To Your Seats

I have a confession. For as much as I love antiques, I hate garage sales. Hate, hate, hate them. We have several "communities" that have big street wide sales around here. Ron loves them and has gotten Lauren loving them. She sees a sign while we are driving and starts begging to stop. Unlike those two, garage sales give me panic attacks. It must be the clutter and disorganization. (Or the load of 10cent crap that people put out!)

Now estates sales, on the other hand, are a completely different story. In NY, estate sales are whole house sales, usually after someone has passed away. And you go right in the house. (I have heard it isn't like that everywhere). Absolutely everything in the house has a price tag on it, and most of the people running the sales will deal on prices a little bit. (My Mom is particularly good at getting prices down.)

Some estates are better then others, obviously. On Monday, Jacob and I hit a really really really good one!! We were late to the party, though. Most of these have lines out the door at 8am and we wandered in at noon. There was this very unassuming little ranch looking home sitting there on a very quiet street. There were dozens of cars lined up and down the road. We we went into the house, we found out why. There was this gigantic gourmet kitchen. It was insanely cool. And everywhere the place was over flowing with collections of things.

I went down to the basement and among shelves and shelves of old sheet music, there was these old theatre chairs. There were five and I decided to take the best two. I was a good shopper and checked that the wicker was in tack (not a hole to be found), no chew marks on any of the legs, the seats move up and down well, and no rips in the leather. When I got home I tried google searching antique theatre chairs with no luck. Everything I found was the style that are wood and connected together. One friend suggested they might be Victorian. She said Victorians were big into their wicker. I would love to find out more about them. But, alas, I think the old man who's estate was being bought up took all that info with him.

Wanna guess how much I paid for them? Guess... come on... guess... $8 each. Seriously. $8.

I have big plans for these old chairs. They are going to be "a glass of wine" for my new living room. (Thanks again for that analogy Belvedere Beads!) I plan to give them a good scrub, clean the leather and reupholster the cloth backs. I have narrowed it down to one of three fabrics, all are from Anna Maria Horner's new Garden Party collection. Here are the choices: Turquoise Center Piece, Navy Centerpiece, or Navy Guest Of Honor. Then, when they are all dolled up, they will go under the window near the fire place in the living room.

*sigh* I love these old chairs.

Feel free to comment on what you think of my fabric choices. Give it to me straight... Ron already said he hates them, so I can take it. But you gotta try to have vision people. LOL.

21 comments:

Michele H said...

Congratulations on your cheap find. I love garage sales and getting a bargain like this always gets me way excited.

I think I'm with Ron on the fabrics. It's sort of hard to imagine those fabrics on them. I think the fabrics take away from the character of the chair. I guess I'm feeling they need something richer or more elegant. Though I think they would look great with a lighter fabric.

Hey prove me wrong and show me how great they look on the chair after all.

Lori said...

give us a picture where they are going to go and what is already there. I'm leaning toward ron on the fabric but I did think the 3rd choice was ok depending what was in the room.

Anne said...

I agree with Michele (and Ron), but considering your small investment I think you should make them YOUR own and feel free to change your mind later. Great find!

Anonymous said...

Kerry---
I'm with Navy Guest of Honor......
great chairs! Kim (Texas)

Anonymous said...

WOW I love those chairs! My family and I are moving soon to a little old Cape Cod, so I think you've inspired me to start looking for estate sales!

I go for more traditional fabics, but I think that turqouise fabir is all YOU!

Anonymous said...

I am with Ron and rest that the material would look out of place. More like red velvet. But i would love to see you prove us wrong. Pam

nikki said...

I'm not keen on the fabrics either. But I LOVE the chairs. I think the fabric you choose should have a background that matches the seat. You could photoshop the fabric on the chairs to see how it looks.

I'd like to be proved wrong too :)

Carlene said...

Those chairs are so great!!! But I'm with stick to something more traditional. Too busy will take away from the chair. But hey, you never know until you see it. Any way to get a sample so you can lay it on the back for an idea? That can be helpful.
You really scored on those chairs!!!

Holly said...

I like both of the navy ones. If you like them, just try it. If it looks terrible, then just take the fabric off, and use it for covering some sketchbooks, and then try again.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You are just recovering a chair, negotiating peace talks with Iran here! :)

Jo said...

I think I agree with Ron too! The chairs are fantastic - congratulations on getting such a great bargain! The fabric seems too busy to go with the wicker though. If I had to choose between them I'd go with the navy guest of honor. Have fun dolling them up!

Anonymous said...

I would opt for the turquoise centerpiece. Great find and you can't beat the price! Marcia

rosebud101 said...

Wow! great find on those chairs! I think I like the first fabric and the last one. I see a lot of potential in both. Good for you!

Anonymous said...

Great buy! Congrats! I wish I had that eye. I always love it when I see what others have found but I'm not good at it.

I'm not a floral person...I could see a really rich textured tapestry stripe pattern. But like I said...I'm not very adventurous with much vision.

Whatever you go with I'm sure you'll enjoy them! I would!

Kerry said...

*sigh* I love it when y'all comment so much!!

I think I am officially taking the "gonna prove you wrong" stand on this!! I think I have actually found a forth fabric that is going to be "the one". Of course, I'll share it all when they are done. Hopefully sooner rather then later.

Hey, with no torch around, might as well re-upholster things.

Anonymous said...

I think the chairs are way cool. I am not a fan of "navy" however.

Anonymous said...

Great chairs! What a find. I LOVE the Turquoise fabric.

CreekHiker / HollysFolly said...

I'm afraid I don't like any of the fabrics. The chairs are very dignified and the fabrics seem too fun and frivolous. Also a tad busy for a girl who hates clutter....

I'm sure you'll prove me wrong! LOL!

deehebard said...

Kerry...you have a great sense of color...go with your gut girl! I trust your instincts...

Pretty Things said...

I like the Turquoise Center Piece but the Navy ones might work better with the chair style?

Leslie Gidden said...

I am a little worried to leave this comment as I am in the minority, but I think the Navy Centerpiece would look GREAT on those fantastic chairs. Sorry everyone! Kerry I hope they turn out the way you want, I love all of the fabric choices.......sorry guys!

Warmly,
Leslie G.

Cindy said...

Turquoise center piece gets my vote. I love the chairs, I so want to see after pictures.