I recently wrote elsewhere about the evolution of my dining room. Everything is always changing a little around here, and the latest big difference is that the dining room has new chairs. Woot! I switched out some of the pieces in my built-in hutch too. So long, all white; hello, pink and coral.
I still have the other chairs down in the basement because it feels wrong to break up the set. I love my vintage dining table, with its beautiful wood grain and modern trestle base, but the chairs weren’t working well for us. The kids were getting food all over the upholstery, and the wood was getting dinged up from too many run-ins with a toy stroller, a toy shopping cart, and too many toy cars. The cats were equally to blame for the chairs’ downfall too. The seats were constantly furry because they slept on them, and breaking out the vacuum every time you’d like to sit isn’t terribly practical.
I’d been considering new chairs for a long time, but hesitated because I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I like Eames chairs in a dining room, but I think my house has reached its Eames quota. I figured it was time for either plastic, bare wood (like these spindle/stick-back chairs), or metal.
I had contacted Industry West ages ago, with a proposal to work together on my basement studio. They provided four of their Marais A Side Chairs, which I’d intended to use as seating around my faux-Saarinen tulip table. I brought them up to the dining room on a whim one day though, and I really liked them around the wood dining table.
The chairs are narrower than the wooden ones we had, so I was able to add some additional seating around the dining table. I bought two more side chairs for the sides, and two arm chairs for the ends.
Yep, we like ‘em. The chairs are good for crawling around between too, and for putting on puppet shows. You know, the important stuff.
I LOVE those chairs and I adore your dining room. Very beautiful.
I love the lines on your chairs! We have metal chairs we just got for our dining room too. We went with the petina style stacking tabouret chairs on overstock. Also, I adore your little foxes!
Wow, what a beautiful dinning room you have! The little foxes are adorable! I like the chairs, they definitely compliment the room. I really like that you have the mirror in your hutch! Beautiful room! =)
I have the same chairs and they are perfect with kids because they clean so easy. Your space looks amazing! Well done.
So easy. I figure any chair that’s meant for outdoor use is a good bet for the kiddos.
I love the look of these! The only thin I would worry about is them being cold all the time, haha.
I worried about that too! They’re not bad though. Slightly cool, but they warm up right away.
It looks amazing! And is it me, or do the new chairs make your pretty wallpaper stand out more now? I love the pink and coral touches, too. So beautiful.
I think the balance in the room is better. Before, the table and chairs related to the wood floor and the wood in the back of the hutch, but the table and chairs together felt like a big thunk of wood in the middle of the room. Now the metal and the wood together relate much more to everything else, wallpaper included.
Beautiful– as always? Where did you get those little foxes from? We have a VERY fox-obsessed little toddler over here.
Sorry– didn’t mean to put a question mark after “as always,” it was supposed to be an exclamation point! I think a toddler ate my brain.
LOVE those foxes!
I’m dying to know where the foxes came from too. I mean, the new chairs are nice and all ;-) but YEAH! Foxes!
I couldn’t wait so I went looking. I think they might be these?
http://www.padilly.com/foxlarge.html
http://www.padilly.com/redfox.html
http://www.padilly.com/largefox.html
If not, they’re really close.
Those are the ones! I bought mine on Amazon: Holztiger wood foxes.
Where are the coral bowls from that you have in the hutch? They’re lovely!
Thanks! They were from west elm.
They are just right. Brandon looks very nice in his. : )
jbhat
So great! Will last forever!
I am in love with the head planters, where are they from?
Floral Art LA. I wrote about them here.
No way! I just brought in some Marais/Tolex-esque chairs to my dining room today. Mine are red and I looove them. The long term plan is for them to go outside, but I’m loving them around my dining table for now. I discovered Industry West a few days after I ordered my chairs (oops). What a fantastic company.
These look so great! I am crazy for these chairs and would someday love to have them around my dining room table, too. Great choice! :-)
Mi adore! Everything looks wonderful! Where can I get my little paws on those moxie foxies?
I linked to the foxes in the comments above, but here they are again. Aren’t they cute? I bought them for a baby shower photo shoot that I styled.
I think you just changed my life with those little foxes… the entire dining room (and the incredible chairs!) is awesome. But those foxes. Wow. Love your style!
The chairs are a cool addition but the little foxes are my favorite. Very fall and a good reason to wear that sweater from below as often as possible. Thanks for including the link to them.
They look fantastic in the space–I love the whole room, especially the ceiling and the wallpaper. I have been thinking of getting of buying tolix chairs from DWR or PB now for the same reason; my kids have destroyed my bamboo chairs. The Industry West chairs are much cheaper, which is good to know–thanks :-)
I obsessed over those chairs for years and finally got them for my dinning room too. Not only do they look amazing with rustic pieces and mid century, but they are kid and dog proof. Bonus bonus.
We purchasd the Tolix chairs for our dining room. Totally love them with my walnut table. We don’t have kids but I can tell you that adults can be just as messy (if not more so :) ). Don’t miss my upholstered seats at all.
Dianne
Love the new chairs! Sadly, I can’t even convince my husband to go for them as outdoor chairs – he’s just not a fan. Enjoy them for me! :)
Love it so much! Everything is balanced nicely. What a wonderful happy accident with the chairs. I’ll have to pin those chairs for later :) Are yours the gunmetal finish?
Yes, gunmetal.
Love your blog! Just found it today. I’m not a designer, just a beginning diy-er but I was happy to find someone in my stomping grounds since I live in the Chicagoland area as well. Many of my favorite design reads are on the east or west coast. Was so drawn to the dining chairs. I’m looking at chairs right now and those have come up repeatedly as an option.
love the whole look! i really love the chairs in the room. each time i see the hutch, i wonder if it would look better if you painted the back wall of it? black? grey? coral? white? vertical stripes?
I’ve covered the back in the past with fabric, so I could switch it out whenever I like. I’ve had Marimekko patterned fabric, and also pink with darker pink pinstripes. I don’t think I’ll paint it though, because I like that it ties in with the wood of the table and the floor.
So lovely! You have such a gift for design. Hoping some of it will rub off on me if I hang out on your blog enough! The mix of metal chairs with the wood table is divine.
Those chairs look amazing in your dining room. Which finish are they? Gunmetal?
Yes, they’re the gunmetal finish.
We just ordered very similar chairs! We are building a new dining “nook” along with a farmhouse style table. The chairs look great here…it makes me feel more confident that we made the right choice :)
Oh – I’ve been eyeing these chairs for a while (and the Restoration Hardware Remy chairs).
Question though – you mentioned that they were narrower than other chairs, and by the measurements I thought the seats were VERY small compared to other chairs. Does this make them at all awkward? Do they FEEL small?
No, they’re fine. They feel snug, in the sense that you can feel the back kind of hugging you, but then there’s room for your legs (and hips) to spread out.
May I ask what color the chairs are (i.e. galvanized, gunmetal, chrome, etc.)? Thanks so much!
Gunmetal.
Just a heads up, this is an old gunmetal finish. I just ordered chairs from Industry West at the beginning of January and what arrived is a much darker color that is a charcoaly brown tone. Sad that they changed the Gunmetal finish because I have another piece in the same color as yours. Also, their website is NOT updated with new photos of the new gunmetal finish which is frustrating as well.
I bought 10 of similar style stackable armchairs from World Market last year for my huge 8X4 dining table. They are awesome and look great. I wouldn’t say they lived up to my “indestructable by husband and boys” theory, but they have done pretty darn well.