I couldn’t track down the bench I had seen at Target, so I picked up two of IKEA’s Ammerö seats to try out on the front porch.
What do you think? I think it will look great once it’s all styled up. I’ll probably pick up another pair to use at the other far end.
We’ve decided to go with IKEA’s Urban chairs for our backyard. They’re comfortable, modern, inexpensive, and they won’t burn your bottom (as we fear metal chairs may). Plus Meredith and Sarah alerted me to a set of four on Craigslist, so we only needed four more to complete a set.
Now that we have decided upon dining chairs, our patio will finally be complete! Things have changed a bit since the last time I posted about the patio furniture, so I put together a design board to show how everything works together. I’ll take photos after the garden fills in a bit more.
Now that the weather has (mostly) warmed up, I’m eager to get to work outside. I’m still looking for a matching set of dining chairs for the backyard. I would love to own any of these, but buying eight of them would be pretty pricey:
Here’s what we’ll likely end up with:
I haven’t sat in the Blankö chair (my IKEA doesn’t have it yet), but Brandon and I both like the simple lines of it. I’ve considered the Urban chair before, but I always think it looks a little funny in person. Maybe out of the store and in the context of my garden it would look more stylish? They look sharp in this photo that ran in Blueprint:
Which chair would you choose?
Well, kind of.
I was researching dining chairs for a client when I came across a brand new version of my old waiting room chairs. I call them that because I grabbed them from an alley outside of a professional building, and I suspect they came from a doctor’s office. Those chairs have popped up in the library, my office, and the living room, and now you can find them brand-new at Overstock.
Now that I look at them side-by-side though, I think mine are better. ;)
Brandon gave me a new Eames chair for my birthday! And a Panton. And a few more by Arne Jacobsen, Eero Saarinen, and Mies van der Rohe. And then some additional Eames chairs for good measure. They’re miniature sized (but they’re big on cute).
I picked up a miniature zen garden that came with a cute little chair about a month ago, and I thought it was pretty adorable. I had no idea at the time that Brandon had seen a whole slew of mini designer chairs and that he was already planning to give them to me for my birthday. Eleanor is going to have a really awesome dollhouse someday.
Yesterday it was 65 degrees. Today: 27. Still, I keep thinking ahead to spring and all of the things I’d like to do outside.
As cute as our front porch is (and it is pretty cute), I’m wondering if maybe it should be more of a lounge area.
Right now those chairs are on the patio in the backyard, mixed in with some other wooden folding chairs. The white ones are much more comfortable, so I’m thinking about picking up four more so that we can have a matching set. It bugs me that the chairs are all mixed up! I don’t think I could ever go for the artfully mismatched look, even though I think it looks great when other people do it.
But… I can’t decide.
Option 1: Put the four white chairs we already have back on the front porch and keep it as a little dining area (it’s nice to sit there when it’s raining). Store the uncomfortable wooden chairs (we have 6) for extra party seating. Find 8 new matching (and inexpensive) chairs to go around the table in the backyard.
Option 2: Keep the four white chairs on the patio and pick up four more (they’re only $30 each). Store the 6 uncomfortable wooden chairs for extra party seating. Find lounge furniture for the front porch. Maybe two comfy chairs and a little side table? Maybe a porch swing or a gliding bench?
Any ideas?