Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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Multiplying Egg Chairs…

I’m back as promised with:

    1. an egg chair update (since I just tossed pillows on it but promised to share the rest of the details once we figured out a real seat and all that jazz)
    2. three new egg chairs that we recently brought home

I guess we should skip right ahead to those huh? Don’t worry, our living room doesn’t look like an egg chair family reunion. They’re of the dollhouse variety (you can read more on Clara’s DIY dollhouse here):

Egg Chair2

When a super sweet reader (thanks Nicole!) told me CB2 had them on clearance for 50 cents each (wahooo!) I couldn’t resist. They’re actually Christmas ornaments (hence the super sale price so far into the year) and all I needed to do was clip off the string that was meant to hang them from the tree and they became serviceable chairs for a certain small pig family. So that’s how three of them somehow ended up in my cart and I just clicked “buy” – and the rest, as they say, is history.

Egg Chair1

The fun part is that Clara loves putting Olivia and the rest of her family in them since they’re a bit more “hold-y” than her other chairs (they don’t slip out as much as they do in the smoother and smaller brass chairs that she has in a few other rooms). So that’s the dollhouse upgrade that’s going on.

Dollhouse Wide

But back to the real-person-sized egg chair in the corner of the living room. Remember when we got it from a local thrift store and he looked like this?

Egg Chair2

And then we painted him and tossed a few already-had-them-around pillows on during the “just for now” phase?

Egg Chair Now2

Well, we’re finally in the “taa-daa, it’s finished” phase thanks to a pretty simple and cheap-o update.  Yup, we landed on a permanent seat cushion for the guy. And oh happy day, it doesn’t look like a feminine hygiene product anymore.

Egg Chair8

Although I thought I might end up buying foam and fabric to make a custom seat, we ended up finding a seat cushion on sale for $14 at Pier 1 in a soft blue tone that’s pretty much a neutral in our house (it’s in nearly every room in some form – like art, pillows, curtains, etc). We weren’t sure if it would fit the chair though (it has a pretty unique rounded shape) so we just bought it and hoped for the best. Turns out it totally didn’t fit at all:

Eggchair1

Womp-womp.

But then I wondered what would happen if I turned it around so the rounded part that should be the back of the cushion was facing out towards the front. Lo and behold, it sat a lot better and actually looked like it made sense!

Eggchair2

So I cut off the ties and the tag which were screaming “this is the back of the cushion” and didn’t look back. Oh yes, I’m such a rebel. It actually kind of looked like a custom cushion made just for the chair since it’s such an unusual shape and it laid so well on top of the chair. Then it was just back-pillow time and I tossed a few different options on there. Like this blue and white back pillow from HomeGoods a while back:

Eggchair4

And this faux fur pillow from Target last year:

Eggchair5

And this bunny pillow from HomeGoods a few months back:

Eggchair6

I finally landed on this rhino-meets-pig combo (the pig pillow is from a local store called Buford Rd Pharmacy a while back):

Eggchair7

So that’s the story of our egg chair’s quickie new cushion solution with a bonus dollhouse egg chair update tossed in there for good measure. Ten points for anyone eating an egg sandwich while reading this post.

Egg Chair9

Is anyone else out there buying chair cushions or turning things around to see if they work better backwards than forwards? Any other dollhouse decorating going on?

Comments

  4. Wendy says

    LOL about the old cushion looking like a feminine hygiene product. Didn’t occur to me before, but yep, that assessment is spot on. (Apologies for the pun there.)

    Reply

  7. Nicole says

    omg! Yay!! You got them!! And you really did shout me out!!! OMG! You guys are the coolest!! LOOOVE THE CHAIRS! And can’t believe how similar they are to your very own egg chair!! Waahooo!! :) Looks awesome!

    Reply

  8. Julia @ Chris Loves Julia says

    Imagine if someone had a whole blog dedicated to redecorating a doll house. THAT was my first thought when I saw those mini egg chairs. As for your egg chair, props to you for thinking of turning the cushion around. It looks completely custom!

    We just had a new couch cover arrive and when we got it in the room and put it on our couch, the light gray turned BLUE. I need a quick fix for that. Stat!

    Reply

  9. Denise says

    I love that the little chairs in Clara’s dollhouse and your big chair both house pigs. Such a subtle, cute tie in!

    Reply

  12. chelsea says

    Did anyone else find it odd that there would be egg chairs hanging on a Christmas tree? Great for a dollhouse find, funny hanging on a tree as an ornament!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Totally! I just can’t believe they’re the right scale! I worried they’d be giant or too tiny. Lo and behold, they’re perfectly sized for a family of plastic pigs.

      xo,
      s

  13. Jill says

    Your own egg chair looks great with the new cushions…but I keep going back to look at the dollhouse. I want one of my own (I’m 34) to decorate! So fun! So much cheaper than decorating my own house! Those chairs are awesome and so stylish. Am I the only one remembering the Friends episode where Monica brought out her childhood dollhouse and Phoebe made her own with a ghost and a dinosaur? I feel like I would be very much a Monica with my own dollhouse, no dinos allowed. Clara’s pigs are great, though :)

    Reply

  15. Rebecca @This Nest is Best says

    What a great find on those CB2 chairs! I *may* be purchasing them right now even though there is currently no dollhouse in our home. I do have dreams of building one for my nieces to love on! Never hurts to be prepared, right?!?

    Reply

  16. Darbi says

    So I have a random question. How is your egg chair different than a small papasan chair? I keep looking at all of the pictures in the different posts and can’t see any difference.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It might not be. Haha. To me a papasan chair is tilted way back (it’s so reclined that you climb into it instead of just sitting down). This guy is tilted forward like a real chair and much smaller (you just sit down like a normal person, haha). There are pics of me and Clara sitting in it in a few of the posts I linked to in this one that might help!

      xo,
      s

    • Jessica says

      Haha! I’ve been thinking the same thing, but didn’t want to ask and come off sounding rude! It’s just a mini-papasan chair which makes me wonder why you guys don’t make a nice round cushion for it. I’m so clutzy I would be putting my elbows through the holes in the wood all of the time!

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It’s so hard to explain but since it’s not reclined I bet you wouldn’t slip into the sides or anything. Just like you can sit in a normal chair with arms without sliding into the space between the seat and the arms in that case it’s kind of the same thing. The pics of me and Clara in it might make it more clear though :)

      xo,
      s

    • Darbi says

      Jessica, I couldn’t stand it anymore! I had to ask! I swear I have looked at every picture 10 times. LOL. And the whole time I’m thinking “Why doesn’t Sherry just buy one of those round papasan cushions?”
      The pics of you sitting in it help some. You definitely sit up more in your chair. It looks comfy though, that’s for sure!

    • julie s says

      Although I no longer have my blue apron, I used to work at Pier 1 so I might be able to shed some light on the mini papasan vs. YHL egg chair debate! There are two main differences that I can see:

      1. A Pier 1 papasan “bowl” and base are not attached to each other. From the looks of the pictures, the YHL egg chair “bowl” is attached to the base.

      2. The YHL egg chair is attached to the small circular end of the base whereas a papasan is meant to sit in the large ciruclar end of the base.

      It seems possible that it was a mini papasan that someone MacGyvered into its current egg chair form. A mini papasan cusion might fit (if they even make them anymore) but Sherry, I think your cushion solution looks a whole lot more modern!

      Pier 1 used to have a papasan rocker with a bowl that was attached to the base (and rocked!) that was more like a chair to sit in but there wasn’t a mini version and the “bowl” was more oval in shape. The original cushion you inherited with your purchase looks like it was meant to fit that type of rocking papasan chair or a rather small double papasan chair, but I digress…

      Whenever you want way more information than anyone could possibly ever need about Pier 1 furniture from the late 90s, I’m your gal!

  17. Sara says

    I don’t know if you mentioned this before, or someone suggested it and it’s not what you’re wanting, but you do know they make actual cushions in all colors that fit that sized chair. I worked at Pier 1 Imports back in the day and they sold them all the time. Just an option if you didn’t know since it came with the double wide version cushion that didn’t go at all :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Sara! We looked at what they sold and we liked the idea of a smaller seat cushion so you could see some of the “spines” of the chair on the sides (since you only sit on the bottom of the chair, not really on the curved sides of it) – so we didn’t want to cover the whole thing like a papasan chair. Hope that makes sense!

      xo,
      s

  21. Amanda Evans says

    I bought a set of wicker hoop chairs (regular & rocker) a while ago and have been trying to find a cushion that will work on them- Now I’m going to try your “backwards idea”!

    Reply

  26. Stephanie says

    Clara has the cutest dollhouse EVER.

    For some reason your egg chair always looks like it’s tiny to me. I know in the pic you showed of you sitting in it that it’s not but something in the perception throws me off. Maybe I just haven’t had enough coffee?

    Reply

  27. heather says

    Would you ever considering stitching the ties to the underside of the cushion, so you can hold it to the chair (without the ties being seen), so it doesn’t slip around when you sit…or a certain toddler climbs / dog jumps on it?

    Reply

  28. jennifer says

    LOVE IT!! I’m already planning a dollhouse for Christmas 2013! I can’t wait! I know, it’s sick. What can I say?! I had never thought about ornaments (can you say baby grand!!)

    Reply

  29. olivia says

    I’m eating an egg sandwich! (Well technically it’s a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich from Starbucks.) Where do I collect my bonus points? :P

    Reply

  31. Jamie says

    Hahaha…I was actually eating an egg sandwich when I read that part and I LOL! I love thenew cushions and the little pig is to die for! Looks like a very cozy corner.

    Reply

  33. Paige says

    AGHHHHH!

    Get out of my brain! Totally just sat down to eat an egg salad sandwich and see what you guys were up to today. Love the pig pillow.

    Reply

  36. sara says

    Don’t get me wrong here- I love what you’ve done with the egg chair, but somehow I feel like all this tweaking is because you’re trying to make it into something its not- namely the “one that got away” at goodwill (the other one that you went back for along with this one that was already gone). This just looks like a dressed up papasan to me. I feel like lately you guys have been making hasty decisions and then having to go back and fix/tweak a lot of things. I know that’s how you roll and having a blog with constant pressure for updates may necessitate this but in the real world (non-blog land) people generally think carefully about decisions and move a little slower- doing it once the right way is sometimes better than doing it 3 times quickly just to get something up (i.e., your kitchen light, shelf brackets, original bedroom duvet/curtains/paint color..)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our first house took over four years of tweaking, a few of them without a blog and some of them with it. I think it’s just how we work. I really think the only way we learn is by “doing” (and not getting frozen with indecision, since waiting doesn’t guarantee any better result). We did think about our kitchen for over a year before beginning and are still debating our carport to garage conversion, so the big things definitely still get thought to death! Haha.

      xo,
      s

    • Linda says

      Actually, I like when YHL goes back and tweaks things – in a perfect world, we all have time, money and vision enough to do things once and only once – but that’s not very real life for most of us. Sometimes it’s a minor change that makes all the difference – sometimes our tastes actually change a bit – and sometimes you just have to try something and see if it works – and alter if it doesn’t. I doubt there’s a designer in the world who gets everything perfect the first time around – even if they’re not spending their own money or labor.

      Heck, I’m going to work on my bathroom over Labor Day – perfect world, a nice gut job – real world – some new paint and probably reusing a lot of the existing fixtures. Then someday I will do the gut job I want – but in the meantime I think I’ll be happy with my tweaking.

    • Heather W says

      I agree…. It actually makes me feel better about re-doing a room or color on the walls etc. I think if the Petersiks change their mind or realize that what they thought they liked is actually something different then what they thought or originally did then I am in great company!

    • Jessibee says

      Tweaking is the name of the game in decorating. You can’t know exactly how or if something is going to work until you try it and there is always something you hadn’t thought of or seen before that becomes your best and favorite option.

      Also if you pay attention to design shows… for ex. Candice Olsen and Dear Genevieve… you will see that they buy a ton of different options at the same time and try them all out before settling on the final design. Sherry and John are just doing that in real time on a real budget and I love it! It’s creative, it’s evolving and it’s not some bland showroom.

    • Wendy says

      Agree with the others on the tweaks and reality.

      Last night as my husband was falling asleep he said, “I really don’t like the direction of the bed. It reminds me of the set up when I was in rehab” (from his hit-by-car-while-riding-a-bike accident).

      I asked him, “do you want to rearrange the room now?” and he remarked, “yes!”

      So the once half-asleep man became an awake-bedroom-moving man in a matter of seconds. We moved nearly everything in the room minus his writing desk (we live in a 2 BR duplex.. not much space).

      The perks are crazy!

      *He can write and I barely see the light at night because our dresser separates the area (and my side is closest to his writing area).
      *He now has a walk space to the bathroom (bed not against the wall).
      *There is a mini “nursing” space of “play with the kid” hang out space when she comes around Thanksgiving.
      *It feels as if there are 2 or 3 rooms in there, but all cohesively united in a 9×12 space.
      *I slept better than I have any night we’ve been here (maybe because it’s not a ga-zillion degrees and we don’t have a/c, but maybe… because of the change?).

      May each person do what is best for him/her whenever inspiration hits. Sometimes you gotta trust what works for you… :-)

  38. Shelby says

    Is it strange that I wish the dollhouse bird “wallpaper” was real wallpaper and I could put it in my house? Never mind….I don’t care if it’s weird…I <3 it!

    Reply

  39. Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says

    Doll house egg chairs – SO CUTE!!! Our egg chairs have a round cushion in it so no matter how you sit, you are always comfy cozy. They are getting a little tattered now so I am thinking of either putting a seat cover over them or a total redo.

    Reply

  40. Alexis says

    How many points for fried eggs (since that’s what I’m currently having)?

    I am still in love with Clara’s dollhouse and if I had a sweet girl as opposed to an 8 year old boy I would definitely make one. Actually if the boy wanted a dollhouse I’d make it for him. Alas, he does not.

    Reply

  41. Annie says

    Ok, those chairs are the strangest things I have seen. Not as the adorable doll house chairs you are using them as. That is perfect and looks like they were meant to be. But as “ornaments”, Huh? I kept clicking on the pictures on the CB2 site but they still made no sense. I noticed they were not hung up in the pictures, just kind of sitting there. Very strange. Glad you found such a cute and unstrange use for them!

    Reply

  42. Allison says

    If I were eating an egg sandwich I would have spit it out when I came to the feminine hygiene product comment! Too funny!

    Reply

  43. Marjo says

    Inquiring minds want to know — just how many ‘pillows-in-waiting’ do you currently have? Noticed several in the before photo of the adult egg chair :-)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes John says I have a pillow problem. A lot live on the daybed in the crazy cluttered playroom and the one in the sunroom is overstuffed too.

      xo,
      s

  44. amanda f. says

    Do you think my boys would be mad if I made them an adorable doll house complete with cool fabrics and furniture?
    Yeah, I thought so!

    Reply

  47. Lauren says

    The new cushions look great!

    I love the dollhouse you made so much…I can’t wait until my baby girl is old enough so we can make her one. That’s one big toy that I wouldn’t mind displaying in the living room!

    Reply

  50. Jen says

    I love every single thing you guys have done to your house but I am still not feeling like this chair is complete. I love the base of it and I definitely understand you not wanting to cover up all of its awesome bones but those pillows still look like a temporary solution to me. I really feel like it needs a full cushion to be more inviting or to look like it was always meant to be that way. If you moved it away from the wall couldn’t you put it so that the back is visible and you’d see all the fun lines?
    I hate to be “that person” but I feel this chair has so much potential and if anyone can make it sing, it’s you guys. I really am hoping this isn’t the last update we see on the “bacon and egg” chair.

    Reply

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