Young House Love

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Buying A Thrift Store Egg Chair

I have been obsessed with egg chairs for at least a decade since seeing this hanging one in Domino magazine back in college and this guy from Marie Claire Maison (their French house-related magazine) who has also been in my desktop inspiration folder for at least five years.

So as you can imagine, every time I’m in a thrift store I’m on the eternal egg chair hunt. I dream of hanging one in our sunroom next to the daybed for Clara (or me) to swing around in without killing ourselves. Not sure if we can handle it, but the universe has taken some safety measures and insured that every time I look I have no luck. Yup. So far, no dice. I did get close once (imagine me telling this story like a gal who leans in and whispers that she once nearly caught some mythological creature like Bigfoot or Nessie).

The year was 2011. I saw a picture on cragislist with a giant collection of items that were for sale at a local thrift store. There among the junk was the most amazing egg chair I ever saw. I dove for the phone, knocking books off my desk and pencils to the floor. I probably made some sort of sound like “gaaahhhhh” or “woooooooooo.” When someone answered I said “Egg chair” and panted like a dog. Seriously, I momentarily lost my mind. The woman was very nice but said “oh yeah, as soon as we posted that it sold.” I hope I said goodbye and thanked her but I honestly don’t remember anything after that sentence. I blacked out.

Since then I’ve always been keeping an eye out – even from mainstream stores with higher price tags. For example, Pier 1 now sells this hanging chair for $280:

Swing Chair 280

They also sell this Papasan guy for $80 (they’re known to pop up in dorm rooms and is a little too “reclined” and “wide” to really be as egg-ish as I’d like). So let’s just say the guy above is more my speed and the guy below is more in my price range. Such is life.

Papasan Chair 80

They also sell this guy, who is sort of like Sir Papasan’s fancy cousin who spent the summer in Europe and came back with some swagger. The shape is definitely more egg-ish, but the cushion is a little too frumpy for me (is anyone else getting maxi pad?).

Swinging 179

Fast forward to a recent thrift store run when we popped into about five of our favorite local places (I snapped lots of photos so we’ll have to write that whole adventure up for you as soon as we can size all the pics). Anyway, at the third place I walked by this little set of two chairs and I took this picture. End of story.

Egg Chair 1

Then I got home and uploaded everything and had this “what the heck was I thinking?!” moment when I realized both of those guys above were:

  • very egg-ish
  • in my price range
  • in need of love (which is actually a selling point for me)
  • marginally harder to get hurt on than a hanging egg chair (which is a good thing, since something swinging might spell disaster for uncoordinated runs-in-the-family gals like me and Clara)

So I did the following:

  • lunged towards John who was typing at his desk next to me
  • probably made some sound like “meeeeeeeeeeeep” or “haaaaaaaaaaaaah”
  • pointed to the picture on my screen of the two egg chairs
  • said “can these fit in our car?”
  • convinced John at least one could fit in our car
  • grabbed the kid and ran to the car so fast that we were all strapped in and ready to go when John sauntered up a minute later and started the engine

Oh yeah, it was on. About twenty minutes later we were back at Goodwill and you’re not even going to believe it. The guy on the right was gone. Sold. Sadness. But the guy on the left was still there! And very much egg-ish. And very much in our budget. As in: thirty beans total. And get this- it even swivels!!! So the wind can still be in my hair while the chair is safely planted on the floor of the sunroom. Basically it was very much like buying the Pier 1 Swivel Chair above for $179 but for 150 bucks less, and I’ll get to freshen it up and put my own spin on it (pun intended) with some new pillows instead of anything resembling a giant feminine hygiene product.

Egg Chair2

Sidenote: I totally made an omelette for dinner to celebrate my little egg chair coup. Is that sick of me? Like I was eating his ancestors or something?

I should have taken a photo of John sitting in it for scale, but the back goes up to his shoulder blades  (and he’s 6′ tall). So it’s not a child-sized chair, although it’ll definitely be Clara-friendly (and me-friendly since I plan to set up camp in this chair for the next 20-30 years). This picture of it on a low coffee table in the sunroom doesn’t help with the whole scale thing, but you can see the potential right? He has good lines I think. Good egg-ish lines. Of course that cushion was grody and should not have even been brought into the house, but it has since been relegated to the carport. And you can see the shape even better without it. Me-ow, right?

  Egg Chair3

After playing around with some pillows (which look crazy, but gave me a general idea of what I think could work), I’ve decided I’ll make or find a better fitting seat cushion and then just add a casual back cushion. But it’ll be taller than the little pillow in the picture below because I want the back to be as comfy as the bottom.

Egg Chair4

Will keep you posted for sure. Oh and you know I’m going to freshen this guy up beyond just adding some cushions right?

Egg Chair5

Might have already started on that actually. More details in a few days when he’s all dry and ready for his close up. And of course amid egg chair happy dances work slowly continues on the deck…

Deck Tease

… so we should be back with an update on that front next week for ya. Inch, inch, inch…

Psst- We announced this week’s big giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.

Comments

  1. Amanda says

    I just saw a hanging egg chair someplace, it was a mainstream store but not PB…I’ll have to think of where it was. My mother-in-law has one chilling in her garage that used to be in their sun room. When I was 17 I would go over to my now husband’s house and swing in that chair and try my hardest to flirt with him. ;) Great memories for sure!

    Btw, I laughed out loud at the maxi pad comment. I think the interns outside my office may think I’m nuts…..

    Reply

  2. CA @ How To Be A Heroine says

    Sigh! I love your egg chair! It reminds me of the one that my “Hall Mommy” had on dorm. I would sit in that thing for hours, eat M&Ms and talk about boys. And I talked about boys. A. Lot. :) Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Everything that you transform looks absolutely amazing. xoxo

    Reply

  5. Erika says

    I love the chair, but please don’t paint it. I feel like one of the reasons that Domino image is so successful is it’s wonderful use of natural & neutral materials, like the rattan/bamboo, etc like in your new egg chair. Just a thought. You mentioned wanting to hang out in it for the next 20 years. Well, I’m not sure the painted furniture trend is going to be as popular then as it is right now. Paint is HELL to strip, as you probably already know. Geat score- can’t wait for the reveal.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks for the input Erika! It just comes down to how things work in our home, and since it’s such an orangey wood with caning missing around both sides of it, we just think it’ll work better with our aesthetic after a little love (in the form of paint). We can always paint it another color down the road to work with our ever-changing aesthetic (and in all of our years of making a house – or a dorm – a home, we’ve never been into the orange wood thing, just because all of our other furnishings have been darker wood or painted white/gray/mocha). Our happy green office chairs are one of our favorite furnishings, so we want to love Sir Egg just as much, not just leave him alone in case that look comes back into style in a decade or two! Hope that makes sense.

      xo,
      s

  6. Thuy says

    Love the chair…I always wanted that Pier 1 papasan!

    My husband just finished reading a Beatles biography…and discovered the origination of “I am the eggman.” It refers to eggs, yes. But how they are used shall not be mentioned here, as this is a G blog! Can’t think of the song the same way…

    Reply

  7. Hannah says

    Sherry, you are beyond hilarious. I laughed all the way through this post then made my boyfriend listen to me read it out loud while I paused to giggle. “I blacked out.” Lololol.

    Reply

  10. Kathy says

    Memories…..The hanging basket chair reminds me of once years ago when my friend had one in her apartment. While my husband and I were housesitting, I sat in it, swung around a little, and…CRASH!!! It came crashing down when the hook was pulled right out of the ceiling! (I was tiny back then too!) OMG, was I so embarrassed to have to tell her that I wrecked her cool chair. haha — We’re still the best of friends, though.

    Can’t wait to see what color you choose for your egg chair. :)

    Reply

  13. Pamela says

    Sherry, your post totally “cracked” me up. Man, I bet you “scrambled” to the car to go get your super-cute egg chair! Upon seeing your egg chair in person, if you would’ve had a crazy, fleeting thought to just “poach” it and run, it would have been understandable, but the 30 beans for your egg chair can’t be “beat.” Grabbing & running without paying for your egg chair would have just been too much of a “hard-boiled” stunt for you anyway. Shoot, I bet your brain is “fried” with excitement now that your egg chair is home! Bah-dah-boom. Best I could do, but hope it made you smile. :) I love, love, love egg chairs…always have, always will!! Can’t wait to see it in all it’s finished glory!!

    Reply

  14. Mary says

    The goodwill here in Wilmington NC had four of those exact chairs yesterday !! If you guys are ever traveling down the coast, there is this flea market type place here, right off Hwy 17 ( it leads to Myrtle Beach) that is a warehouse packed floor to ceiling with everything you can imagine. You literally have to walk sideways through most of it !! I only made the mistake once of taking my purse in with me — it knocked stuff over. It would totally be worth checking out if you’re ever in the area !!

    Reply

  15. suzanne riviere says

    oeuf, pronounced like oof, may be something of interest.
    began following your blog just about two weeks ago and love everything your doing and the idea of including my own “oeuf” into my design plans. thanks for the fun and the helpful ideas i pull from your great work.

    Reply

  16. Emily says

    Hi, I’ve just started following your blog and this is definitely my favourite post so far! I too make squealing/nonsensical noises when I get too excited and just jump up and down and clap my hands… Incidentally, I prefer the chair you ended up with to the one that was sold while you were at home. I can see him in yellow, with either green or pink accents. But then I’m obsessed with yellow at the moment.
    x

    Reply

  17. Jen says

    Thanks for the laugh, I busted up when I read the part about the “giant feminine hygeine product”. Too funny!

    Reply

  19. Rebecca says

    I HAVE to know what you are going to do with this chair!!! I just saw four of them at my local goodwill after seeing this post and died!! I want them on my patio!!!

    Reply

  20. Rebecca says

    I think I am going to buy two of them and paint them dark gray.. would be sooo comfy in my living room

    Reply

  21. Dee in BC says

    I love the chair you bought- it looks comfy. Way back in the 80’s I had one of those hanging wicker ones. I never found it comfortable to sit in due to the way the back of the chair is rounded- about 15 minutes and my back would hurt. It eventually ended up on our patio & I think we left it there when we moved( it needed a REALLY big bolt into the rafter to be securely anchored.) 10 years later we bought a papasan- better for comfort- but boy was it hard to get in & out of – especially when pregnant. 5 years later (& after a kitty accident or 2 ) the cushion was toast so off it went with the thrift store donations. Some day I’d love to get one like yours- Thanks for sharing – Dee

    Reply

  23. Erin F. says

    I woke up this morning to look on my Google Reader at the various blogs I follow, and saw this blog post by Amber from Amber Interior Design. It has a great picture of a chair that is shaped very similar to your new purchase with cushions that might be of interest to you. I immediately thought of you guys! I hope you have a great day!

    http://amberinteriordesign.blogspot.com/2012/07/mid-centurpretty.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AmberInteriorDesign+%28Amber+Interior+Design%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

    Reply

  24. Shiron says

    This post was hilarious — I laughed through the whole thing – especially the omelet for dinner sidenote, LOL. I need to start reading your posts and stop just scrolling through the pics, I had no idea you were so funny.

    Reply

  28. Laura says

    This is hilarious! In the early 80’s my mom bought 2 of those exact same chairs from a thrift store. She used them for vestibular activities to help develop our brains and balance This means she’s spin her toddlers around very fast and their brains would develop better… no joke…she even had studies she had read on hand for her friends to teach them why this was good…ahh the 80s) But as I got older it was the best chair ever to sit and read books. By 1995 I was embarrassed by our old chairs, and my mom finally got rid of them at a thrift store. I’m very excited to see the final product! You’ll have to let me know if you use it as a vestibular activity for Clara :)

    Reply

  29. KinVA says

    Just a suggestion, try Olioboard for your Mood Boards. It is awesome! You can use their house items/images or you can upload your own.

    Reply

  30. N Shirley says

    The cautions about Clara remind me that my daughter got her head caught in a porch railing and when the fireman couldn’t get her out- he walked to the truck saying “I will just have to cut it off.” Larissa looked at me with a scared look and stepped back through the railing- she had never caught her head at all, she was trying to get through the railing when her head would not fit! None of us thought to ask her if she could get back out- she was two! :-)

    Reply

  31. Christine says

    World Market currently has a papasan chair on sale for $40! I agree that they take up space, but excellent price:)

    Reply

  33. Cheri says

    More than 15 years ago, my dad snagged a swivel chair similar to these for $10 at a yard sale. It was in his office while I was growing up, then storage, then my house. It’s been the video game chair, the nursing chair, the spin-the-kids chair, etc. I never fully appreciated its value until discovering the design’s rarity. May your new egg chair bring much joy and rich memories for years to come!

    Reply

  38. lynne says

    ok you guys, i scored an egg chair this weekend for pretty cheap and it is oh-so-comfy. problem is it is just like the taller one in your thrift store photo and after reading your egg chair posts all that echoes in my head is MAXI PAD. i think the taller chair is more suited to a longer cushion (obviously) but what can i do to make it less fem-hygeine-ish?? i was thinking of just shortening the cushion at the top but my hubby is tall and i think his head may then rest against the wood of the chair. (oh ps i also got a matching ottoman that i may turn into a cute table or even plant stand… just need to find a round piece of glass.) thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Hmm, what if you taper the pad in a little at the top so it’s shaped more like a dome at the top instead of all wide with rounded corners like a pad… would that help?

      xo
      s

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