Young House Love

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Getting Cheap Dining Chairs From Craigslist

We finally scored some chairs for the dining room, thanks to this craiglist ad emailed to us by our friend Sandra (muchas gracias!).

DChairs Craigslist Ad2

You’re probably thinking: what are they thinking?! Parsons chairs? Yup, that’s exactly what we’ve wanted since day one. Thirty bucks? Yeah baby. Weird green and blue swirly pattern? Um… no comment.

But since the price was right (we actually bargained them down to $25 per chair, coming to $200 total for all 8) and the shape/lines were right (they’re solid and very well-made) we figured it was time to pounce (with some reassurance from a few online tutorials about dyeing fabric, making slipcovers, or reupholstering parsons chairs). So in the end we hope to end up with eight affordable and well made parsons chairs without this… uh… “unique” fabric. Hopefully sooner rather than later…

DChair Close Up Pattern

As for how we got them home, I borrowed my sister’s Explorer (since I knew we couldn’t fit them in our Altima without making at least three trips) and drove 90 minutes round trip to Mechanicsville to pick up the chairs. I wish I’d brought the camera (or was fancy enough to have a decent cell phone cam) because the guy selling them lived on a giant horse farm, so the scenery was beautiful. And since Sherry and Clara stayed at home (to make room for more chairs in the car) I wished that I could have taken some photos so they could see it.

The guy selling them was a real character. I expected to pick up the chairs from his dining room, but instead he led me back to a bunch of large storage crates in his backyard (I must admit this is where craigslist horror stories started flashing through my mind and I wondered if I was being kidnapped). Then he rolled up the door to one of the storage crates to reveal that it was FILLED TO THE BRIM with these chairs. I never got the story behind how he ended up with so many, but my guess is that they came from some hotel auction or something. All that mattered is that they were in good condition (solid, sturdy, clean, no pet/smoke odors, etc) and that he was happy to let me put a dent in his collection and leave with eight of those babies.

Here I am back home with my booty (that’s not a butt reference, I mean the chairs), cheesy pose and all (sometimes I defer to cheesy poses when Sherry runs towards me with the camera, you know, just to humor her). And yes, I was extremely proud of fitting all eight of them into my sister’s car in one trip. There was even a call to Sherry where I told her I could only fit six so I needed to make two trips with a big fat “just kidding!” at the end.

DChairs John With Truck

As a reminder, here’s what the dining room looked like back when it was chair-less…

DChairs Before Straight

…and here it is now with eight new occupants. Actually only seven are pictured because Sherry likes that more breathable look for “everyday” (we can easily add in the eighth one when we need it – until then it’s hanging out in our chaotic playroom with 99% of our other “extra stuff”).

DChairs After Straight

We keep having to remind ourselves to look past the crazy pattern and enjoy the fact that we scored a serious deal on the exact style of chair (with clean lines and solid construction) that we’ve been eying.

DChairs Vertical

The best price we’ve seen so far on any new parsons chair is around $85 (Pottery Barn sells similar ones for $299!), so as long as we can correct the swirly fabric for less than $60 per chair, we made the right call. Even if it means that our dining room looks a bit like a hotel conference room for the time being…

DChairs Up A Bit

Sherry found a few online tutorials for dyeing fabric directly on furniture that we might try (although dye = scary, so we might skip right to the next step, which would be to make slipcovers or reupholster them in the crisp apple green color that Sherry has been dreaming of from day one). So that’s the story of driving out to a farm and squeezing eight $25 chairs into my sisters car. Maybe you guys have recent craigstlist deals to share? Or an “I can’t believe I got that to fit into my car” tale to tell?

Comments

  1. Bethany says

    You definitely made the right decision … the price is right and the chairs look great. Nice lines. Honestly the pattern could be a lot worse. And it will only be a matter of time before you can get them re-upholstered or something. The room looks better already!!

    Hey I also had a question for you guys if you don’t mind. I tried to find the answer by searching your site but no luck. I’m wondering if there’s an online website/tool you use to make mood boards? I remember reading a post or comment about this, but can’t find it for the life of me. I’d appreciate your help, thanks!!! :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We use photoshop but since most people don’t have that we recommend free sites like mydeco.com and polyvore.com along with pinterest.com. Hope it helps!

      xo,
      s

  2. Allison says

    What a great find! The wood tone on the legs even appears to be very similar to the table. I can’t wait to see how you finish these. Nice “cheesy” pose John :)

    Reply

  3. Sarah says

    You know what’s great — the stain on the chair legs already looks pretty sweet with the stain on the table! Nice!

    Reply

  4. Stephanie Phillips says

    Any chance you would be willing to share the Craigslist ad with a certain reader (this one??). ;) I need six parsons chairs and I would TOTALLY drive to Mechanicsville for them!

    Reply

  5. Ellen says

    Practically my entire living room is made up of Craigslist deals!

    We recently got a sofa/ottoman set in really good condition for $150. We didn’t need an ottoman, but the seller threw it in with the sofa. When we got it home, we noticed that it fit PERFECTLY under one of the windows next to the fireplace. Now it’s a lovely little window seat that the cats love to lounge on.

    Reply

  7. Ever - The red house by the lake says

    I agree with the others – they do not look so terrible and they do kind of go with your current color scheme. Imagine if they had been like… pink and burgundy? At least now they kind of match the rest of the house.

    As for fitting tings into the car, I am always an optimist and several times at my local thriftstore I have picked up several items only to realize that it might not fit into my somewhat tiny car. So far I’ve managed, but I am certain that there will come a day when I have to get back into the store with something and tell them I have to pick it up later. ;-)

    Reply

  8. Rachel H. says

    The chairs look great with the table, and I’m sure they will look even more fabulous after the transformation. Just curious – are you planning on doing anything to the table, or will you leave it as is?

    Reply

  9. Leslie C. says

    I was able to fit a 6 person dining room table and 6 leather parsons chairs in the back of my Nissan Murano…. ALL BY MYSELF!!! My husband who is in the Navy was deployed at the time, and I bought them from a college girl who was moving after school was over, she helped me carry it all to the car, then it was all me trying to figure out the magic puzzle that would make it all fit! good times!

    Reply

  11. Karin says

    I personally think the fabric looks FABULOUS! Seems to work with “Sue” the napkin very well! So long as you don’t add too much other patterns, I’d save time and dollars and keep the chairs the way they are for now…. maybe later, but fill in the rest and see… great find!

    Reply

  12. Mary B. says

    Great score! You guys are such expert DIY-ers I’m sure sewing a slipcover would be no problem. The lines are simple – about 6 or 7 straight seams & you’re there! And a green outdoor fabric would be almost as kid-friendly as the leather.

    Reply

  13. Lauryn says

    My husband and I have a Scion XB (the original one) and have fit so many things in it! A king size bed frame, a 6 foot ladder, 6 ft 2×4’s, a gigantic christmas tree, and the list continues. We love that thing! Best car ever.

    Reply

  14. heyruthie says

    p.s. i live in Fairfax, VA, and I had my own Craigslist scare last week–some of the stories are true. i agreed to meet a “licensed” contractor at our house to get a quote on some EXTERIOR work. (I am a woman, and i was alone, so I only planned to be outside in the visible areas of the yard and, where people could easily see us.) but, instead of giving me my 15 minute “courtesy call” to say he was on the way, he called me AFTER he had come to our house, gotten up on the roof, don’t a bunch of “work”–which we had no agreement about–and demanded $400 cash payment for his “services.” i was outraged. but when i refused, he threatened to “rip out” all his work and damage our roof. in the end, i called the police, but the “workman” fled the scene when my husband told him we’d inspect his work and “send him a check” to cover any supply costs–basically to get him to leave. it was ugly. just another reminder to be careful! i’m still a Craigslister, but we all need reminders to put safety first!

    Reply

  17. bungalowbliss says

    Don’t you just love craigslist?? I’ve unloaded plenty (and scored even more) using the site and have made it one of my websites to visit daily. Can’t. Stop. Looking!

    Congrats on the find!

    Reply

  18. julie g. says

    Craigslist does it again!!! Well, they may not be your taste, but the wood is the perfect color and the fabric colors totally go with your new scheme even if you don’t love the pattern. Also, the chairs are not competing with anything else in the room either. P.S. Pleas epost again at 2 pm, I really NEED those 2 pm posts!

    Reply

  19. Libby says

    Nice! Did you consider getting an extra or two just to have for testing dye/upholstery things out – or kid/fat uncle disasters? At that price it may be worth it to have a couple waiting in the basement. Drive back with Sherry & Clara to show them the scenery and grab two more!

    Reply

  20. Angie says

    Score!!! It’s so much fun to find a great deal. Your new chairs are great and I love the big round table. Congrats!

    Reply

  21. jane says

    Congrats- the chairs are perfect! I just did the same thing- bought 8 gorgeous dark wood chairs off craigslist for $30 a piece. And they are perfect with our table. And fit in the back of the Venza. It was my proudest moment in Houston so far.

    Reply

  23. Rachel says

    I have faith in you guys to do some awesome reupholstering/slipcover making!

    Our most recent CL steal was a beautiful upholstered Rowe sofa in perfect condition for $200. It inspired the color scheme for our living room. We were not able to fit it in my Honda Accord, unfortunately, but my dad helped us out with his truck.

    Reply

  24. katie says

    I was at target this weekend & thought of you guys. They have parsons chair slip covers (search dining room chair cover on their site). Probably not in the green you want, but you could use one just for the pattern to make your own, or maybe dye those! :)

    Reply

  25. danielle says

    nice find! the fabric is definitely busy with all those chairs but it could be worse – at least it’s workable for the time being until you fix them since the colors are a great match for the room.

    our town has bulk garbage pickup a few times a year and this week is one of them. so everyone load tons of stuff on the street to get hauled away. yesterday i was driving to the grocery store with my kids and spotted a great looking dresser on someones front lawn. i decided i would drive by on the way back from the store and check it out – i had visions of how i would get it home and crammed in our car – figured i’d have to send the hubby back but still wasn’t sure how he’d do it. after the grocery store went to drive by and someone already snagged it! darn garbage pickers!!

    Reply

  27. Shunta says

    Yay for chairs!!… But here’s my shameless question for you guys re: the capiz light in Clara’s room. I just purchased one from World Market for our office and we have NO idea how we’re supposed to hang it with a light. We’re taking down a ceiling fan which has a light attached and the guy at Lowe’s had no clue what we were supposed to do for a light in the middle of the capiz chandy. how did you all do it? I’ve searched for a blog entry but I just see the one where you actually purchased it for Clara’s nursery. did you just attach it to an already existing light fixture? which may mean we’ll need to buy a regular light and then hang the capiz pendant thingee over that? many thanks for your help!!

    Reply

  28. Malissa says

    Awesome CL find! We bought a set of 6 counter height stools for our kitchen table and I am in the process of looking for a great fabric to slip cover them in, maybe a laminated fabric for clean up, so I will be SUPER excited to see how you end up recovering these.

    Reply

  29. Ted says

    My college roommate is horrible at spacial geometry. I am great at it. When he moved out of our house, he rented a truck and was in charge of filling the truck. He came back into the house mid-morning and said he couldn’t believe it. He had rented a truck guaranteed to hold at least one more room than he had to fill and he was only half done and the truck was full. I went out to check and he had the boxes all tightly packed…in a single layer. The floor was filled up to waist height. I sent him inside to finish packing and rearranged the packing. We got all of his stuff (and later added in his girlfriend’s things from her apartment) with plenty of room to spare.

    On the flip side, we recently drove our old Nissan Sentra out of town. My wife was having surgery out of town and her mother was going to meet us at the hotel and then drive home with us. We fit three people, luggage for a week for two of us and luggage for two weeks for one, plus coolers for food and such into the Sentra for the 10.5 hour trip home. My wife swears that I turned her car into a tardis.

    Reply

  31. Kirsten says

    I recently got a desk for FREE from Craigslist! It was originally $150 and in great shape – and pretty much exactly what I was looking for!

    P.S. Loooove your blog – it has provided me with so much inspiration! I even bought my first white ceramic animal (a cute, wise owl) to put on the desk! Thanks a mil for all you do here!

    Reply

  32. Mandy says

    I had a similar experience recently when I went to pick up a free dresser. This lady had several of those cargo crate things in her back yard, and all I could think was, “This was how Dexter’s mom died!” I was afraid she’d open it up and I’d see some horrible murder scene, but instead it was just stuff from storage units that she, uh, “collects.”

    Reply

  34. Amber says

    I would definitely skip the dye, which sounds messy and complicated, and go straight to reupholstering. I’ve reupholstered a few things in my day and found that it really isn’t hard. I also took a class here at the community college, which was necessary for the complicated project I was doing, but you can recover parsons chairs rather easily. The lines are so straight and messups can be hidden easily by pulling the fabric tight and tacking it underneath the chair where it can’t be seen. Or, I think parsons chair covers are pretty affordable and that might be the ultimate solution because it’s a 15 minute fix and looks great. I think all parsons chairs have the same basic lines and shape, so seemingly they would fit well on yours too. Here’s some from JCP.
    http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?GrpTyp=PRD&ItemID=184196a&submit%20search.y=0&Ntt=chair+slipcover&SearchString=chair+slipcover&Ne=840+4+877+878+5+961+6+29+3+598+11+15+12+506+10+23+585+596+963+579+1031+8+587+18+904+903+969+833+949&hdnOnGo=true&NOffset=0&submit%20search.x=0&Nao=0&N=4294959029&SO=0&PSO=0&CmCatId=searchresults&mscssid=6f364dcc623974bf998d51ecfdcb808e7xMnVNoVza3oxMnVNoVza3W200B71AE82C937A6D4E927C617FC1C83DBFB1108714 http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?Grptyp=PRD&ItemId=18bf379&cmOrigId=184196a&cmTypeFlag=RichRel&cmCatID=searchresults

    Reply

  35. Julia @ Chris loves Julia says

    We have been purging lots of furniture from our apartment to prep for our big move this upcoming weekend (our first home)! We have lots of stories from the past two weeks of people coming with their tiny vehicles hauling off our precious furniture. I know that we are selling it, and it shouldn’t matter how or what they take it home in, but it is heart-wrenching to think about our dining table getting smooshed/cracked/scratched in their tiny compact car. Hahaha.

    Reply

  37. Ayelet says

    I’ve got to agree with some of the others that these chairs don’t look too bad, and they were such a steal! Although the pattern is a bit busy (when viewed on seven chairs together), I think they kind of work because they’re pretty complementary to the color scheme you’re working off of–they actually kind of pull room together and make it look more finished. At least they weren’t done in a warmer palette (like reds, oranges, yellows, and/or browns).

    Reply

  39. Ali says

    The UPS man is pulling up right now to deliver two similar chairs that I got from Target.com on sale… only still much more expensive than your chairs!

    We once got a huge, solid wood dresser off of CL that was about 30 minutes away. We had delusions of grandeur thinking that we could fit it in the backseat. When we realized it wasn’t going to fit, we stuffed it upside-down in the trunk of our Accord (yeah, baby) and drove with it ON the highway sticking out like that at the whopping speed of 30 mph. We were that car with the flashers on in the right lane. Sigh. But we got it home! It was a great score. :)

    Reply

  40. Mandy Ford says

    What an awesome find! At least the colors in the pattern go with your color scheme until you can get the recovered. :) We’ve scored quite a few things on Craigslist recently for our home. We moved from an arts and crafts bungalow to a more modern home so we are slowly switching out our shabby chic style furniture and accessories for more modern/mid-century-ish things. This is the china cabinet that we scored for $90- it is one of my favorite pieces so far…
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/7178715@N07/4717350128/in/set-72157624273522794/

    Reply

  42. Crystal says

    Despite the loud pattern your dining room looks great with the addition of those chairs! Can’t wait to see them covered! (and don’t be afraid of sewing machines, Sherry, I’ve managed to use one, so it can’t be too hard…haha!) =)

    Reply

  43. Christie says

    Oh my gosh! I think I am some kind of YHL clairvoyant or something. I tweeted you guys about upholstering parsons this weekend! HA! Congrats on the conference center parson chair score. I can totally see them covered in a nice chartreuse twill material. Can’t wait for the final reveal! Good luck! :)

    Reply

  44. Jenna {Jenna Sais Quois} says

    Very much looking forward to seeing your DIY for the transformation of these chairs! That pattern really is a whole lotta look…but I think you guys are both really great at looking past the crazy and seeing the potential.

    Reply

  45. gloria says

    So funny that most of us don’t hate the chairs as is. Sure, they would look a-MA-zing in lime green, but for the time being at least they don’t totally make you want to vomit walking by.

    I’m laughing at the car stories too. I have a mustang convertible which has a tiny trunk, so I have to put the top down and fit random pieces of furniture in the back that stick out like they are part of a craigslist parade or something. When people stare at me, I’m wondering if they are jealous of my find or thinking, who the heck would BUY that? Gotta love a vision!

    Reply

  49. Lynn says

    We have the same style chairs. When we have people for dinner, everyone loves the comfort. Upholstered chairs are so much more comfy for hanging out after dinner. I love your DIY sensibilty but since you love the look of green leather it might be worth getting a professional estimate.
    Have you considered that?

    Reply

  50. Jen K says

    Great score!! I vote for slipcovers absolutely! Just think…growing family, babies spilling…the occasional overserved relative enjoying the red wine a wee bit too much. Wait, that’s just my family? You may be able to find a great green canvas that is super durable and easily washable. Have fun! Can’t wait to see whatever you end up doing.

    Reply

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