Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

| By | | 212 Comments

Finding Children’s Chairs At A Yard Sale

This weekend we got these vintage kids chairs (they’re just 2 feet tall) for $7.50 each at a local yard sale. They were marked as $10 a pop but we bartered using the old “how about two for $15?” method. Sold!

Chairs

We knew they looked like oldies (we loved the solid construction, steel legs, clean lines) and were pleased when we tipped them both over and saw the word “Brunswick” engraved on the bottom. Not that we knew what it meant, but we thought google might. A little bit of searching turned up this description here:

This original vintage 1950’s children’s chair, with its mid-century danish-modern design is actually made by Brunswick – the same designer/maker of the famed bowling equipment and supplies. In fact, it was also in the 1950’s that Brunswick introduced the machine that automated the resetting of bowling pins. This is a very sturdy chair.

Cool. And guess how much one of them was going for online? $125!

Brunswick School Chair

Our reaction pretty much went a little something like this: Holy cow, are you telling me that we paid $15 for two chairs that could retail for $250? Oh yard sales, how do I love thee. Let me count the ways. And how cool is it that current 65-ish year olds probably used these as kids? Gotta love stuff that’s built to last and handed down to total strangers (and their children) thanks to the phenomenon that is yard sale-ing.

As for what we’ll do to our chairs & what table we’ll pair them with, check out our BabyCenter post (where we whipped up a little mood board of sorts with three options that we’re currently debating). On some monitors the one on the left in that top photo seems to be reading as teal, but it’s a murky forest green in real life. Which is really not our thing. And we’re more partial to darker and less yellow wood tones too – so change is a brewing.

Some folks wouldn’t touch something from the 50’s, but we’re all about it in the name of making them fit into our home and not look so mismatched. After all, we didn’t buy them to make a profit (or to keep them in mint condition as “collectables”) – we bought them to use for the long haul (hopefully with multiple kiddos over the years) since we love their look and their solid and sturdy construction. And you know we love a good refinishing project (like this 50’s dresser that we redid for Clara’s nursery). It might take us a while to actually do anything with them though (since our playroom is also our crazy storage room for now). But someday we’ll get ‘er done. And it’s never too early to start planning, right?

Update: After closer examination we realized that the forest green chair (which looks teal on some monitors) has already been painted. It was originally blonde like the other one. So I thought I’d share that update for the don’t-paint-them peeps. Looks like 50% of them are already painted! Too funny. We’re still un-enamored with the scratched blonde wood and murky green color so we’ll definitely be staining or painting them – but we completely understand that other people might do things differently if they were their chairs!

Comments

  1. Linda says

    re low VOC bathroom paint, maybe check with Benjamin Moore – I used the Aura bathroom paint and love it – at Thanksgiving, in Chicago. No odor, and my cats didn’t seem to notice a thing (I primarily got it to be pet friendly). It’s holding up beautifully and went on nicely for this novice painter. It’s a little on the pricey side, but I found it worth it. I believe BM has an even more green paint, but I love Aura.

    Reply

  3. Aryn@LivingonADimeorLess says

    Sherry, refinish those bad (but oh so darling cute!) boys and make them your own! It’s not about the perceived value of the chairs. . .that’s not what you bought them for. Your little bean will look so adorable in another year sitting on her vintage chairs drawing up her own future house DIY decorating plans! ;-) Can’t wait to see what you do with them.

    Reply

  7. Plein Jane says

    I’m here to tell you that I sat in these chairs for many years (although I’m a decade younger than 65!). If I’d known they would be worth anything, I would have squirreled a few of them away on the school bus. But I think even then, I appreciated the shape of them. And the “handle” on the back was good for pulling them in and out of spaces.

    Reply

  8. Aly says

    Paint them! It’s your vision and you’ll see it through. It’ll look great!

    Paint them for Clara. If you have a boy down the line or grow tired of the color, paint them again!

    Reply

  9. Janet says

    If these were really rare or really old like an 1800’s school chair I could understand the reaction but these are really common. I’ve seen these priced comparably at yard sales before. I think finding one refurbished on a nice website doesn’t mean that’s what they’re actually worth but just one company’s opinion on what someone might pay. So in Petersik’s language these are worth $15 + spray paint. ;)

    ps. Sherry, promise you’ll never paint an 1800’s school chair.

    Reply

  10. Kayla says

    I’m sure they’ll look beautiful painted, but that completely negates your point about their value. They’ll be really pretty chairs that are now worth $20 a piece, certainly not $125. I know that you can do what you want with what you own, but these chairs? They’re iconic. It’s like killing a member of an endangered species. Sigh…

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Did you see the update at the bottom of the post? One of them is already painted! So funny. We plan to refinish them so they fit in with the rest of our house. Then we just plan to enjoy them for a while – regardless of what that does to the actual resale value (since we never bought them with intentions of selling them). I guess in this case value isn’t defined as “resale worth” but as how much we love and use something, ya know?

      xo,
      s

  11. KathyG says

    I think they are cute chairs and will look perfect painted or stained depending on what table you choose. Great Find!

    But curious – after blogging this long, when you write a post, do you usually know/anticipate what the public reaction will be? Or does it still surprise you?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      It surprises me every time. Haha. Sometimes I think “Don’t you guys know me at all? Of course we’re going to update those $7.50 mismatched chairs that don’t go with anything else in our house!” – haha. But I completely understand that it’s one of those personal preference things too! Some folks are passionate about their wood. I did think it was especially unexpected that one of the chairs turned out to be painted already though (see the update at the bottom of the post). That was definitely a surprise!

      xo,
      s

  12. May says

    Hi guys! Those cute chairs are SUCH a great find! However, my question relates to the flooring in the picture with the chairs. We have similar flooring in our house that was covered over with carpet, which we ripped up when we moved in. Some of the tiles are damaged/loose. Do you know of a good resource for replacement wood tiles like those? I’ve googled many times but haven’t found anything. I’d appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We don’t know of one off of the top of our heads, but it’s called wood parquet flooring, so maybe you can google around for “replacement parquet flooring” or “replacement wood parquet” and see what comes up? Good luck!

      xo,
      s

  13. Liz says

    AWESOME find! I live for stuff like that! Fun story: Just a couple days ago we went to visit my husbands grandmother at a nursing home and they were having a garage sale, so while my husband rolled his eyes, mine settled upon a barrel back upholstered cane chair in perfect condition (except the ugly fabric) for 50 CENTS. 50 CENTS!!!! I had to ask the lady if that was right; it was and I practically ran away with it so they wouldn’t realize what a great deal they gave me. I’m still giddy about it!

    Reply

  14. Megan @ Are We Wed Yet says

    Awesome!!! I was just thinking about hitting up some yard sales the other day! It might take a while to sift through the “intersting” items to find a real treasure! Can’t wait to see how you incorporate these cuties! <3

    Reply

  18. M Strolle says

    As a 53 year old I can tell you that chair style was what we had in elementary school, made by Brunswick! We would put our chairs up on our desks at night so the janitor could sweep our room.
    I can see a chalkboard with the alphabet on that green lined paper at the top in this playroom/learning area!

    Reply

  19. Carrie says

    The first thing I thought when I looked at those chairs was “I hope they paint them teal!”
    It’s because I am obsessed with teal. I need therapy.

    Reply

  20. Emily Z says

    My dad actually got me a few of these chairs (made by Brunswick, right in my hometown)when I was little from a school that was having a yard sale. Mine might have been a size larger, though. When I was a bit older I sanded them down and dyed the wood using some RIT dye. Loved those chairs.

    Reply

  21. Jill says

    Long time lurker, first time commenter:)

    Congrats on the amazing garage sale find! Nothing beats that “natural high” of an amazing garage sale score!

    Just to keep things in perspective…I can imagine a blogger in the future, say, 20 years from now, writing,

    “I found the BEST vintage chair today, from the nineties – it’s forest green and burgandy. I think I’m going to paint it.”

    ….and hundreds of commenters replying, “Nooooo!!! Don’t paint it! Preserve the historical character from the nineties!”

    Makes me giggle :) Time passes, tastes change – live with what YOU love :)

    Reply

  22. anne says

    go ahead and paint them — I like the first color scheme on BabyCenter. If you had 4 of them in different colors the whole “mis-matched” thing might work, but I don’t think it works with just 2. You should definitely make them work for you and not feel badly about it. While they are great examples of 50’s mod furniture, they are not one-of-a-kind hand-made antique furniture. I’m sure there are pristine ones in museums that will be preserved for eternity.

    Reply

  23. Kara B says

    I just found your blog today, and I’m SO enjoying reading it. My boyfriend and I bought a house in December, that we will be slowly remodeling ourselves, room by room. You’ve inspired me to get the ball rolling… and who knows, I might even blog about it!

    Reply

  25. tammy says

    The third playroom picture link just sends me to the Martha homepage. Do you have a different link to the source? Thx!

    Reply

  26. colleen says

    Love those chairs! I have a set of four Brunswick chairs that are in my kids’ playroom. They are a different style than yours (yours are better) and I paid $1 each at a yard sale. I sell antiques/vintage, so I always think about selling them. But I am too lazy to find/buy new chairs to replace these if I sell them. So, I will wait until my kids are too big, and then sell them. I’m sure they will be worth even more money in five years. And this I know…kids chairs from Ikea/Target/Pottery Barn don’t go up in value after five years!

    Reply

  27. Jen S. says

    My husbands grandma who is about 85 asked us if we wanted some kids chairs from her church. Then she mentioned that they had been painted over the years because when she was a girl they were red and now were yellow. Can you believe they were at least 80 years old – pretty cool. We had to turn them down though – we weren’t sure if they would be safe for our kids.

    Reply

  28. cc says

    I love people that don’t like true vintage stuff, as that means more for me. I never point out to those people that stuff that’s already held up for 60 years is probably better in many ways than what you can pick up new (and for a lot more money) at many furniture stores today…

    Reply

  31. danielle says

    HI! I tried the link to the last room you featured. The one with all the artwork hanging. The link just takes me to marthastewart.com. Do you have another link? Thanks

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      That’s where it’s from (thanks to Pinterest) but there wasn’t a direct link to the actual post on Marthstewart about it. So sorry I don’t have more info for ya!

      xo,
      s

  33. kristy says

    This is so crazy. I have the SAME EXACT chairs. My mom got them from a preschool back in the 70’s or 80’s. I literally just painted them last week. I sprayed the legs with oil rubbed bronze and the chair part with a tan. On top of it I am painting my daughters’s name and a Dala Horse (Swedish horse) that was the theme of her first birthday.
    I also just weaned my daughter!!! She is 16 months old, but she was a preemie and supposed to be born the same time as Clara, so her adjusted age is 14 months. I also had an emergency c-section which was a totally awful experience. Ingrid (our daughter) had to spend 20 days in the NICU until she got big enough to come home. All the while I pumped so we would able to breastfeed. 20 days around the clock pumping. After all that work I became a total breastfeeding Nazi, so I have had much of the same feelings about weaning. I have to say I am loving the freedom though.
    And now for the really weird coincidence. When you posted about the vintage troll the other day, I was the one that said I had just dug them out of my old toys and made a troll bin in our basement. The very same day as your post. SOOoo weird. I feel like you are stalking me. Or maybe I am stalking you since I read about your life. ;)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      What a small world! So glad Ingrid is home safe and was able to nurse for so long after what she went through! And your chair project sounds so cool! Post pics of the afters on our Facebook page if you have a moment!

      xo,
      s

  34. Erin says

    I have one of these chairs – I saw two of them listed at an estate sale but by the time I got there one of them was gone – boo! I bought a stained orange one for $10 which I thougth was a good deal. It is pretty scratched up and well loved. I can’t wait for step by step instructions on how you rehab them… good luck!!

    Reply

  35. Lisa says

    Any clue how to find out where to get that striped rug shown in the 2nd photo with the pendants (the one from the website we can’t read because it is in a foreign language)? It would be perfect for our daughter’s room! Love the ideas you pinned. Thanks!

    Reply

  36. Stefanie says

    I’ve scored a few of these in the last couple of years and LOVE them. (I repainted them as well.) The ones I bought had really crummy and/or missing feet. I can’t tell from your pics how yours are, but if you want to replace them here’s one place that sells them:

    http://www.allglides.com/brunswick1.html

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      The playrooms in this post aren’t in our house, so we sadly don’t know where that rug is from! We did include the links to where we found the rooms though, so maybe those will help? Good luck!

      xo,
      s

Stuff We Love

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *