I'm using the term antique loosely here. In fact I have no idea how old these chairs are but I know they're not from an ancient Pyramid and they're not from Wayfair. They're somewhere in between.
I'm sliding down a slippery slope of overindulgence. Not with money or booze or food but with old stuff. Creaky, glowing, interesting old stuff is making its way into my house again and if I'm not careful I'll be living in a granny pad once more.
I did that when I first bought my house. Surrounded myself with enough red velvet and lace curtains to choke Queen Victoria. Also I had no idea what I was doing at the time so there was that issue.
There are rules and ratios about how much old stuff and how much new stuff you should have in your house and how much older the new stuff should be from the old stuff if you want to strike the right design balance. It involves math and percentages and being very careful about the selections you make. My method for striking the right balance in decorating is somewhat less refined. I load up on one particular look until I start to feel anxiety in my toe knuckles, and then I pull back.
It's the toe knuckle test.
I was starting to get too far into the mid century mode and it was making me sweat a little. It didn't feel comfortable, as in, my toes were tingling. I wasn't really sure how I was going to solve this little problem, but I knew it didn't involve buying another mid century modern piece of furniture.
I needed something country and cozy and blanket like. That was achieved by ripping all of my floors down to their original pine and refinishing them (more on how I did that in a later post) to a natural tone. Apparently for me to get cozy I need to surround myself with saws, hammers and centipedes so large I can hear them coming.
The one thing people say about my house whenever they come in is that it's comfortable and cozy. I never, never want to change that feeling people get when they come in.
It's generally easy to maintain that cozy, comfortable and relaxed feel when there's always piles of laundry to be folded on the couch.
I was still on my rustic, cozy kick (having just bought this antique hardware cabinet for my kitchen) when I accidentally bought these chairs.
They're not what you'd call rustic.
These double blind caned (also known as French caning) Louis XV chairs were probably made in the early 1900's. Double blind caned? Oh, you haven't heard of that before? Neither had I until I accidentally bought these chairs.
What is blind caning?
Blind caning is when you can't see where the caning is attached to the chair. The holes are only drilled partway through the furniture and the caning is then pegged and glued into place. DOUBLE blind caning is when the same technique is used twice, once on the front and once on the back of the furniture. So there are two layers of caning instead of just one like you would normally see in a piece of furniture.
At least that's what I could figure out from searching Google.
I say I accidentally bought them because I wasn't looking for chairs. At all. I'd resolved to not having 2 chairs in my living room because there isn't room in there.
But there I was strolling through a local antique store the size of a shoebox (with enough furniture in it to fill a castle) when I saw them.
I got tingly toe knuckles. But in a good way.
I sat in them, got anxiety, almost bought them, decided that was stupid, walked away from them, looked at them again, left the store, turned right around walked back into the store, stared at them again, left the store, then called the store owner 10 minutes later from another store to say I was going to buy them.
What was my deciding factor? 3 of the 4 people I was out shopping with that day said they'd buy the chairs from me for their home if I decided I really couldn't find a place for them in mine.
So far they look good everywhere so I don't think finding a place for them will be a problem. They're small, lightweight and comfortable so they made great extra seating at Thanksgiving.
Once I get the cushions recovered (as opposed to stuffing them into white pillowcases as I've done here) the chairs are sure to look even better. I'm going to do them in either a neutral linen or velvet and I'm going to have them understuffed with down so it looks like they've been sat in for years. It's a more relaxed look, less formal. Also it'll help them be comfortable.
And cozy.
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Dana Studer
I love them! Mom had chairs like that for eons. They had a turquoisey, cobalt blue velvet upholstery and covered buttons (is that tufting?) on the seat. It was my time out spot. Once I was banished for 5 minutes into one of those chairs. My usual "I gotta go pee" wasn't working with Mom so I peed in the chair. The buttons rusted and leaked rust into the velvet upholstery. I was in some deep doodoo. They had to be reupholstered. Dont pee in your chairs, Karen.
Karen
O.K. ~ karen!
Arie Cornet
Lovely interesting chairs pity there was no pic of the bottom
Karen
Like the underside? ~ karen!
Arie Cornet
Yes then one could see what wood tenoned or dowelled and many other things would tell one where there made and when
Sigrid Olsen
I would do a velvet cushion so fast it would make your head spin. Maybe even in an periwinkle or an light blue. love these chairs. Lucky you. No offense, but your granny pad days were pretty grim. You surely smartened up your taste. I still decorate the same as always...which is just plain English taste with lots of crap. I still have my butter yellow walls, but I will never get rid of them.
Karen
Ha! I used to have yellow walls too. :) Yellow is a HARD colour to get right so if you found the perfect butter yellow, keep them forever. ~ karen!
Marilyn Meagher
Sigh..these are gorgeous...they would look good in a gunny sack
Kelly
Karen,
I need the antique to modern math ratios stat!
Sherie
You should cover them with red velvet
Benjamin
I'm glad to hear you changed direction from choking queens...
The chairs are beautiful and go so well with your tulip table.
Hugs to you. ❤
Karen
Yes I changed direction. You're safe! ~ karen!
Susan
Love the chairs! I wasn't a huge fan of the table until you added these chairs. The first picture was misleading and I thought they has a dark stain. The second picture looked too gold, but the third picture with a close-up of the details, brought me back to love. I would age them a bit more with a black glaze which would look fantastic with the charcoal linen. Without the glaze maybe a charcoal cotton velvet which would have a sort of dusty look. Nice find!
Gail Riley
I see your email, as with all superfluous ones that I am quick to delete, and I always pause on yours. And each time I read , you tickle me!
I have owned a crappy motel, turned resort motel (added horse shoes, duh, resort) turned into very marvelous inn. On a creek, huge blue spruce, Rick outcropping...My chickens (eggs worth say, $5 each) and coop were replaced by a magical 3 Story Tree House. Good move, rented most all the time and pricey. Tho we did build stupidly and frightenly in the recession. Love trumps all.
Wish you lived close by. I bet most of your readers think they/ we would be friends, but we really wood.
Got nuthin to do? Google Highland Haven Evergreen Co then! Google Eliza Cross, Happy Simple Living. You really would be friends. She has written a dozen books, I’m on my 3rd and it is sooo hard for me. Any way, Colorado beckons for wine with us.
Darla
Great find! I agree with the velvet. It won't crease when someone sits on it like the linen would.
Marcia
We have a couple of chairs similar to this from my husband's grandmother. When we got them the were a medium pecan type finish. I "pickled" them (kind of like white wash but more subtle) and had them reupholstered. Several years later I reupholstered them myself. Then the giant dogs came. Specifically my daughter's big hairy shepherd/rottweiler mix who liked to sit on the chairs and look out the front window. I discovered (after it was too late) that he'd been using the arms as a chew toy and had gnawed off a considerable part of the carved end. I love the design and the chairs are comfortable. I'm still trying to decide if I love them enough to try to rebuild the arm with wood putty and then reupholster them yet again. So far I've not been that ambitious.
Yours are lovely, and if you can't find a place for them, you can add me to the list of people who will buy them from you.
linda in Illinois
not a fan of the fake gold look myself, but that could be fixed I'm sure.
Karen
Well, that's how they're supposed to look, lol, so I won't be fixing them. ~ karen!
Lynn
Fantastic find Karen , love them under stuffed will non velvet will most definitely be a beautiful enhancement to these lovely chairs.
Lynn Johanson
Love the chairs! Are you going to leave them gold? I have a pair of caned barrel chairs. They are dark stained wood and cane. I'm thinking of painting them..... Any tips? Will you experiment first?
And I still covet your cane love seat!
Lynn
Karen
Yes, the reason I bought them was because they're gold. :) ~karen!
Karen S
Use a gold wax. It comes in a small jar (specialty shops, in the framing section) but goes a long way. Just dab a corner of a cloth into the jar and rub a small bit on the high points of the wood. It makes it glow subtly. I use that trick on picture frames from the opp shops (thrift stores), too. It's a very handy finish to keep on hand.
Karen S
To get a similar finish on a brown wood, use a gold wax. It comes in a small jar (specialty shops, in the framing section) but goes a long way. Just dab a corner of a cloth into the jar and rub a small bit on the high points of the wood. It makes it glow subtly. I use that trick on picture frames from the opp shops (thrift stores), too. It's a very handy finish to keep on hand.
Librarian Nancy
My mother had a pair of very similar chairs in our living room in the 60's, except I'm sure hers were a knockoff from JCPenney or Sears. They were finished in a pecan color and had striped green and ivory velvet seats that had the clear plastic covers from the store on them (that was a common thing in the 60s). I think we used them until they fell apart. With the plastic still covering the seats.
Kipper
Beautiful! My home is cozy because it is small and also the dog likes to leave her toys randomly all over the place...most often in the middle of a room or hallway so humans trip over the,.
Donna
I.LOVE.THEM
Seriously, I would marry these chairs if they lived closer! I can’t do long distance furniture relationships - I need to be in the same room as them!
Great find Karen. I love your decor aesthetic- the perfect mix of vintage, rustic and antique!
Linda C Johnston
WOW! Did you ever score! It's a wonder ALL your knuckles didn't tingle! I like these best of anything you have shared.
jaine kunst
LOVE them!!
Lynn
I found a pair like these on Craigslist a couple of years ago--they are on the long list of the 'ones that got away'. I talked myself out of them and have been sorry ever since! Our furniture needs have evolved a bit so I probably won't buy a set like these in the future but I LOVE them! Congrats!!