New counter stools!

I can not believe Christmas is over already.  It always goes way too quick!  I just love everything about the season!  I do like January as well though.   First off my beautiful daughter Bryce was born January 28th.  I also like the idea of a fresh new beginning.  I always try to organize, purge, and clean in January.  I also know that we are on our way to spring so that makes me happy too.  (although we have a few cold months to get through first!)

 

I have been all over the place with my projects lately.  I thought I would share my counter stool search . We have had black leather  stools at our counter since we moved in.  For years I never found a thing wrong with them, they worked and they were very comfy.  But of course I started to think they were too large and too dark and decided I wanted something else.  Like all of my other chairs I put them on craigslist to see how they would sell.  They sold very quickly and for a fair price. 

 

 

 

 Here are the black kitchen bar stools.  Nothing was wrong with them, I just wanted something lighter and not so bulky looking.  We also did not have much space between the table chairs and the bar stool backs so walking behind them was difficult.


I knew I was looking for a few things in our new stools.   I wanted a somewhat industrial looking stool.  I also wanted it much smaller than our previous ones. 

Here are a few styles I really like...... 

apartment therapy

Ok this is cool, but maybe a bit too cool for me! I love the barnwood looking island!



fixed point residence

I love these Delta style stools.  They would match my kitchen chairs perfectly!  

 

I love the splash of color in this white kitchen! 

 

house beautiful

 

  These light silver stools look great with the black! Cute kitchen!




matha stewart

I like these simple metal ones!

 

martha stewart

Love these too and LOVE this kitchen!!





Unlike my kitchen chair search my counter stool search was much easier.  I ruled out getting the matching Delta style stools because I did not want to match.  I also wanted backless.  This is what I found.........

 

 

 

 

I saw this stool at World Market while I was searching for my kitchen chairs.  This stool is prefect for these reasons:

 

1. It is industrial

2. I love the mix of wood and metal

3. This baby is sturdy! 

4. And the best part is it is adjustable. 

 

 I love this because if we need extra seating at our table it can be adjusted shorter to fit at the table.  Also if we move at some point and have a different height counter in our kitchen we can adjust the stools to fit!  I also bought this stool while World Market had its 25% off sale so I got a great deal!

 

 This is how this stool is described:

 

Our Twist Swivel Stool captures the cool, vintage vibe of an early 1900s draftsman stool. Its slender, sculptural silhouette features curved metal legs and a round wooden seat that twists up to bar height at 29.75" and down to counter height at 24.5". With such versatility it's a great option for both children and adults and can be used in a number of ways--try it at the coffee table for game night, or at an artist's easel.

 

 

Our previous black stools covered this space up.  The new stools leave it much more open, only down side to that is that wall is pretty beat up!!  It did not show with the other stools! 

 

 

These stools are proving to be perfect.  I like that they are backless.  It really makes that little walk way easier to get through.  They are comfortable and we have more room when we all sit at the counter to eat, which is often.  I also love the industrial look of these stools and that they are solid.  Some "new" made to look "old" industrial furniture looks nice but feels so cheap.  Even at the higher end furniture stores.  Like I said these stools are heavy and very sturdy, love that!  :)

 

 

~Wishing everyone a very Happy and Safe New Year!!! 

 

 

My favorite things about Christmas......

 

Happy Sunday and happy day before Christmas Eve!

 

I have a very loooooong list of things to do today.  I always wish I would have started all my Christmas things earlier, but for some reason I never do!  I must secretly enjoy the hustle and bustle at the end! 

 

I thought I would share some of my favorite things about the Christmas season.

 

 

1.  The birth of Christ.  My favorite part of Christmas is going to church and hearing the Christmas story & singing Silent Night!

 

 

 

 

2. Spending time with family and friends!  These three mean the world to me!!  I also love that we see family that we do not see often enough!!

 

 

 

 

3.  Watching Christmas movies in front of a fire. Here are a few of my favorites!

 

 

 

4. A Christmas snow

 

 

 

5.  Christmas Trees!  In the past we would make a day of it with the kids and cut our tree down.  Now that we have two very busy teenagers we are lucky if we get our tree up in time for Christmas!  We made it with a week to spare this year!  :)

 

 

 

 

6.  Shopping.  It is no secret that I love shopping.  But I really do love shopping for other people.  I also enjoy listening to Christmas music and wrapping presents!

 

 

 

 

7.  Christmas music.  If my daughter had her way we would listen to Christmas music all year long! 

 

 

 

8.  Egg Nog Chai from Starbucks!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

9.  Baking.  I have wonderful memories of my mom and my aunt baking all day.  The kitchen would be a mess and there were sooooo many different kinds of cookies by the end of the day.  My mom would store them in this little hall closet in Christmas tins and I would sneak cookies by the handfuls.  I had and still have a huge sweet tooth for Christmas cookies! 

 

 

 

10. Anticipation.

 

There is nothing like a child on Christmas.  My kids used to get sooooo excited for Christmas.  That will always be one of my favorite memories of Christmas.  Now my daughter is almost 16 and my son is 18.  Ok so my daughter is stilled sooooo excited about Christmas!  :)  I just can not believe how fast time has gone!  I get sad thinking that next year my son will be off to college.  But I am so proud of these two kids and look forward to what time will bring!

 

 

 

Wishing you all a Christmas filled with wonder of the birth of Christ, the warmth of the holiday spirit and the love of family and friends.....

This post is dedicated to Putch.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

A loooooong break!!

I am back!!!  Things got a little crazy around here so I was taking a few days off from blogging.  A few days turned into a few weeks and here it is December 7th!!!  I have missed my blogging and have kept busy decorating, just not posting about it!  So I have lots to share!!!

 

As you know I was on the hunt for dining chairs.  I sold all my chairs for both my kitchen and dining room  table.  I researched chairs for weeks and weeks! I also sold my barstools so was really starting from scratch!

 

First lets talk about my kitchen table.  For this room I knew I wanted metal.  The table is the refinished oak pedestal table.  You can read about that here: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5262909746498862430#editor/target=post;postID=8947369287926576484


 I had it narrowed down to two types of chairs.  I knew I wanted an industrial looking chair.  I  also knew I was using the two antique chairs I had re done to mix in with the metal chairs. The two styles I was considering were The Tolix chair and the Navy chair.  Both these chairs have some really interesting history to them.  I knew I could not afford an original or an vintage original for that matter!  I set off to find the best "not real" metal chair. 

 

Here is some of what I considered.

 

 

 

These tolix chairs are from Antiquaire.  This store is actually not too far from me.  They advertise that they have authentic tolix chairs.  The prices vary but run about $250.00.  A vintage tolix is around $700.00!! I did consider these chairs (not the vintage ones) but decided even at $250.00 a chair I would be spending more than I wanted to.

This tolix styled chair is from Industry West. It is the Marais A chair.  It is $145.00.  I have read good things about this chair.  I considered this one too.

 

I also liked this chair from Restoration Hardware.  It is the Remy & Marcel chair-$99.00

This is the Jackson Metal Tub Chair from World Market.  I love this chair.   It is $109.99 and I had a 25% off coupon so I bought 4 and was so excited!  Sadly I had to return the chairs, the arms came up too high and the chairs did not fit under my table.  Aside from that they looked great!



 

 

 



These tolix chairs also made it in to my kitchen. I found them at the flea market. They are new but definitely looked vintage. I got them for $100.00 a chair. I loved the vintage look about them, problem was the vintage look is why they were not going to work. They had rust on them and rough spots. This can work for some furniture but I pictured our clothes getting rust stains all over them and decided it was not the best idea for a kitchen chair. And they were not very comfortable. So I sold them on craigslist to an interior designer who was thrilled to have them! I was a little sad to see them go!

 

 

At this point in my search I started leaning towards the Navy chairs.  I liked that they were more of a simple chair. Nice and sleek with clean lines.  Nothing fancy, but industrial none the less. 

 

The Navy chairs were made in 1944 by Emeco.  They were made for the US Navy to be used on warships during WWII.  They were made to be indestructible.

 

These chairs are from Crate and Barrel.  I actually had decided on these and had placed an order online. While I was waiting on my shipment I checked them out in the store.  (probably should have done that first!!)  They were really light, like tip over light.  The floor models were also scratched and dented.  I loved the look of them, but that scared me away.  I cancelled my order. 

 

 

This Navy chair is from DWR and is $455.00.  It is made by Emeco and is authentic.  

Love this look! (Apartment Therapy)

 

 

 via Rum 21.  

 

These are fun!  (from Emeco)

 

 

 

After many many hours of searching..........

 

 



 

These chairs are the winner!!  The picture does not do these chairs justice!  I never have bought anything from Overstock.com before.  In my researching I found these and read all the reviews.  The reviews were were really really good!  Price?  Really really good too!  Two chairs for $149.00!  Plus free shipping!!  The chairs came packaged well and were in excellent condition!

 

 

 

 

Here is it in person.  This chair has substance to it, it is not as light as some of them.  These chairs are a keeper!  And they are actually comfortable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sooooooo, after a very long search I have found the perfect chairs.  I love that I can fit two on each side.  I added two additional seating areas.  I  also love the industrial look with the wood table & vintage chairs. 

Ok one table down, one to go!  :)