MCM Chinese chippendale Dining room chairs

These MCM Chinese Chippendale dining room chairs may have been my best thrift-score to date…

I picked up these chairs from craigslist.   Eight chairs total.  Two arm chairs and six side chairs.  The price was amazing at $60 for all eight chairs.   A steal!

 

The chairs looked like this when I bought them(except the floral chintz was on the seat too).  The previous owner covered the fretwork on the backs.  I had no idea until I brought them home and started to investigate.   I  pulled off the back cover and to my surprise…beautiful chippendale style fretwork!  I think it’s chippendale style?!  I’ve been trying to find a similar style online and haven’t come across this exact style.  The square, straight lines make them look very mid-century to me.

I debated on what type of fabric I should use on the seats and finally just slapped on a coat of paint and some  stripes to cover the outdated 1984 chintz fabric.  It worked like a charm for a quick, temporary, and cheap fix.  The foam seat cushion is very firm and the chintz is a tight weave fabric so the paint covered nicely.  The seats are now very much like vinyl, which makes cleaning up after the kids so easy!  Spills and wet bathing suits are no problem!  I’m not sure about the blue and white stripe though.  It’s a little too much contrast for me now, but I think once I get new fabric for the table clothe it’ll be better.  I painted the chair seats a couple days before July 4th so the colors were apropos.   The fabric I’d really like is the chang mai dragon fabric by schumacher or something similar.  Then my navy and white striped chairs won’t feel so stark.

 

Alabaster chang Mai dragon…or maybe the aquamarine…

not sure if either really work, but I’d like something with a lot of color for the table clothe.  It’s a 60″ round table so it takes 10 yards minimum for floor length.  More yardage for pattern matching!What do you think of the chairs?  Would you keep them?  Paint them a fun color?   I’m really stumped here.  Sometimes I feel like scrapping it all!