OUR SEATTLE CRAFTSMANLauren CaronNovember 09, 2020Dining Room, Our Seattle Craftsman, OurSeattleCraftsman, ourseattlecraftsman, one room challenge, ORC, ORCBHGComment

Fall One Room Challenge: Week 5 - The Dining Chairs

OUR SEATTLE CRAFTSMANLauren CaronNovember 09, 2020Dining Room, Our Seattle Craftsman, OurSeattleCraftsman, ourseattlecraftsman, one room challenge, ORC, ORCBHGComment

If you’re new around here, thanks for stopping by and welcome! I am Lauren Caron, an interior designer and the founder of Studio Laloc, an interior design firm based in Seattle, Washington. On the side my husband and I are remodeling our home that I’ve given its own hashtag #ourseattlecraftsman. We’ve renovated our kitchen, scullery, and in the last One Room Challenge, we renovated our powder room. I’m excited to be participating as a guest again and hope you’ll follow along as we remodel our dining room! If you missed last week’s post please check here to read it.

Week 4 Post

This is finally the week we’re talking about the chairs! They still are not completed yet, (the fabric shipped today to my upholsterer) but I wanted to share the style I am going with and what has to be done to make them look the way I want them to be.

I have to admit. Selecting dining chairs can be really challenging. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve agonized over selecting or sourcing the right dining chairs for client projects. For my own home it felt especially challenging with wooden table and a room paneled in wooden walls. There really can only be so much wood in one room. There are a few other materials I could choose from such as metal, plastic or even painted wood may suffice but, I decided early on that I wanted something soft and upholstered. However, not the kind of upholstered chairs that you’d typically imagine. You know that chairs I’m talking about….

I had seen a dining room designed by Madrid based designer Lorenzo Castillo. He had these blue checked chairs set around an oval table. These chairs I’m pretty sure were upholstered antique chair or custom made, but the closest style I could find to them is a parsons chair. Not the dining chairs that pop up on the searches though, more specifically the Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggins style parsons chairs.

Dining room designed by Lorenzo Castillo

Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggins Parsons Chair

Knowing that these style of chairs are hard to come by, and within my price point. I thought I would explore two options: 1. finding out what it would cost to have them made custom, and 2. to buy vintage and have the vintage chairs modified then custom upholstered.

The first option of making them custom ended up coming in around $700 - 800 (trade pricing) in labor per chair, not including the cost of material. Which is honestly reasonable. However, for 6 chairs that means I’d be spending around $4000 - 4800 on the labor alone. Then I would need to add in the cost of the fabric as well as the cost of having it treated and the total was coming in close to/over $5,000. And let me be clear, this is a normal, if not low in price to pay for a set of 6 quality, bespoke dining chairs. And if you think about it, the price is less than $1000 per chair. Considering how mass-market made restoration hardware chairs are coming in at around the same price per chair it’s exceptionally reasonable.

Considering my total budget for the dining room, I decided to go in the direction of the alternate option which would be to find vintage chairs that are close in shape, and have them modified to suit the design I have in mind. I found a set of 6 chairs for around $600 and sent them to my upholsterer. With the cost of the fabric coming in around $425 + or - and my upholsterer’s fees (which I honestly don’t have a finalized amount on), I know my total investment will be coming in under $3000, maybe even less. Once I had the financing figured out I needed to meet with my upholsterer to discuss the design details and how we can modify the chairs.

The vintage chairs I found that I will be modifying for our dining room

We met over a month ago to look at the current chairs to discuss what type of modifications can be made without making the chairs too uncomfortable. The chairs that I found are quite short and straight in the back. They barely reach the height of my dining table, which for such a traditional space felt slightly off. So I wanted to raise them up a little, but we had to consider both the angle and the height of seat before making any modifications. However, one thing that is important about chairs, is that you should have a light recline in the back of the chair, if it’s too straight it won’t be very comfortable. Raising the height without considering this angle may make them uncomfortable to sit in for any length of time.

Ultimately we decided we could add height to the top of the frame. It wouldn’t matter if the wood doesn’t match because it will be fully upholstered. We also considered that we can angle the cushion of the back panel slightly to make the angle a little softer on the back. The seat height will remain the same.

Below is the drawing of the final design. Castillo’s chairs have arms and were detailed with upholstery tacks. In order to not be a complete copycat and also, to better function at the dining table, I decided against adding arms to my chairs. I also decided against using upholstery tacks. We will be adding a little bit of welting (piping) around the back cushion to add detail to the upholstery. I will also keep with the gingham check style fabric because I think the straight lines of the fabric enhances the overall shape. It also plays up the juxtaposition of a traditional and classic pattern upholstered on a modern shape. It just feels right, not only within the room and but also on the chairs.

Also below is the mock up with the modified frame. After testing, we decided to make the foam softer and a little less thick than it is there. I also asked him to inset the cushion just a little more slightly.

My Upholsterers Note In Our First Meeting

This week we are on the east coast visiting family and honestly, I will not accomplish anything on the room and from looking at what I did between this week and last week, we’ve only accomplished finishing the wallpaper. Which I’m fine with. I still think we’re doing well and on track. Realistically I’m not planning to finish until the very end of the extended timeline, because I doubt my chairs will be completed in time and I can’t push my upholsterer too hard. I rather them finish the chairs properly and without rushing.