Monday, March 06, 2006

To buy or not to buy...

My husband and I have never had to buy a dining room set. We started out with my grandmother's original set, which was beautiful but falling apart. Since then, we received my other grandmother's set. This one is definitely in better shape, but is smaller and more appropriate for a kitchen. So the search begins.

I happened upon a Bassett Furniture Clearance Warehouse where they sell overstocked and slightly damaged furniture at deep discounts. I stopped by on Saturday to take a look around and found this set. It is a medium Cherry and includes an 18 inch leaf to expand the table to 78 inches. The table has slight damage to one of it's corners and has a few scratches on the leaf. The chairs are all solidly built.

The price for six chairs and the table is LESS than a thousand dollars. Of course, my husband loves the price, but I am concerned about the upholstered chairs. With a four year old at home and another child on the way, the white chair cushions will be filthy in a matter of days. My mother said she could try to re-upholster them, but is this more trouble that it is worth? In looking at upholstery fabric, the prices range anywhere from $20 to $50 bucks a yard. What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

10 comments:

Lisa and Tate said...

Definitly BUY IT!!!!!! It is so easy to recover the chairs!! Just find fabric you like... it could be cheap or expensive.... whatever you find and like... It is real simple to unscrew seat, cut fabric a few inches bigger on each side of seat and staple gun fabric.... GO FOR IT ... email if you need help or questions...

Lisa

Elle said...

Definitely buy! It isn't that hard to recover the seats. There is some fabric - it is kinda a suede-ish fabric, that you just wipe down if it gets dirty. My friends has it on her kitchen chairs and LOVES it!

Awesome set!

Johnny said...

I'd go for it. The fabric can always be redone a few years into the future. It's the construction and the way the wood is joined together that will make it last many years past a few cushion re-dos.

Anonymous said...

I love the design on the back of the chair. That sounds like a great price and re-upholstering chairs is very easy. You could keep the white for now and just try to protect one from the baby and then redo down the road when you are in the mood for a change. My only thought - how would you protect the cherry table from sticky hands and messy eaters? We use a vinyl table cloth at mealtime but I really don't like the look of it.
Let us know what you decide!
Tracy

MrsFortune said...

Hey, I just found your site through CHBM ... I'll be back, lots! I love reading about others' knitting.

As far as the chairs, I say it is totally worth it to re-upholster. My gray/green upholstered dining room chairs have been through kids, pets, you name it! And they don't look like crap, most of the time.

Joannah said...

What Lisa said! I was going to say that, but she beat me to it.

Kristin said...

I love the look of the chairs... the have a slight Asian quality to them.

Stephanie, I love how you are asking for the Internet opinion!

It is excellen that they are already a little scratched... now you don't have to worry... it makes it a liveable piece!

And, trust me... NO NO NO on the Jamarama!!

Lisa~~ said...

You can scotch-guard the upholstery, which will make cleaning easier especially if you use a product called Spot-Shot for the clean-up. Reupholstering seat cusions is a breeze so if you like the set, I'd say go for it.

Kim said...

Wow, that's a steal! I would buy it and scotch guard the heck out of the chairs! Let us know what you decide.

Kim

Amanda said...

I feel silly posting cuz I'm just going to say exactly what everybody else said. I usually just don't. But, I really, really agree. So...yes...recovering is easy...cool chairs...done.