That one time I actually spent money
Happy 2014! It’s my first post of the year….and I don’t have some awesome, creative, one of a kind project for you. I have seven projects that are about 80% finished, but I just can’t seem to get them to the “ready to photograph” stage. I also have about 14 hundred ideas floating around in my head and I just want to drop everything I’m working on and dive into some new stuff. But I will pace myself, because finishing stuff is very important. Because finally finishing projects makes my husband very happy…and starting new projects without finishing others makes my husband very unhappy. It makes him sigh a lot, and my pet name changes from “baby” to “woman.”
So today, I’m talking about chairs.
Specifically, these beauties from Crate & Barrel…
If you’ve been reading for a while then you know that I’ve had my eye on these babies for YEARS. Literally. I think I first mentioned them in this post about my failed attempt at slipcovers, then in my kitchen reveal post, and a few other times as well. So why didn’t I just buy them? Well here’s the problem…they are wicked expensive. Like $199 a pop kinda expensive.
Ouch.
So I tried my best to forget about them and embrace my soft slipcovered ones for a while longer.
Honestly, they looked good from afar and they were comfy….but they were SO GROSS. I’m not the kind of person that cleans all the time and is always on the lookout for germs to kill, but those chairs were freaking me out. They were like a disgusting toddler science experiment. It didn’t matter that I could wash the covers because my kids made sure that their messes and spillage soaked all the way through the foam seats. What I needed was a good, clean, wipeable chair…a metal chair. Not unlike a certain crazy expensive chair from Crate & Barrel.
In an effort NOT to spend $600 on chairs I scoured the inter webs for affordable alternatives. Some were way cheaper, some were not. Overall I was mostly surprised at how expensive chairs are in general.
Amazon, Overstock, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware
I found some that looked just like those pictured above at World Market, and I willed myself to fall in love with them at $49 a piece – 50% off clearance! (They’re no longer available or else I’d link to them.) I so wanted to love them…but they were horribly uncomfortable, and they were small, and the back reclined too much. Basically, hated them. So I moved on the next most popular style of metal chair, the tub chair.
World Market, Target, Overstock, Restoration Hardware
I sat in the from ones from Target and World Market, and they were much more comfortable than the first style. It wasn’t instantaneous love though…I couldn’t get over the squattiness of them and the fact that I wouldn’t be able to push them in under my table.
There was only one solution to my predicament…to buy the Crate & Barrel ones. I really couldn’t see a way around it. In fact, it would be illogical NOT to buy them.
So I began to stalk my prey. I watched and waited for a sale… for MONTHS. I may be stubborn, but I’m patient. Adam saw my determination and finally came around to the idea of spending and actual chunk of our hard-earned money. Finally one day they went on sale…15% off. And since I had singed up for every catalog and mailing list they have, I also got a 10% off coupon at the same time. It was fate.
There’s no fighting fate.
I’m happy to report that I love them…they are large, sturdy, and surprisingly comfortable. A little cold in the winter, but that doesn’t last long in south Texas. The first meal we had after getting the chairs was pancakes….you know, with syrup. Drippy, sticky, messy syrup. Many a sticky pancake landed directly on my chairs and were then mashed in my grubby kid fingers, butts, and feet. So when the meal was all over, I WIPED. THEM. CLEAN. It was amazing. Is this what it feels like to have something in your house be clean? Cause it’s awesome. Now I need a metal couch.
We actually got these in just in time for Thanksgiving, I’m a little behind on my post writing. Here they are being used…
Okay, so you can’t really see them in that picture (and only about half of our family is even in it), but sometimes it’s nice to see actual people using rooms on DIY/home blogs. Blog rooms are always so empty!
So that is the story about how I actually spent some money. The great thing about carefully stalking home purchases (and always paying with cash!) is that there is no buyers remorse. Buyers remorse is the WORST, I’m sure many of y’all will agree.
I’m feeling chatty today, so I want to hear…whats something you actually spent money on in your home? Or what is something you are currently stalking? I have a few other things on my stalk list…most of them are rugs actually. Rugs are expensive.
