pull up a chair

i have a chair problem. i see chairs everywhere that i want. sometimes, like in this particular case, they're incredibly old and weathered. and chained to phone booths. but i could see this chair in a hallway with a stack of books on it, and maybe an old phone sitting on top of them. i could see it being used as a little side table in a guest room with a pretty book or two and a small arrangement of sweet pink flowers. of course the chain would have to come off...


i've also been coveting a midcentury rocker from urban...and now it's gone. so gone i can't even look at it and lament that it's not mine. except i can torture myself by looking at it here.

my love for chairs knows no limit...i don't discriminate - i love all styles and sizes, all time periods and origins.

i collect chairs at tag sales and garbage piles (imagine that said under my breath - i'm not proud of it. well actually, i'm a little proud of it, but mitchell's not). i have a dream of what they'll be one day. my latest obsession is this, in our next apartment. i'll paint several disparate chairs all in one high-gloss color (TBD) and have them around a dining room table all together. i first saw the idea in sjp's home, and became obsessed. i've written about it a few times already, because i never tire of it.

here are the chairs i've collected (well, ones that look a lot like them) that will all live in harmony one day soon around my table. so far, i've only spent $10.

one thonet bentwood style chair, $5 at tag sale:

one chippendale style chair, $5 at tag sale:

then, i have my sights set on two chippendale-style armchairs at my grandmother's house (free) that are far less bamboo-esque than these, but you get the idea. and i love the fact that there are two...it breaks up the pattern of only having one of each and gives it that more collected feel, which in this case, is totally authentic.

then i have 2 french country chairs like this from my other grandmother (free). another couplet...

and then when my mom gives in to my urgings to get these chairs for her dining room table, i hope to take a couple of their current ones too (free). they look like this (no arms):

okay and one more -- this style captains chair which i picked up in a..."recycling" pile. it looks almost exactly like this, except it's in three pieces at the moment:

and i'd like to add a couple more should i ever come across them at a tag sale or something...a shaker style chair like this:

and a curved back one like this:


oh, and maybe a queen anne style like these:

where am i putting all these chairs? i really don't know the answer to that. like i said, i have a problem. maybe one day when i'm a millionaire, i'll have a chair annex. and then i'll live there and stare at all my chairs all day. don't judge.

thonet chair image, chippendale image, chippendale armchair image, french country chair image, other images from here, and here