I have a love/hate relationship with shopping for home decor. I love looking at ALL the options and I start designing a room around each in my mind. When I'm shopping to buy, and not just shopping for the the imaginary rooms that I dream up, it's usually pretty easy for me to zero in on the one. But when it turns out that the one is either out of my price range, or worse, is no longer available, I get pretty frustrated. There could be a million other options out there, but once I've found what I really want, it's hard for me to move on to all of those other options.
That was exactly what happened to me back in the spring when I first started planning for the
One Room Challenge makeover of our dining area.
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I began by searching for a dining table that would meet our needs. Despite feeling like our current glass table was looking a bit dated, a lot of it's qualities were really ideal for our family. I know a lot of people will say that a glass table isn't practical with kids - because yes, fingerprints - but overall I found it to be a great table for our family, especially with two art loving little boys. We used markers, and paint, and stamps galore, and I never once had to worry about damaging the table because I could wipe anything off of the glass. And I was never concerned that the kids would push to hard with colored pencils and leave dents in a wood surface.
And let's be honest, it's not just the kids who make messes on our dining table. It also serves as a work surface for many a painting and craft project of my own. So when I started shopping for our new table, durability and wipe-ability {is that even a word?!} were high on my list. For the same reasons, I don't want a rug under our dining table.
Since a rug is out, I couldn't picture a big wood table in the space on top of our wood floors. This girl can only take so much brown in one space.
Our kitchen dining area is a very long, thin space, so I was looking for a long table that could seat at least 8 to 10 people comfortably. Finally I found a 104" long,
white lacquer dining table of my modern dreams! We already own a
white lacquer desk that has proven to be a very durable work surface, so I knew this table could easily stand up to all our art projects. Best of all, I was able to order it during a big sale!
Next I started shopping for chairs to go with the table, and I pretty quickly found the
perfect mid-mod dining chairs. Grey upholstery, a bit of wood (but not too much), a black metal for a modern, industrial touch and tie in the black chairs in front of the fireplace. These chairs also come in blue and green upholstery, and there's a nearly identical chair that comes in
white or black leather.
Best of all, my dream chairs were less than $100 a piece. DONE! Only not so fast... the chairs were listed as "out of stock" and my initial research indicated they might be discontinued. Womp! Womp!
What's a girl to do?! I continued my modern dining room chair search hoping to find something else that could win my heart. I found lots of other affordable, modern dining chairs - including lots of gray dining chairs that I really liked. But all the while, I just couldn't get "the One" out of my mind. After a couple of emails to the manufacturer, I was told they would be back in stock in early summer. Cue my happy dance! Early summer became mid-summer, then early fall. After lots of nervous nail biting that they wouldn't arrive in time for the fall One Room Challenge, at long last the chairs came back in stock and 10 of them are now happily in my possession! More happy dancing!!
Now I've got a whole Pinterest board filled with my runner up modern grey dining room chairs that's just collecting dust, so I figured I should share them all with you, because I'm sure my "lets just be friends" is someone else's soul mate!
STEAL OF A DEAL GRAY DINING CHAIRS UNDER $100
Each of these inexpensive dining chairs are under $100 each, and a couple are even under $50 each. Most are available with free shipping, so these really are steals! Many of these chairs are sold in sets of two, so keep that in mind when you see the prices listed.
AFFORDABLE GRAY DINING CHAIRS UNDER $150
All of these affordable modern dining chairs are under $150 each. So many great options that won't bust your budget! Again, some are sold in sets of two, so be sure to notice that when looking at the online prices.
MODERATELY-PRICED GRAY DINING CHAIRS UNDER $250
The cost of chairs adds up fast when you're buying six, eight, or especially ten! These options were all a bit more than I wanted to spend for our dining room makeover, but not out of the realm of what I'd be willing to spend if the style was perfect for my space.
SPLURGE GRAY DINING CHAIRS UP TO $350
It's so hard to define what is a "splurge." What's a splurge to me might not be a splurge to you, and vice versa. Each of these chairs are priced between $250 to $350, but man are they gorgeous!
If you're in the market for gray dining chairs, be sure to pin the image below so that you can find your way back to this post when the time is right.
Labels: decor, decorating, One Room Challenge, shopping
