The “test” chair I purchased from Home Decorators was really great. It was HEAVY and Solid and had a great aesthetic.  The one problem was that it’s too damn big for my space. My table legs are 19″ apart at the head/feet and the chair just won’t fit under the table fully.  I debated for over a week on how to proceed and I decided that I just can’t live with my dining chairs sticking out so far from the table. Too bad, because the chairs were priced right and were a pretty great quality.

MS and I went furniture shopping yesterday.  We hit several national retail shops and I found a few options, but nothing sang to me.  Most of them were just fine — they would fit in the space and fit my color design, but none of them had a padded seat.  I had decided that I wanted a nice pad with a bold pattern and since I’m stubborn I couldn’t let it go.

We tried on final store, called Arhaus.  While I had never purchased anything here before, I did visit a couple years ago and found it to be too expensive for me.  Deciding to give it another try, I was pleasantly surprised to find a huge warehouse sale going on.  They also have a large wall of dining chairs — several designs, various finishes, padded seats, non-padded seats — everything you could want.  I really liked the Anna Side Chair, which almost fit perfectly the image I had in my mind.  Thankfully the chair was on sale – the retail price is $399 — good God, I can’t imagine spending $2,600 (including tax) on dining chairs.  The special warehouse sale, when purchasing 6 chairs, drops the price to $182 (including tax).

Interestingly enough, the padded chair was the same price as the chair with no pad.  Doesn’t really make sense, but rules are rules, right?  A wide selection of fabrics are also available and adding this to the chairs is done for no additional charge.  The deal keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it.

I took the measurements on Saturday and returned home to measure one more time — I don’t want to buy 6 chairs and realize they don’t quite fit.  And unlike with Home Decorators, I can’t buy one chair to see how it works — as the sale ends on Monday.

I grabbed my mom and MS and we returned to the store today and poured through the fabric selections again — after a bit of discussion I decided on Findlay Saddle as my fabric.  I was looking for something a bit more bold than I originally got with that Home Decorators chair.  I really dig this fabric.  It has a classic French feel and the pattern will work nicely softening the harsh linear aspects of the rest of my living/dining area.  On the plus side, I can always recover the chairs myself with other fabric as I need.

Delivery is set for 10/14 — again, a pretty quick turn around for a custom tweaked chair.  I cannot wait to see them nor can I wait to see how it all works together.  So with the special price, including tax and delivery, I saved over $1,500 on these dining chairs.  The service at Arhaus was really great. I worked with Michael, who was a pleasure to deal with.  While Arhaus isn’t an inexpensive place to shop, I loved it.  While it isn’t 100% my style, there are some cool pieces that would fit perfectly into almost any home.

Once the chairs arrive I’ll be sure to post pictures and provide a full review.