Act 1

Many moons ago (apparently Spring of 2015 because that’s when these listing photos are from), I found a dining room set on Craigslist.Now, this was during a heavy Craigslist season for me. I had recently found our elliptical and our daybed on Craigslist, and, like an addict, I just couldn’t stop searching. I was now hunting pieces for several different projects, and I realized what I needed was a dining room set. Now, I already had a dining table and four chairs that I loved, but I had BIG PLANS, so I searched for a complete oak set. The one I found (above) had a pedestal table, 4 regular chairs, and 2 captain’s chairs, and it was around $75 for all. Perfect!

As usual, Adopted California Dad came to the rescue and helped me transport my finds. Luckily, this time it was only across town. We worked our magic to get all of the pieces in the back of his truck and my Honda, and we made it in one trip. (Husband just shook his head as we pulled up and started unloading everything in the garage.)

First up were the captain’s chairs. This was the main reason I bought this set – I wanted chairs with arms for the front porch to paint red to match our front doors.Husband did the painting on these for me, and we put them to use right away.Shortly after, I thrifted a small table for $10 and painted it to match. BG and I often eat lunch out here, and it’s a great spot for a glass of wine after the kids have gone to bed.

Act 2

So, I have a little chair problem. I love chairs. I think it stems from a time when we never had enough chairs at our old house, and many guests were forced to eat dinner while sitting on an ottoman. I look back and realize it didn’t matter one bit, but it bothered me then, and ever since, I’ve had a hard time passing up a good thrift store chair. With this Craiglist find, I now had 4 extra chairs to play around with – yippee!

When we got the Craigslist set home, I added two chairs to our dining room and kept the extra two in the garage. We found ourselves needing a spare chair in the den when both kids were on the computer, so it came in the house as well.Also, just before we painted the captain’s chairs for the porch, the arm and spindles on one side of one chair broke. I searched and searched for replacement spindles with no luck. We cannibalized the 4th extra chair to make new side spindles. (If you look closely, you can see they don’t match, but they work great, and it makes a good story in which I get to use the word “cannibalized”.)I wanted to paint the extra chairs in the dining room a fun color, and this weekend, I FINALLY got around to doing it.It’s “Spa Blue”, and I love how it looks with the navy blue walls and the dark wood table. I also decided to paint the 3rd extra chair. I went with white to contrast the dark colors of the den. (That camel-colored sectional is also a Craigslist find. I haven’t told that story yet. It’s a good one.)

Act 3

Okay, for those keeping score at home, that’s all 6 chairs accounted for. So, what about the table? Sorry for the Cliffhanger, but Act 3 is not quite finished yet. Husband and I got a good start on it this weekend, but it deserves a post of its own, so I’ll wait and show it to you when I’m finished.

To be continued….