new dining table and the great dining chair hunt

so awhile back hubs and i decided that we would need to get a bigger dining room table, specifically after we had a couple family dinners and there just wasn't enough room on our little ikea table.  we knew that we would upgrade at some point, and i had kicked around the idea of putting a table in the kitchen nook area.  i thought that it would be easier to clean up after baby z after mealtimes if we started eating in the kitchen rather than on the carpet in our living room, especially since he is learning to feed himself finger foods.  i also wanted the three of us to eat dinners at the dining room table, i have always liked the idea of all of us sitting down to dinner together in the dining room. plus, it makes me feel like the space isn't wasted, and then we could reserve special nights, like pizza and movie night, for eating in the living room.  that is what we did at my grandparent's house and i have such fond memories.  plus, we learned table manners ( i can still hear grama, "get your elbows off the table, mable!").  so anyway I had been looking on craigslist and various stores for a small square table and chairs to put in the kitchen and then we would upgrade the dining room at a later time.  but then hubs suggested that we move the ikea table into the kitchen and get a new dining table and chairs.  mmm....ok!  just a few days later i saw that world market was having up to 50% off on dining room furniture.  huzzah!  which was good cause i wasn't really finding anything on craigslist and dining sets are hella expensive!!!  but i didn't really want a matching dining set, i wanted to be able to mix and match.  right away i saw a table i liked that fit my parameters: length, # of seating! price, color and style. 

 hubs signed off on it, i went to world market, they didn't have a floor sample and they only had one left in stock, the guy let me take a peek at it so that i could make sure i liked it, and we paid for it and later took it home.  next was the chair situation.  i am appalled at how expensive decent dining room chairs are, we are talking easily a few hundred dollars PER CHAIR!  what the hell, i'm not rich, y'all!  so i scoured craigslist, and every store website for reasonably priced chairs.  i wanted something upholstered and comfortable, easy to clean, not too fancy in the fabric or design, a darker color to help hide stains and stuff, nothing too traditional or too modern, preferably tufted, and no more than $120 per chair.  that is a tall order, especially at that price point.  i really loved the Harper chair from world market, it had everything i wanted and it was on sale:


  however, none of the stores had 6 and to order online there was a $30 per chair handling fee.  no thank you! 
 i really liked this chair, but the color was too light, hubs and i decided that if we got a light colored chair it would show stains easily and since we want to buy dining room chairs one time, and we will have kids, we should go with something that is easy to clean and hide stains. 

 anyway, i chose the plan b chair, and had the same problem, none of the stores had a set of 6, i would have to drive around to all the different stores and pick up one or two from each:

 i just don't have that kind of time.  and if i ordered this chair online, there was a $80 per chair handling charge.  scoff!  
i really liked this one, but hubs did not agree:

same with this one:

so i decided to wait, continue to check craigslist and other stores and see what happens.  i found this chair at target, which was very similar to the harper chair from world market that i liked, and was $85: 

 so i bought one to test it out, brought it home, assembled it and after a few days hubs and i decided that it wasn't quite the quality we wanted in a chair meant to last the rest of our dining careers.  it was just a little too chintzy.  i saw this one on overstock that was a great price and style, and i really liked, but i like to see in person what i want to buy, and be able to touch it and inspect it, so i am a little gun-shy when it comes to purchasing a piece of furniture online:

 then we just happened to stop by pier 1 imports, and they were having a sale.  now, i had seen a chair on their website that i liked, but it was this color:


 and although i like that color in general, i didn't want it for my dining room.  but at our local store, i saw they had the same chair in a gray-ish color:

 huzzah!  i asked the sales person if they had 6, which they didn't, but could order them for me at no extra charge, and they were on sale for $130 per chair, hubby liked them, they are nice and sturdy, tufted, dark in color, and comfy.  wooohooo!  so we placed the order, picked them up a few days later and i almost kissed the chairs when i opened the boxes and found that there they were, fully assembled, and all i had to do was pull them out, unwrap them, and set them in my dining room.  yay!  you guys, i have never bought new furniture that i didn't have to assemble!  i felt like a queen.  haha!  anyway, here they are in all their tufted glory, with the table:

  i heart it all!  next up; painting and staining my bland ikea kitchen cart and moving it into the dining room to act as a placeholder for a sideboard or buffet that i want but will have to save up for.  long term; paint, wainscoting, update the chandy, window treatments, wall decor like art/mirrors/pictures, rug, foliage.  but, at least we got the major purchase out of the way.....which is good because we don't have the resources for any more major purchases, hahahha!