Musical Patio Chairs

It took more than one try to nail down our final seating arrangement for the back patio. We knew we wanted something that could be adjustable. By that I mean, pieces that could come together to gather around the table for meals, but also be moved to other areas of the patio for lounging and entertaining. At first we were just going to save our pennies and buy the chairs that matched our Applaro bench and drop leaf table. However, during an Ikea trip, I stumbled into these four black chairs in the “As Is” clearance room:They were comfy, there was a full set of four with no damages (they were just floor models), and the price was right (at $29 a pop I was tempted).

However, there was one draw back… they were too tall to fit under the table!

Luckily, Ikea had our drop leaf table already set up in a display near by, so I dragged two of the chairs over to test them out. Thank goodness for that, because the arms didn’t fit underneath! This might not stop everyone in their purchasing tracks, but part of our mantra with house stuff is that furniture has to be 100% functional (and able to do more than one thing, if possible) in order to be allowed through the door. Besides not being ideal for eating (it would get annoying to not be able to scoot all of the way in), we needed our chairs to be able to slide all of the way under when they’re not in use to free up valuable patio space. So long story short, these were not the answer to our chair dilemma. Hopefully they found a great home elsewhere because they really were nice chairs!

Anyway, it was back to the hunt for us. After some time of not aggressively looking, but just keeping my eyes peeled for something that might fit the bill (comfortable, interesting details, not a million dollars, etc.), I finally found these in Target.Yes, yes, they’re teal in this picture (which I was so tempted by), but in the store, I had the choice between the dark teal and black.

As much as my heart raced for those teal ones (not pictured), I knew that in the grand scheme of things I’d want something a bit more timeless, that could be used with any future combination of patio furniture and decor. So, if I was going to get any, I decided it would be the black. I ended up taking one home for a test run to see if it would fit under our table, if we liked the look, etc. And guess what? Perfect fit! And the look was awesome.

So I went back for three more. If you clicked on that Target link above, you’ll see that the online price is $55- don’t pay that for these if you’r planning on buying them. There was an in-store sale for $38.50, so we snagged ours from the store. Not the cheapest price for a chair, but we really liked the look and even more so, wanted to get some chairs earlier in the season (as opposed to waiting until everything went on super sale toward the end of summer) so we could 1. Use them for the season! and 2. there would still be a selection.

We’ve had these chairs for a few weeks now and so far, so good. So great, actually! We love them! Let me just step aside and let the pictures do the rest of the talking…Each chair is rather large and comfortable to sit on (the plan is to get some pillows and cushions to up the ante even more) and we really like the look of them. Although I didn’t realize this when purchasing, the slats on the seat coordinate nicely with the slats on the table:

Here’s another win for Team Function: they stack nice and tightly together, so when we bring them in for the winter, they shouldn’t be a bear to store (we have a small storage unit and that’s where they’ll live for the cold months).

And for one more happy coincidence? The black (a color that we were concerned about playing nicely with our bright white table) ties in with the black “lining” of our small patio table. Hooray for unexpected coordination!

As for how the chairs go with the table, well let me just show you:

Yep, we love them! All that’s left is to figure out some sort of pillow/cushion deal and our four patio chairs are good to go! Any new seating happening at your place? Which brands have caught your eye this season?

-Leslie