The year of 2002 brought two big events in life of our family -- we purchased our first home and our first child was born. Our four elegant but very used and very secondhand bentwood dining room chairs were in sad condition. Three of the four chairs had caned seats that had broken through. While we loved their look they were not worth the time and expense that it would take to restore them so we began to shop around for new dining room chairs.
Our efforts to find replacement chairs were proving to be a dismal failure, or so it seemed. The classic modern chairs that we desired were much too costly -- with a fixer-upper home and a baby on the way we simply couldn't justify the expense. At one point we bought a basic set of four chairs from a major retailer only to get them home and realize they were completely out of scale with our table. We returned them and waited. God had a plan to provide, one that still causes us to marvel.
A quick trip to the local university surplus sale ended up being the way God gave us (yes, gave us!) new dining room chairs. While browsing the warehouse we came across a pallet of twelve formed aluminum Good Form chairs -- six solid-backed arm chairs, four slat-backed arm chairs, and two slat-backed side chairs. The professor noted that these chairs would be popular items on ebay so we submitted our silent auction bid of $75 for the pallet of twelve and won. Our plan was to sell the chairs individually with the hope of earning enough profit to put toward some new dining room chairs.
I suppose we're a bit dense because it wasn't until we actually got the chairs home that we even thought to try them around our own table! It took about two seconds for us to realize that these were the ones, our "new" chairs. We kept the four slat-backed arm chairs and sold the remaining eight on ebay, thus gaining much needed dining room seating and earning a profit at the same time!
Now, six years later, we still love them. Since then we've bought a larger table so now we're in the market for a few more. These classic aluminum chairs are so practical, sturdy, and kid-proof we can't imagine having anything else around our table. Best of all, we love the way they look!
Vintage Good Form armchairs, 1935-40
Formed aluminum tubing and black vinyl
Manufactured by The General Fireproofing Company
Youngstown, Ohio
To see more thrifty, yardsale finds be sure to visit Southern Hospitality.
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