Casper the Friendly Ghost Chair

So, no sooner than I posted about the dining room makeover did I stumble upon this ad on craigslist: (Please forgive my terrible iphone picture of the computer screen)

Two Ghost Chairs!  I love Ghost Chairs.  There, I said it.  I have been admiring them for months and considered purchasing chairs like them (knock-offs if you will) due to their price.  What is a Ghost Chair, you may ask?  Well...as Interior Express states: The ghost chair was designed in the early years of this century by Philippe Stark, one of the most prolific designers of the modern age. Made of polycarbonate, the chairs come in a variety of styles and colors that will appeal to any taste. Injection-molded, they are constructed in a single piece, flowing from the designer’s imagination through technology and into reality. They lend an air of lightness to a room, never impeding the view of more important focal points like picture windows or fireplaces. "Real" Ghost chairs will not have any seams where several pieces are glued/screwed together. 

I was so excited that I emailed the seller right away!  Sadly, she emailed me back saying that someone was already coming to look at (and probably buy) the chairs.  Picture me doing this...

 After I dried my tears, I saw that the owner emailed me back and not only did that person not buy them, they didn't even show up!  I mean how could they stand up these chairs...they're so preeeh-taaay.


Also, you may have noticed the price for TWO chairs was $100.  I know that may seem like a lot, but consider this:  THESE CHAIRS ARE $400 EACH RETAIL.  Sorry, I had to yell, it's exciting.  So 2 chairs = $50 a piece which = a $350 savings each.  Basically, chairs + me = Happy! 


So this afternoon Matt and I drove out to Oxford (bonus, we got to go through Miami, our Alma Mater) to get the chairs.  Barring some sort of major deformity, I was coming home with these chairs so we drove the truck.  I wanted Matt to go with me for safety (hello, Craigslist Killer anyone?) and so we could get lunch in "our" town. 

We met Ginny the owner at her beautiful home to pick them up.  They had a more traditional (BEAUTIFUL) home and didn't think that the chairs went in the space any longer (lucky me).  We looked the chairs over for a milli-second and saw that there were no seams and the Louis Ghost Chair and Stark stamp on the back.  SOLD!  We paid for the chairs and left.  I was perma-smiling of course, and Matt was laughing at me the whole way home. 

When we got them in the house Matt immediately started looking them over to figure out how they "work."  Matt says, "they look like that have two main plates with a slide to form the arms working together to make one seemless piece." He also said that he could tell that by the "parting lines" which are teeny tiny barely visible lines where the metal comes together but doesn't leave a perfectly flush service. The Hubbs used to work in injection molding design, so he has some expertise. 


Here they are in the house....sigh....

I just love how they mix with the traditional pieces that we already have, and I am excited to add new modern touches to make them "feel" at home. 

That's my Saturday morning for you, what did you guys do?  Any other acrylic chair shoppers out there?  Any furniture buying going on at all today?  Happy Saturday!

*Casper the friendly ghost image from silverscreenclassics.com, Tantrum video from Youtube. 

Dining room dream

Behold...the hopes for our dining room!  I do not have experience putting together mood boards for rooms, but with several comments from friends about wanting to know how I put rooms together, I whipped this up.  This is basically a mock up of images that float around in my mind of what I want for the dining room.  First, I want to say that I try to decorate any room spending as little money as possible, it's kind of a game to see how small of an amount we can spend on any given room or project.  Secondly, I almost always have something on hand, and rarely ever have to start from scratch.  Take the dining room for example: we already have the dining room table, a side board, hutch and the shelving (#5).  Speaking of numbers, allow me to break down the picture for you...

#1: represents the camel paint color already on the walls in the dining room. 

#2: these are the two types of chairs that I am wanting for the dining room.  The amazingly awesome completely clear chairs are called Ghost Chairs.  They are made entirely of acrylic which makes them modern, but their traditional shape make them oh so adorable to me.  The white chairs are from Ikea that I want (4 please) to go with the Ghost Chairs. 

#3: These are white Ribba frames from Ikea.  I have a lot of pictures and prints that I want to display on the the floating shelves.  I like the idea of the frames all being the same and letting the pictures be the "star." 

#4: This is the color palette that I am decorating with.  A sort of cornflower blue, bright green, and grayish brown.   Oh, and white...of course.

#5: These are the floating Lack shelves from Ikea that we already have installed in the dining room.  Don't let the picture fool you, the are over five feet long leaving us plenty of display place.

#6: These are the fabulous prints that I want from Crate and Barrel...I love them...sigh.  I am considering making something similiar, but I am hunting these two down (on clearance right now and I have a discount code from Crate and Barrel). 

Finally, #7: These are just representative of some of the accessories that I want for the space.  I love the idea of filling hurricanes with strange items.  Right now I have them filled with conversation hearts for valentines day with a candle in the middle (Matt keeps trying to eat them).  I love the blue bottles, well any bottles for that matter.  I think I've said before that I like to decorate with found, or non-traditional items. 

So, that's it.  This is how I plan a room.  I look at what the function of the space needs to be, look at what I have, and plan out what I need.  Hope that helps!

*Image from Polyvore - by Mary Baker