styleNorth

Did you ever imagine that my $20 mid-century side chairs could end up looking like this? Neither did I, which is why I sold a pair of them last week for $100, which represents an excellent return on my investment but was a supremely stupid move in retrospect now that I’ve seen the pictures of these extraordinary James Mont chairs, kindly provided by Troy Seidman of Caviar 20.

I knew the backs of my chairs had at one time been upholstered because there was a groove running around the inside of the frame. Without the padding they were remarkably uncomfortable so instead of tracking down new fabric and having an upholsterer create new back rests, I decided to flip them and move on. D’oh!

I actually emailed the buyer of my chairs yesterday to see if she was happy with them or had reconsidered now that she knows what back-breakers they are; I told her I’d take them back if she wanted. “I’m really happy with them,” she said. “I just bought a couch to tie in with the colour of the seat fabric.” C’est la vie.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Regency-style chairs I was going to replace with the MCM chairs, have also sold, to a styleNorth reader as it turns out. The buyers, Kathy and her husband Matt, are also very happy with their score and Kathy was kind enough to send me photos of the chairs in her space, above. Turns out Kathy is a fledgling blogger and she has posted about the purchase on her site, Pineapples & Parquet.

After selling the Mont chairs, I decided to go ahead and let go of the Regency chairs because I’d found a Bertoia Diamond Chair in the garbage at the back of my building. I knew I could buy a mate for it with the money I made from selling the Regencies, which would steer things more modern and that’s where I’d like to go. The Bertoia, which I suspect is a real Knoll (even though there’s no stamp), is in excellent shape, albeit a bit dull from age. If I end up buying a match, I’ll paint or plate them in a brass finish to go with my other pieces and make them a bit more unique. In this pic, I’ve dressed the chair with an old flokati remnant; the photo also gives you a taste of the new room colour, which I’ll blog about shortly.