Time to refresh your dining chairs? Our selection of ten should have something to suit all tastes. 1. Pocket folding chair: £45, John Lewis Folding chairs are great for dealing with unexpected guests, or for kitchens and dining rooms where space is tight. This aluminium and plastic one from John Lewis is discreet enough to fit in with other furniture when the occasion calls, yet robust enough for everyday use too. Hester owes its look to the classic metal-and-ply school chair; with a range of bright colours that add to its playful feel. It’s great for those who love the idea of reclaimed furniture but not the hours of restoration involved. It’s stackable too, making storage a breeze. The elegance of the Copenhague chair comes down to its symmetrical frame (which allows it to stack) and its simple treatment of material. There’s a range of finishes that all enhance its natural wood grain – but it also comes in an upholstered version for extra comfort. 4. Ercol for John Lewis Chiltern chair: £199, John Lewis
British manufacturer Ercol remains a master of furniture making. The twists of the oak and beech Chiltern chair for John Lewis show the incredible craftsmanship of the heritage brand, as well as an ability to offer something for the contemporary customer. Ideal for light and airy eat-in kitchens, Ikea’s transparent Tobias chair is modern and simple. The seat shell flexes comfortably as you move, and is supported on a continuous leg of chrome-plated metal. 6. Kartell Masters chair: £124.10, Amazon For a chair with some wow factor, look no further than Philippe Starck’s Masters chair for Kartell. Its striking fluid shape was designed to combine the outlines of three iconic chairs, but it’s now become something of an icon itself. 7. Blonde Rattan dining chair: £165, Rockett St George Rattan is due for a big comeback this year, with many designers finding modern ways to work with the natural material. Rockett St George’s chair contrasts a minimal form with the familiar texture of blonde rattan.
8. Dinton Coral chairs: £175 for two, Marks and Spencer This solid birch pair of dining chairs from Marks and Spencer are fairly traditional in form but can be endlessly updated with a lick of paint. They currently come in a choice of three colours; white, stone, or bang-on-trend coral. 9. Eames DSR side chair: £190, Heal's It’s the 1950s classic that shows no sign of fading. If you haven’t clocked it already in interiors magazines, on design blogs, or even at the Barbican’s exhibition The World of Charles and Ray Eames, you’ll soon be noticing how ubiquitous this much-loved moulded plastic chair really is. 10. John Vogel chair: from £149.95, West Elm By South African designer John Vogel, this chair pairs a solid wood frame with a hand-woven jute seat. The range of colours have been carefully combined to keep it feeling fresh and modern, including almond, oregano and white. If it’s practicality and ease of storage you’re after, Habitat’s stacking Hester chair or John Lewis’ foldable Pocket chair are good value options that will prove ever useful to have around the house.
For comfort and durability, nothing beats a real wood dining chair like HAY’s Copenhague or the Chiltern chair by Ercol.IKEA Gone Insane: Funny & Strange Hacked Furniture Set Between do-it-yourself types and people who like to assemble things without reading the instructions, there is a good deal of ‘IKEA hacking’ going on these takes – making something new, different, strange and/or personal from the standardized, uniform, modular parts that come when you buy an IKEA furniture kit or set. Wiyono Sutjipto has taken this practice another step, crafting entirely new, offbeat and utterly un-IKEA abstract forms from the bits and pieces that are bought as parts of various kits at the store. If the odd shapes, offbeat angles and questionable functionality were not enough, he has also added a set of colored legs to each piece. Along with the labeling of them ala IKEA standards, this is no-doubt a hat-tip to the strange way in which IKEA gives names to each and every object they sell.
Along similar yet simultaneously opposite lines, the same designer has created a set of ‘homeless furniture’ pieces. Cobbled together from found tables, chairs and other once-used and now-discarded designs, these are intended to raise questions about the way we so readily discard things that could have a second life as strange, new and unique household objects.“The morning day before scheduled delivery date, I got an automated call giving me a 4hour window.” “You can get your energy up with some Swedish meatballs and princess cake and then shop till you drop.” “The loading area can also get crowded quickly so if you have smaller items but can't carry them to your car because they don't give you bags (you can use boxes if you want), this is really annoying.” "Tony and Louis were amazing to work with. They are very creative and the quality of their work is outstanding. From beginning to end they make the whole process seamless. We highly recommend them if you are…"
"Very happy to not only have found Trio Liquidators but to have purchased from a family owned store rather than a big box outlet like Best Buy. Their prices against the big corporate stores are very…" Yelp users haven’t asked any questions yet about IKEA. Other Furniture Stores Nearby We hand-build custom upholstered furniture that will last a lifetime. Each piece is made right in our own factory, which is located just 30 minutes from Manhattan. Loved for our incredibly comfortable sofa beds, our quality… "When you are a practical human being and marry an Italian who thinks "form over function" is a motto rather than joke, furniture shopping is hard. You will spend many hours looking at furniture that you…" Flame Retardatants in Couches and Mattresses Flame Retardants in Couches Keep in mind that these companies use toxic foams, glues, fabric finishes and possibly particle boards. Companies selling green upholstered furniture generally do not use flame retardants.
Always ask, but I have not found one that does. For a list of totally green, non-toxic sofa companies see my post on non-toxic furniture. There are many companies making organic or natural fiber carpets, such as wool. And for rugs, some good options include cotton, rattan or jute. Carpets should explicitly state that they use all natural materials. I go over the greenest carpet companies in this post. Conventional types from big box stores contain a long list of chemicals including flame retardants. However, many big box stores now carry carpets with the Green Label Plus certification which means the carpets emit low levels of VOCs. Always ask about FRs, since these are not considered VOCs.I have a post on window coverings with chemical-free options. Flame Retardants in Insulation HBCD is typically used in polystyrenes, in concentrations of up to 1% in EPS, and up to 5% in XPS. TCPP is typically used in polyisocyanurate foams (up to 10%). There is no EPS or XPS insulation without flame retardants on the market currently.
Almost all spray foams made in the US contain FRs according to Treehugger, usually TCPP () Natural insulation options in . Apple phased out brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in 2008 but uses "safer" unspecified flame retarding chemicals. Motorola is BFR-free and Sony has phased it out of some products (). How much these can leach out of electronics is not clear. With furniture, it is when the particles become dust bound that they become the biggest problem. Flame retardants become mobile in dust as opposed to gas. So keeping a dust free home is of utmost importance. HEPA vacuum is the best way to deal with the dust if you have conventional furniture, carpets and curtains. The Nilfisk brand is recommended by the experts. You can also add a HEPA filter (or even better, this one) to a Shop-Vac. (High-efficiency filter bags are also needed to catch all the fine dust.) (which some people say has a plastic smell), and . A decent one that is a more affordable is this .