Church Chairs

I have a huge foyer and nothing ever fills up the space. For a few years I have been looking for an antique church pew. I have come across a few but nothing ever jumped out at me or they were way out of my price range.  A few months back while driving through town I saw these church chairs at a yard sale.  I had to stop.  I bought these solid oak chairs for $60. Even though they were covered in a red 70's corduroy I had to have them.



Well after alot of thought I knew that I wanted the chairs black but still wanted to see the oak grain. I chose a ebony stain. Not knowing if these had be stained with oil or water based we had to sand them down to the grain, that was NOT fun but ended up being the best idea.  At first I wanted these chairs to have a classic look so I was just looking for fabrics that were formal. I started with paisleys and tulles but nothing worked.  While at my fourth fabric store I started to leave frustrated and deflated when I came across this super fun and funky fabric.  I knew that I had to have this on my chairs.  So the end result ended up being the opposite that I had started with.