Facebook Marketplace: all the fun of thrift shopping with the added bonus of browsing in the middle of the night. Because Marketplace can be a black hole, I try to search for specific items and search based on needs vs. wants. The key to any secondhand shopping is to look past the surface and see the potential. Paint color, fabric choices, accessories, pulls, and knobs can all be replaced and customized. 

Sometimes readers will send me listings that they think I’d love, and fatefully someone shared a listing of restaurant dining chairs that were in really rough shape. But I knew that there was potential if I looked past the meh color and ripped seats. They were $10 a chair—I didn’t have much to lose!

This colorful home of mine has inspired me to experiment with big colors and bold patterns. Reds, blues, stripes, and loud prints are all things I would have hesitated to commit to in the past. So when it came to selecting the right mix of color and pattern for these chairs, I knew I wanted to have fun with the palette.

For the base of the chairs, I chose HGTV Home® by Sherwin-Williams Aleutian Blue (HGSW3355), which is in the Softened Refuge AND Perfectly Polished Color Collections. This particular shade of blue is a perfect balance of warm and cool. Aleutian Blue, which is also the designated 2022 Color of the Year,  can be a pop of color or an unexpected neutral, depending on what you pair it with or where it’s placed. One of my hobbies is rearranging furniture, and I knew that no matter where I set these chairs, they’d look great.

The chairs needed a bit more TLC than anticipated (but again, for $10 each, I couldn’t pass them up!). I started by trimming the loose rattan and gluing anything I could back in place—then we were ready to paint. Once the painting was done (in one smooth, primer + color coat!), it was time to focus on the seats with a trip to SR Harris. (Twin Citians, do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s this unbelievable warehouse full of any and all fabric you could ever want—which, admittedly, makes it a little intimidating.)

I went in with a plan, choosing a bold color pattern to pair with the Aleutian Blue. How did I know they would look good together? Because the hard work had already been done. HGTV Home® by Sherwin-Williams HGTV HOME experts perfectly pair colors together, so you know that everything will look great together. I brought my HGTV Home® by Sherwin-Williams Perfectly Polished Color Collection color chips with me! (My fabric choice was inspired by another color in the Perfectly Polished Color Collection, Redbud HGSW2043.)

I’m such a fan of the HGTV Home® by Sherwin-Williams line of paint, not only because they make working with color so easy, but also because only one coat of paint is needed (primer included!). I don’t have to stress too much if/when I change my mind.

With the revamp done, the only thing left to determine was the placement of the chairs. If I moved the set to the basement, the chairs would provide a pop of color in an otherwise neutral space. In the library? The tone on tone blue would break up the sea of books and add additional visual depth. Ultimately, I settled on adding the chairs to the extended foyer (originally the “music room,” although we no longer have the piano that came with the house).

We’re slowly transitioning the space from a foyer to a combined hallway and impromptu formal dining room. The chairs look perfect here. The Aleutian Blue not only grounds the airiness of the room, but it also pulls in colors from both the rug and the stained glass ceiling. This new burst of color, and the repurposing of the space as a dining room, have me thinking about updating the wall colors in this room… 

Stay tuned for more.

Editor’s Note: This post was sponsored by HGTV Home® by Sherwin-Williams. The compensation we receive in exchange for placement on Wit & Delight is used to purchase props, hire a photographer, write/edit the blog post, and support the larger team behind Wit & Delight.

While compensation was received in exchange for coverage, all thoughts and opinions are always my own. Sponsored posts like these allow us to continue to develop dynamic unsponsored content. Thank you for supporting our partners!

Kate Arends

Kate is the founder of Wit & Delight. She is currently learning how to play tennis and is forever testing the boundaries of her creative muscle. Follow her on Instagram at @witanddelight_.