Barstools

We have been trying to eat better around here, which means a lot more meals cooked at home. Along with that, we quickly came the realization that we really do need barstools on our island for more casual meals. Our massive island certainly allows for them {our prior home didn't allow enough space to actually place any so we have never owned any}, and I love that our island has built-in sides to hide the barstools when they are not in use. You can see what I mean in this photo from one of our walk-throughs with the original homeowner's barstools:

We love our dining room, but we have found ourselves {particularly in the mornings} standing at the high side of the island to eat our breakfast to avoid dirtying the table or to stand and chat with each other. This weekend we decided to search for barstools.

While searching online, I quickly grew frustrated. I had a clear picture in my mind of what I wanted: fabric/linen-like backs, nailhead and wood legs. Unfortunately, everything I saw ranged from $200-800 per barstool {and we need three}. What?!? I can find real chairs for that much. Have I been living under a rock not realizing barstools were so expensive? No way am I going to spend that much on something that is very likely to get food spilled on it occasionally.

This was my favorite look, the Cascade Barstool, but at $349 it wasn't going to happen:

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My husband and I really liked this Cane Bar Stool from Home Decorators but they were a little darker than I was looking for - and the price tag was still out of the question at $189 + $45 shipping per chair:

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I found these Linen Lydia Barstools from World Market but the shipping and oversize charges alone were more than one stool, and unfortunately, our World Market went out of business. But, these were still front contenders, on sale at $149:

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You can find others I saved here on my kitchen Pinterest board.

Friday night we decided to run to Nebraska Furniture Mart {one of our only true furniture stores in Omaha} to see their offerings - and to hopefully avoid shipping costs. Literally all 100+ we looked at were near duplicates of each other. Dark, leather and/or metal and not at all our style. We headed over to the Design Gallery and were told we could custom order virtually anything we wanted. But most were $500-$1,000+. A piece.

Suddenly, those shipping charges didn't seem so bad.  So, we decided to move forward with the Linen Lydia Barstools from World Market. The three barstools plus oversize charges (the $49.95 shipping fees were free) made the total cost less than one barstool many other places we looked.

A few more shots of the one we picked:

The stools are back-ordered for 1-2 weeks but I will share pictures once they arrive. I'm excited for the extra seating they will bring!