Decision Made

My last post asked for opinions on bar stools. I want to thank everyone who gave their advice. It was really helpful.

Despite all three of my daughters saying return them, I did decide to keep them.

 

Here are all 3 stools at the kitchen counter.

Everyone who responded agreed the stools don't look as nice as the ones in the catalog and on-line. The quality is just not the same.

 

Freddy and Petunia commented that the company might have changed manufacturers to get a better price. I agree with her.

 

Other comments that helped me decide to keep them came from bloggers who pointed out they will probably get distressed after a while anyway, and it probably wouldn't be worth the effort to return them. Agree!

When I looked at the return policy of the store it did

seem a real hassle to return them.

 

This taught me to only order ONE of something in the future. Then, only if I think the quality is good, will I buy any others.

 

So, I'm taking the advice to live with them for a while. Then if I still want more distressing, I'm going to distress them by sanding down the seats to get rid of the black paint and wiping them down with dark wood stain, especially the silver feet (yuck)!

 

Sharon at Elizabeth and Co gave me a tip she uses:

 

"If it doesn't WOW you, move on!"

(Don't keep going back to look at them)

 

Advice I will use in the future as this always get me in trouble.

Among others, Irene said she liked the mix of the new stools with the old looking distressed cabinets. And, Butterfly and Bungalow pointed out the 'masculine' stools worked with the 'feminine' Country French kitchen. I wish she'd stopped there!

 

She went on to send me a link to Crate & Barrel's vintage style bar stool that she bought...

 

Perfect!

 

 

If I could go back to the start, these are what I would order.

 

But, I'm going to make the others work.

Believe me when I say -- no one paid me for this post. Only expressing an opinion and hoping it will help someone else avoid a costly mistake in the future.

I'm sharing this advice at:

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com