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Sell them on ebay or craigslist and buy what you really want with the profit.

Or, restore rather than paint or refinish the wood - try using very fine steel wool and a mixture of boiled linseed oil and turpentine. If the chair covers are original and can't be cleaned or don't fit your scheme, at least leave the originals in place when you recover them.

Unless your refinishing tools and skills are comparable to that of a professional, I'd urge you to send them out for refinishing.

Whether you keep them or resell them for a profit - you'll be better off with a high-quality finish.

I agree with Bepsf.

But, did you buy them for investment value or did you buy them to enjoy yourself?

I say that unless they are in great condition with their original finish do what you want with them.

Although you could refinish yourself, paint or stain, they would probably look best if they were sprayed by a professional.

Just like walls and trim, it's all about the prep as every flaw shows through especially with a high gloss paint.

I say have them restored -- but then, I'm a little over the high gloss/amy butler treatment!

Or sell them and start again. Looks like you've go the eye and the touch.

I say try to sell them as is and buy what you want with the profit. There are lots of neat finds out there. Plus $700 is a lot of money. In any case, modifying the finish will pretty much reduce any value by as much as 90%, no matter how good a job you do. Refinishing them is unlikely to increase the value, unless you just happen to find a buyer who wants gloss white refinished chairs covered with that exact Amy Butler fabric.

Re: investment value - If the ebay chairs actually sell at that price (which would surprise me), that's still less than $200/chair and less than your average chair at C&B or similar stores. My point is that I'd expect that these are more in the price range for selling to people who like the chair for it's intrinsic look rather than for it's "historic" value. So you should do whatever you want to them. They'll probably look better if they're done professionally, of course.

i agree with the previous posters, but would add this... there's only so many of (x) in the world ("x" representing a no longer made and much sought-after artifact with a special history, legacy, etc)... and once the "x"s are misused, abused or repurposed, there will be none left to enjoy, learn from, be inspired by.

there's always the pundit who says: "it's yours, do what you want to with it", but for an artifact that has design, historic or some other integrity, i think this is a pretty self-centered approach. good design transcends personal gratification, but instead add a bit of "betterness" to the world at large. if we thought that way about land, for instance, there'd be no preserves, parks or wetlands and many developers who could buy the land (it's theirs, right?) would pave paradise if given the chance.

we're dealing with a similar issue with eichler homes... they were the only mass-produced, modern, architect-designed homes in post-war america -- and there's 11,000 of them. however, with each that gets a terra-cotta roof or columns in the front, this legacy dies a little bit... sure, it's the owner's prerogative to "do what they want", but if you want to live in a prussian-palace inspired suburban tract home, there are many more that will fit that bill without destroying a bit of history.

so, i'm with the "sell it to someone who can take-care of and appreciate it" verve or with the "do the restoration right" verve... and would suggest not painting them... upholstery is easy enough to "undo", but an improper finish is not...

i agree - sell them for a decent price, and then buy something that is to your taste.

I'd sell them and use the profit to buy another set at auction to paint/reupholster.

very well said 'redneckmodern.' i completely agree.

anyone who'd pay that price for it would recognize their supposed worth and do right by them, and you could probably go pick up another bargain set of chairs that you can refinish yourself with no fear of "not doing it right."

so, SELL!

If you really wanted white chairs, sell. buy OTHER cheap chairs and several pairs of new shoes and bottles of champane... then have dinner party.

If NOW that you know they're recognizable vintage and you like the woodgrain have the wood done by a pro, or oil them up and see if you can live w/the finish. Then cover the seats yourself. You'll perserve the value just fine if you only cover the seats and don't remove the original... then have potluck!

I agree with redneckmodern

If you want to resell it ever and realize the prices you see them going for today, you probably shouldn't paint and finish the chairs in a high gloss whether you do it yourself or hire a pro.

However, there's no need to hire someone who knows what they're doing any more than you can easily figure out yourself to bring the would up to shape with a sander and an oil finish. Maybe it'd be worth a shot to ask a pro if the upholstery can be reconditioned, and if it can't, do whatever you want with there.

Are you 4 chairs in as good of condition as the 700 dollar chairs on the net? It would cost you more then $700 to have them done over by a pro. Plus fabric cost.
You paid $6 for them --- sell them if you can!
Once you do them over they are not going to ever be worth much to a true collector.

I agree with those saying you should sell as-is and use that money to buy less "important" chairs for the treatment you want.

Why would you want less important chairs? And who says these less important chairs do not become the examples of "good design" for future generation? These are chairs, and I guarantee that if they are really that important, somebody has already curated them in proper condition at some museum or collector's house. (All prototype bauhaus chairs for example, either mass produced or not, are saved in a school in Berlin.) Living in the real world, you do not have the means to keep these things in the condition that you need to keep them to have them stay looking decent over the years. You'll either bump against them and nick them, or the inevitable discoloration coming from ass rubbage will ruin the fabric. Besides, $700 for a full set is kind of pittance in the furniture world...kind of like collectible for the name and not the quality.

Trying to preserve history by preserving--and using!--these well-designed chairs is itself kind of self-centered: please, I guarantee that you are not going to alter the course of design by revamping a few beat-up chairs. If anything, any "preservation" that you'll get from it is self-serving at best. In addition, "good design" does NOT transcend personal gratification. It uses personal gratification as a means to create better living conditions. (Pragmatism, one of the cornerstones of "good design," is as personally gratifying as you can get.) Any design that requires historical and cultural stasis is doo-doo design.

Bottom line is this: do what you want with them. There's no need to settle for less, and there's no need to negotiate what you define as "more." The history of design is only as good as the people with the intentions to change it.

i like everything said above but i'm not so sure that "refinishing or not" is so black and white here.

first their are plenty of twentieth century dealers who have no problem refinishing, lacquering, or staining much more important pieces and still selling them for outrageous prices (the whole "hollywood regency" look is guilty in my book). midcentury furniture hasn't got to "original finish or nothing" mindset of early american collectors or arts and crafts fanatics - yet. i suspect it will someday, but who knows? and if it does ANY refinishing, including professional redos, will adversely impact value. also most wormley collectors want dunbar and particularly janus pieces. precedent pieces are like second cousins to high paying collectors.

there's a set of eight of these chairs on 1stdibs right now. lacquered. black. $15500.

http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_item_detail.php?id=204121

so if you love the chairs and are willing to do them right (as in a professional appearing finish), maybe you should lacquer away.

Ha! Maybe you should call 20th Century Interiors first...

Anyway, you might want to get an estimate from a few refinishers. Lacquer needs to be sprayed on, and as someone else mentioned there can't be any imperfections. but if you don't love them, I'd ebay 'em as is.

unless you really love the shape, i would just sell them as is, keep the profit, and buy another set of chairs to work with.

you wouldn't want to risk doing anything that would decrease their value, and you wouldn't want to spend a lot of money to have them professionally refurbished to keep them if they aren't worth it you.

I would also like to add that just because someone has posted an item on Ebay/Craigslist/wherever with a particular price, doesn't mean that that is the true value of the item. If the item actually sells for that price, then maybe that's what it's worth. Or that's what they were worth to someone with $$ to spare. Personally, I would never pay $700 for those four chairs. I'm sure they're well build and all, but to my eye there really isn't anything all that striking about them to make me willing to pay that. And $15500 at 1stdibs is just outrageous. Black lacquer or no.

Just my 2 cents.

You can buy a product that can help restore old finishes - I can't remember the name but looking at your chairs, they don't seem totally shot - just a little worn? As for doing it yourself, I say GO FOR IT! You paid $6 for them! Have some confidence in your own abibilities! I refinish things all the time and love how they turn out. The upholstering job on these isn't complicated. And hell, if you don't like how it turns out you can always have it redone by a prof?

at times like this, I wish I re-read prior to posting.

(On an additional note, I've used high gloss paint before and found it to be good. Just do one light coat at a time to achieve the perfect finish)