Red one absolutely. Painted white or a bright with a bold fabric

I like the red one the best out of all of the above. And it's more comfortable! Although you acknowledge your style is R&B, it doesn't mean your home has to look like the catalog. You were obviously drawn to these other vintage chairs for a reason, and you should showcase that individual part of your style. There's plenty of other room for "modern classics" with the R&B stamp of approval.

The red chair is a relatively large, so I would strip the wood to the bare grain and reupholster in a neutral color that would complement your walls and the feel it looks like you were going for with the R&B chairs. Make them a little lighter (feel and color) to blend in.

Treasure! That red chair has a lot of potential hidden potential. I would definitely paint it and use a modern fabric to coordinate with it.

I love the red chair just as it is. Painted furniture -- especially glossy white -- is already starting to feel a bit dated.

I personally like both these chairs. I think the red one painted as suggested in above comment white/off white. Perhaps with a patterned fabric. The other chair I'd probably use a solid fabric to compliment the other. I certainly wouldn't trash either chair.
If in the end you are not happy do not trash 'em! I'm sure there is someone that would be happy to have them! If you do decide to keep them both and have them reupholstered please share the results!

I'd go for comfort over style. I think these days we want function and form. When life has you edgy, do you still want furniture that makes you uncomfortable even if it's only used occasionally? That said, if there has been one bright spot to the depression, it's that there is now great stuff on Craigslist for reasonable prices. If the chairs don't work for you, list them and go shopping for something that does.

Mix it up and have fun -

There's no reason in the world that your Saarinen Chair (which is a dining chair, not a lounge chair) can't live in the same room as your refurbed antique armchair.

TREASURE. You can modernize them, like I'm doing with my grandmother's tufted-back chair, with a more current fabric. In my case I found a Dwell-inspired shower curtain at Target, for $12, that will update this old style chair perfectly. The bonus is that the chair is 10x more comfortable than any modern chair I've tried - and - because the older furniture tends to be on a more petite scale it fits my smaller home better as well.

Treasures! the problem with all MCM or all French or all Shabby Chic or whatever your personal taste is that when a space is 100% dedicated to that look, everything gets lost. You see the forsest and no longer the individual trees.

Contrast, however, helps individual pieces stand out and look amazing. I love all 4 chairs. Work them into your house and enjoy them.

And yes, get those two chairs reupuolstered, but unless the finished is damaged, keep the original finish on the red one. Otherwise, it's worth it get them redone. I got two chairs on ebay and have them both refinished and reupholstered. They're simply gorgeous now.

Congrats on such wonderful finds!

PS -- your little white table is an excellent example of contrast with your "new" chairs. When all three pieces are MCM, the unique table doesn't stand out. See how it does though, against the antiques?

i like the mix and match idea.

I kind of love the slipper chair-- it's so odd, unsual, and just slightly tacky.

my main concern is the number of chairs you now have (8!). how many are you planning on keeping? I kind if like the look of one each of the old chairs, (two of the red ones in particular would feel quite formal to me, though a different fabric qould help a lot), but I know many people don't like breaking up pairs.

also, I agree with others who said that these chairs must have appealed to you on some level if you bought them, so don't worry about your 'room & board aesthetic'-- it can change!

I like both of them and think the shapes complement each other well. You could do really fashion-forward upholstery for them that matches, or you could do a plainer linen-type upholstery and use pillows and/or blankets to jazz it up.

I think the print pattern blog does a good job of showcasing modernist-friendly fabrics - http://printpattern.blogspot.com/

Anthropologie also has some suggesting prints on their website, under their "for home" section. For example, Astrid Chair

i'd really like to know the paint color on the walls in the above pictures!

I'm jealous. I want that red chair. To me, it is just perfect as is.

the lines of the red chair are pretty sweet, but "funky" is right....i certainly wouldn't want to keep it in its current state. maybe with some paint and reupholstering, it'll be a keeper.

the brown one, on the other hand, looks like a lost cause. i'd say you overpaid!

I say, if you don't love it, let it go. The chairs are all cute and interesting in their own way, but you don't seem that into them, at least for your current space.
As someone else pointed out, you have a lot of chairs on your hands. I would sell them for cheap and buy two pieces I was really happy with.

bring back the Eames and Saarinens and be done with it.

I actually just bought two chairs identical to the red chair at a Salvation army in Indiana, for $30 a piece, so I'm glad the price was about right!
On mine, the upholstery is a very dirty and worn cream, with double piping. I'm personally torn between painting the wood gunmetal and getting a dark, symmetrical graphic print, or leaving the wood as is (pretty torn up) and getting a whimsical light colored fabric.

A quick heads up, a light colored fabric really exentuates the curve of the back of the chair. email me if you want photos of mine for an alternate option.

The beauty is in the mix. Streamlined-all-one-theme homes are boring. Both of your new chairs are great. I even like the one on the right with its 'deconstructed' look (though obviously without upholstery it won't hold up to regular wear). Work'em in and enjoy. And anyway, comfort is important! The modernist mantra was "Form follows function," right? Use the modern chairs for dining/occasional seating.

am i weird that i like the idea of just mixing all 4, switching them around the room and space depending on your mood? who wants their home to look like everyone else's mid-mod home?

thanks for the ideas and suggestions. I decided to keep the red chairs and give the slipper chairs to a friend of mine. The fabric has to go since it's pretty nasty. http://www.modern-fabrics.com and http://www.winterbeachmodern.com have some interesting fabrics and I'm playing with the idea of doing most of it in a solid with the seat cushion in a pattern to add color/texture?

I will share once these get done.

btw-the paint color is Benjamin Moore Aura in Pashmina

The red one is great as is (unless the upholstery is in bad shape). I know what you mean about the Eames chair... my parents have one (originally two but one was ruined by movers) and while we love it visually, no one ever sits on it. Too hard to get in and out of it. Take your time deciding what works for you aesthetically and practically.

a new rich colored fabric on the red chairs and they'll be a nice compliment to the modern look of your R&B stuff....I'd go with refinishing the wood, but if that's too much work, go dark with the paint

I like the red one as is too.

Perry, if you decide to unload either the slipper chair or the red chair, I'm right here in San Francisco, wagging my tail. Just add "at yahoo.com" to my user name and you've found me.

I think the chairs would look great upholstered in something close to their original upholstery -- for example, a nice wool:

http://www.vicentewolf.com/home/collections/3/17/102

http://www.vicentewolf.com/home/collections/3/18/108

I think it would look great in a slightly unusual or modern colour, but still in the same texture. I'd strip the wood, and just oil it for a more contemporary finish that will marry with your other things.

Painting the wood, and upholstering in MCM or strong prints has been done too much, and is getting a bit old. Restrained upholstering in more traditional fabrics, but maybe a more modern colour, combined with natural wood, would be beautiful.

If you don't find MCM stuff comfortable, why do you have it? The whole ethos of the mid-century design is for follows function. If it isn't functional to you, get rid of it and replace it with things you enjoy for both their comfort AND style.

There is nothing wrong with not enoying MCM furniture and preferring the comfort and use of other styles. But owning a piece of classic mid-centruy furniture furniture soley for its looks is a classic sign of a MCM 'poser', and it would surely make Charles and Ray roll over in their graves to see their furniture sit unused.

always treasure... those chair(s) could be awesome

Left=treasure
Right=trash

I love the red chair, I'd have to see the other one close up to decide if it wasn't trash. We've had the same problem shopping for chairs for our living room, the modern chairs just aren't comfortable enough.

I'd only paint the wood on the red one if it were truly damaged. If not refinish it to show off the wood and reupholster it in a beautiful woolen fabric to accent the lines.
Enough with the white paint and trendy 60's inspired fabric. It's been done over and over. It doesn't look new or exciting anymore.

Please share what you decide to do with it. Add me to the list of people interested in the red chairs.

I honestly love the red one just as it is, and the slipper chair if it was upholstered, and I'm sad that I'm on the other side of the nation in case you decide to get rid of it. And I do think that putting too much pattern on either of them would take away from the curvy lines, and painting everything is beginning to get old. So upholstering both in a good-feeling solid-color fabric and enjoying them for their form -and- their function would be the best option, imo.