apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love the covers! I think that a dark walnut (or expresso stain, even) would be great for your chair. I think anything lighter has the risk of blending with your floor, which is always a weird look to me. Good luck!

I think black would make the chair look chic and expensive. Then again I'm kind of obsessed with black painted wooden furniture lately.

...green or orange would be funny too. It all depends on what your style is. Don't be afraid to go wild if you feel drawn to a colored paint! Would love to see the "after" when you've chosen. :-)

I think that you should go super dark with the stain. Deep mahogany or espresso! Then I would cover the cushions in cowhide or sheepskin. If hide isn't your style you could also keep the dark stain, but cover the cushions in a bright color.

Black.

I personally prefer black, because I think that they shouldn't be lighter than the darkest color in the print, and I really kind of love your print, or pattern or whatever you like to call it. (The Brits pronounce it "patten", hee hee hee.)

I'll go against the crowd, and say I like the chair as it is now, and would try just giving it a tung oil or wax finish rather than any stain at all. Alternately, while I do like the idea of going for a high-gloss black, given the Scandinavian modern print you picked, I would also consider going for a more Swedish Gustavian direction by painting the chair gloss white, possibly with gilt or other colored highlight on the details.

Ebonized -- but not black.

I actually like the way it looks right now.

Great fabric--is it Marimekko? I like the idea of a black painted chair with that fabric.

black is my first choice.

oooh.what is that fabric..

walnut or teak.
i think it would look really sharp.

Zhiela here -

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I will definitely consider all of the ideas. Although I think painting the chair black would look great on the chair, I don't know that it would fit the room because there really is no other black in the room. But I do think a dark stain is the way to go. I want it to look as sharp as possible. Then again, I like the idea of a bold color. Choosing seems to be more difficult than I thought! Oh and the fabric is Ikea.

Any ideas on how to highlight the wood detailing?

I don't know what other colors you have in the room but I think a bright red would be great! Or perhaps a aqua tone. I'd have fun with it.

To highlight the detail, you could use a colored wax (after staining, of course) to emphasize some of the carving. If you can't find pre-colored wax, you can tint your own. A quick google search will turn up a variety of suggestions.

I'm having a hard time reading the colors i'd go with a high gloss navy or pea green (whatever the accent in the fabric is)
I'm personally obesessed with aqua, but i don't see that in the print.

I like the idea of painting the chair, but how long do you want to keep it? I think as a timeless piece, any wood stain will work, but I think dark stains are easier to match. So paint it for fun, or stain it dark to keep it around.