I adore this look, but I'm on a tight budget. I was able to acheive it by getting a nice wood table at an outlet store and pairing it with 4 of the white eiffel base chairs from Overstock.com. The total cost was under $300. It makes me happy every time I see it!

I love the look, especially when juxtaposed with more decorative or antique furniture, as in the first example by Ilse Crawford.

However, as much as I love the look, I hate these chairs. Shell chairs are just not comfortable for extended get-togethers, the kind when you laugh and talk and solve the world's problems with an extra bottle or two of wine. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose leaves embarrassing sweat marks on the plastic; breathability is really important!

I like these chairs in a traditional setting (in most mixed-era settings, really), but I agree with @mschatelaine that they are not great in hot weather... always reminds me of school, sitting on plastic chairs in summer! That being said, it's easy to put a simple chair cushion on them.

I do, however, really disagree that $250 is (relatively) affordable. For some, maybe they are, but I don't know anyone who thinks $250 is affordable for a dining chair? In the first picture that's an estimated $3000 on chairs!! Even four comes to $1000.

Those chairs are NOT comfortable. The college building that I am mainly in is outfitted with these chairs and sitting in them for just an hour lecture gets uncomfortable.

I too don't think $250 a pop is affordable. Like kellieinCA, I purchased mine at overstock and love them. I have six around a 6 foot round dining table that I painted. They look spiffy and I haven't found them to be uncomfortable. I host a get together every Friday night and so far, no one has complained about the chairs either (and they're the sort that would tell me honestly if my chairs were uncomfortable).

To be honest, they remind me of sweaty classrooms.

I love the idea of mixing modern chairs with traditional tables, but is anyone else sick to death of seeing these ubiquitous shell chairs???

They might be ubiquitous because we see them all the time in AT but I don't know a single person who has one.

I have six authentic ones. The cost sucked, but I was able to get them in the exact color I wanted, so I don't regret it too much.

I just came across some of these in white at an outlet location for a wholesaler. I sat in one for awhile. It felt rickety and also very short. It didn't appear to have any loose screws or anything broken. I was not impressed and went back to look over the ghost chairs.
Was I unknowingly sitting in a kids' version (it wasn't marked as such)? Are they rickety feeling to anyone else? They were marked at $130 IIRC, which seems a more appropriate price to me.

This post makes me so happy! I have been looking for a way to bring some midcentury to my accidental country chic dining table. When I was given an amazing antique pedestal table with a leaf (oval/circle shaped) I instantly decided to get mismatched chairs. I found 6 antique mismatched chairs and brought them home. Now I am unhappy with how shabby chic/or country chic it all looks. I am really in love with modern straight lines, all things midcentury and splashes of antique greatness. But the very idea that I could add some shell chairs in with the grouping actually makes me giddy. I am off to overstock/craigslist to dig up some shell chairs...thanks so much!

I think that any nice looking modern chair would go well in a traditional setting. Not just Shell chairs.

Yuck...sorry, I hate a shell chair. Love the look and they aren't bad for an occassional chair, but for a dining chair, no. Sorry, they are sweat inducing (uh, gross), and not comfortable for long-into-the-night-multi-bottle-spill-your-guts dinner parties. Dining chairs need to be ample, soft, but still supportive and promote post-dining lounge positions. I haven't found that perfect chair yet, but I will....

Every time I visit my grandparents, I long to ask them if I can borrow just one of their set of '60s fiberglass shell chairs, just a for a bit, because it's bright and happy and I really want it for my bedroom and it always makes me think happily of them (since they've been making appearances in family photos since my dad was a kid and all, as well as all throughout my childhood)...

denisegk, there are the Eames shell chairs and then there's everyone else. Unless you know you were looking at a licensed reproduction, you were probably looking at a knockoff made in China. They just won't be crafted as well.

My wife and I have four "knock-offs" from Lexington Modern sitting around the farm table in our dining room. They're clearly not originals but they do the job. They look nice and they're fairly comfortable (and a vast improvement to the four chairs we had previously). It's all relative I suppose.

@pi... I know SO many people with them... must be an Australian thing! Also another reason I wouldn't buy them!

@Pi: aha. Well, it said EAMES real super big on the tag, but I didn't look closely enough to see if they were even claiming to be a licensed product. I know two catalog companies they supply and both get criticized (sometimes on here!) about doing knockoffs, so that would make sense if it's so. Thanks. Maybe the real things aren't so short either!

Love this. I only have one shell chair, but we use it a lot --it's comfy and has never induced any problems-- I'm always afraid to boldly mix it up like this, but AT helps me conquer fears. thanks!