How I Chose My Breakfast Area French Café Chairs

Looking for French café chairs? Today I’m sharing how we found the perfect French chairs to go with our antique farmhouse table.

I shared all about my new antique farmhouse table with you a few weeks ago, but I’ve gotten so many questions on Instagram about my chairs that I thought maybe they deserved their own post! But before I tell you where they’re from, let’s back up a little and talk about why I chose them in the first place….

In the beginning, I put the dining room chairs in here and I actually liked them quite a bit. And though I didn’t want to move them in here permanently, they did get me thinking about getting chairs in an off-white shade.

So originally, that is where I was headed. However, in the end I decided I didn’t want the two dining rooms to be twins. My dining room has a brown table with off-white chairs, and I felt that if I did that same thing in the kitchen area, it would just be too similar.

Here you can see what it looked like with the dining chairs in here….

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An antique chair would definitely have been my first choice, but with the fact that we eat almost three meals a day here, week in and week out, that didn’t seem practical. The dining chairs are antiques and two have already broken! I also wanted a little more casual of a feel in this room versus the formal dining room.

So I looked around at all kinds of chairs, both in person, and on every website you can imagine, and the simple French café x-back style chair kept coming back to me.

Old Seagrove Homes via Decorpad.

They are modeled after traditional café chairs in Europe, and that timeless feel is something I’m always drawn to. I love them, but I did hesitate as they are so prevalent. They are literally everywhere, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted something that everyone else had.

But, I kept coming back to the fact that I love them. And, they are extremely practical. In fact, they are perfect in every way for this space!

These French café chairs are lightweight, and as such, easy to move around. They’re not particularly expensive, which means if I did want to change them they wouldn’t be a huge investment. And despite their prevalence, they are a classic. If they are good enough for Parisian cafés, who am I to argue? 🙂

But as I said, they are everywhere.. so where to buy them? I found them many places but in the end, I was looking at three stores: Arhaus, Ballard Designs, and Amazon. The Amazon chair is the least expensive but it’s also slightly smaller, not made from solid oak (which Ballard’s and Arhaus are), and I was also a little unsure of the color.

That left the Arhaus version and the Ballard’s. I was leaning toward getting the Arhaus because they were on sale, when I remembered that I had already seen the Ballard’s in person when we ordered them for the farmhouse kitchen I designed last year! I figured since I had one close by I should at least look at in my space.

So after dragging one of the Ballard chairs from my friend’s house over here to make sure they would work (nothing worse than shipping things back!), I ended up ordering the Ballard Design version. In the end I paid more than I would have for the Amazon version, but less than the Arhaus ones. And the color is perfect!

They are not too brown and not too grey. They have some “patina” on them. And, even more importantly, Ballards is the only one who makes a quality cushion you can buy for them! 

Having cushions was important as the rattan seat is not super durable and I still have a son at home who has friends over, etc. I also wanted to have some extra comfort for us as well as some added protection. Personally, I think it’s also more comfortable on bare legs than the rattan alone.

All in all I’m super happy with my choice! And they have proved to be very comfortable as well. And can I say, having a lightweight chair is so much better than the heavy ones I had here before!

So if you are looking for a French café chair, the Amazon version is the least expensive if the color works for you. The Ballard Designs version is a bit more, but I love the color and it’s definitely more natural/less grey. And they frequently have sales which brings them down considerably. And of course, they also have the adorable cushions! 

*UPDATE: the Arhaus chairs have come down in price, and when on sale are equal to or even less than the Ballard’s. And I think they may actually be the exact same chair. They have the same measurements and are made from solid oak, just like Ballard’s. So I’d say whichever is less expensive the day you look is the one to get!

I’m linking all the options below in case you are in the market. And if you’ve bought these, I’d love to know which ones you went with!

Shop French Café Chairs

Shop my Kitchen

Sheila
xo

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