The Valuable Chairs To Hunt For At The Thrift Store For A Dining Room With A Retro Touch

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Whether you expected it or not, skirted furniture might have a place in your home again. That's especially the case if your interior style leans retro. This style favors vintage pieces, futuristic motifs, and curvy silhouettes. For that reason, the thrift store is your gateway to finding valuable, antique furniture that makes your space feel authentic, collected, and elevates your retro decor. One way to achieve this look in your dining room? Keep your eye on a very specific type of furniture: the Parsons dining chair.

Skirted dining chairs were once a must-have, often praised for their elegant, flowy appearance. These once outdated style of chairs create texture and dimension that easily elevate the style of your kitchen, and, by proxy, the experience of sharing meals with loved ones. Originating from the minds of students at the Parsons School of Design in Paris, France, Parsons chairs made a statement in the 1930s with clean lines, effortlessly chic textures, and an often armless design. Parsons chairs with skirted slipcovers eventually entered the design sphere, providing a more refined element to dining rooms. The chairs with strong silhouettes and added skirted patterns can brighten up dining rooms of all different types of decor.

Next time you're at the thrift store, keep an eye out in the furniture section for skirted, armless Parsons chairs. They come in a wide range of different styles, but an authentic Parsons chair is going to have that signature, minimalistic design, and often with a maker's mark underneath the seat. However, you can also snag a pair or a set of skirted chairs on marketplaces like eBay.

As far as styling a Parsons chair, it's good to know that the styles and variety of designs are incredibly vast, so these vintage gems will shine in any style of dining room. Plus, the beauty of recycled decor trends is that you don't have to compromise tradition for modernity necessarily. Many Parsons chairs fit right into a midcentury modern home because of their clean, modern silhouettes, while a skirted design adds vintage elements to the space.

A flannel pattern skirt design with geometric shapes, for example, adds dimension and can be a great option to mix old and new pieces in a dining room with transitional style decor. For this example, consider pairing these chairs with a modern dining table for that curated, transitional look. But of course, these chairs look effortless in a retro-style home, especially when you choose a skirted pattern that echoes a previous era, like leopard or an animal print design with gold accents.