Seriously, you knew this was going to be about furniture, right?

Welcome the newest edition to the Nest family: a pair of copper velvet chairs from the Salvation Army.

Here’s what they looked like before I painted the wood.  Kind of like something from a doctor’s office waiting room.  I was so close to not purchasing these.  First of all, EVERYTHING looks much uglier in the thrift store.  It’s just a fact of life.  Second of all, the color was pukeyish.  Third of all, I wasn’t sure I could use them~I had an idea of where I wanted them to go but, normally I like to measure and think furniture over but you simply cannot do that for something like this that can be gone in an hour.  Forth of all, they were $40 each which is a lot if you aren’t positive they can work.

I kept sitting on them and turning them around and texting photos to Angela. The store employees all know me and they kept offering me discounts and one finally was sick of me and my indecision and he said if I bought them both I’d get 25% off even though they’ve only been there a few days because they currently had so much furniture they didn’t have much room for everything.  Yay for overcrowding!  Sold.

So I put them in the car and drove straight to my favorite furniture upholstery shop {High Point Upholstery in Cornelius NC if you are wondering}.  Kim quoted me $100 for labor for each chair.  Plus, Angela is taking a reupholstery class and I had a feeling I could pay her to cover them if she had the time. It’s so nice having talented friends.

However, once I slapped on some white paint something magical started to happen.  That rusty orange turned into a muted copper.  Oh, could it BE?  Would these chairs possibly work without being recovered?!  Had I hit the thrifty jackpot?!

As soon as I set them on our family room rug, POW! That color popped out of the rug.  And my wood floors turned from feeling like they had a pinkish hue, to a copper hue.

It’s really hard to tell the subtleties in a photo but when I put the chairs in the breakfast area, the floors went from bothersome pink to muted copper and rust.  Just trust me on this ok?  Yellow makes these floors turn pink but this glorious color tones them down.   Was this color the missing link in our family room?

So far I’ve tried these chairs in every possible scenario. With pillows.

Without pillows.

I like them everywhere.  But then I started wondering if maybe I was just blinded by excitement.  I mean, does this copper really work with my muddy turquoise?

Then I saw this in the June issue of House Beautiful.  It’s a paint palette taken straight from God’s handiwork.  He’s pretty good a putting colors together.  Polished Aqua and Copper penny convinced me that I didn’t suffer from temporary IFoundAGreatDealSoI’mBlindedToReality-itus.

Eventually, I think the chairs will go here in front of the window with a little table in between.  I’ve noticed the boys are using the homework table less and less.  For now the chairs are parked at the table.  I might wait until fall to see where the boys end up doing their work before I make some changes. Or I might change it today just to see.

But this week, I tempted the hand of fate, pulled down the lever of unknown risk to the tune of $70 and hit the jackpot.  Next week I might not be as lucky but, the best part about this kind of risk is that it’s not all luck, you get to learn from each decision, good or bad.