(Mis)Adventures in Home Furnishing, II - Chairish
We recently met with some potential architects to help us renovate the drab, 1980s house we just bought here in Vermont. After a few lively exchanges the senior of the two said “so, you’re not really a ‘Rooms to Go kind of girl’. Wow! Such a compliment, even though he may not have intended it that way :) I want everything in our home to tell a story — an eclectic mix of design sensibilities and movements; antiques mixed with contemporary; textures and color used to make the disparate harmonious. There are so many resources today for finding unique and storied pieces, that don’t have to break the bank. Au contraire, so often vintage pieces can be a fraction of the cost of new, with the added benefit of being available for immediate shipping, but more on that below. So to continue (Mis)Adventures in Home Furnishings, here’s my latest installment: Chairish.
I think Chairish is amazing. If you don’t know, Chairish is a curated marketplace of 10,000+ dealers selling every conceivable type of home furnishings — artwork, vintage rattan, midcentury ashtrays, velvet sofas, lamp finials, opium beds… Chairish has it all and tons of inspiration as well.
Unlike eBay or Etsy or even Craigs List, Chairish is an online platform for (mostly) antique dealers and only items for your home. The website engineering, search parameters, clean graphics — all make for a very easy, informative user experience. See for yourself: https://www.chairish.com/
All the listings sit in an uncluttered white void — so no crappy, out of focus photos to contend with. If you are looking for an antique French Farm Table — they will have, literally thousands to choose from. But no worries, you can fine tune your search by size, location, price, material, aesthetic movement, etc. You can also set up a search for “Chinoiserie Dining Chairs” for example, and new results will be sent to your email inbox weekly.
Signing up is free and has its advantages. Adding items to your Favorites folder notifies the dealer, so you may get an e-mail with an offer of the item at a reduced price. Nice! You’ll also be notified when Favorite items are marked down. Chairish is more accessible (code for cheaper) than similar sites like 1stDibs, but some items are listed on both. The same goes for Etsy, and Ebay — so do your homework!
The downside — not everyone loves Chairish. Reviews are mixed. And shipping can be, not only expensive (but often negotiable!) for the larger items, and it can take a seemingly long time, especially considering the item is just sitting in a shop or warehouse somewhere. Chairish organizes shipping, which helps make your transaction seamless, but to be cost effective your purchase is bundled with others and it can take 3+ weeks to receive your item. And… just like with new pieces (don’t get me started) things can arrive damaged. I recently bought this lovely chair, which was newly upholstered and in perfect condition. And when it arrived? A schmutz mark on the new velvet.
Delivery Man, who could not have been nicer, said it was like that when they collected it. And round and round it goes.
Just like with other big retailers, after I reached out to them, they gave me the option of returning it or taking a credit. I thought I could brush this stain out, or hide it with the lumbar pillow this chair will definitely need, so after some back and forth, they credited me back $300, which was 30% off the price.
My conversations were done with Chairish, not the dealer directly — which creates a little lag time, but all things considered I love Chairish. They are a bit backed up because of Covid, so patience is important with Chairish and all suppliers now.
{SemiPro Tip}: Take photos of the truck, delivery people, the box, the label, packing material, everything — when anything is delivered. Assume the item is going to be damaged, and document as much as possible. In my experience 20% of items new and vintage have some issue.
Fed Ex delivered the dining room chairs from One King’s Lane at night, 50 ft from the front door and never rang the bell! The next morning we discovered them in the out in the rain. It took them 3 solid weeks to resolve not just this issue, but the fabric on the upholstered chairs was installed sideways.
OK, so in the plus column:
Gigantic inventory
Loads of inspiration
Easy, clean page to navigate
Information on dealers available
Possible to save searches
Great two-way communication
Prices are negotiable, initial offers should be 20% +/- off asking
Easy to ask questions directly
And the minus column:
Descriptions can be wrong and misleading, so double check. For example, I’ve seen things that were clearly Thai marked ‘Chinese’ because the dealer didn’t know any better
Measurements can be wrong too, double check
Shipping can be pricey, but negotiable
And of course buyer beware! Ask questions, do your research, read reviews.
Here’s a good example: This funny pagoda caught my eye so I put it in my Favorites folder. I googled up the seller and found the same one from a different seller in a shop, just a short walk from house in Charleston of all places. Same brand, same size. This one is from the Chairish site:
It says ‘set’ but it was just for one piece
And this one is directly from the retailer:
Substantially cheaper
So as with all purchases, time spent doing a quick background check can be well worth it. The reviews of Chairish aren’t all stellar, but I think they’ve worked out a lot of the kinks. Happy shopping!
