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My good buddy Lesley at TheDesignFile is running an ongoing 30 Must Haves throughout the month of January. She asked designers, artists, real estate agents and friends what they would choose as their top 30 Must Haves for a home. When push came to shove, folding chairs tied for last place. Lesley made the executive decision and picked folding chairs out of the tied group. Why? Because if you entertain often and are short on space, you can’t survive without a stash of folding chairs.

We’ve come a long way from the metal and vinyl card table chairs. Folding chairs today look downright stylish. I was honored to have Les mention my Anthropologie-esque upholstered folding chairs I did a while back for Apartment Therapy. I was able to get the two wood slat chairs on clearance from World Market. I “shopped” through my fabric stash and came up with an inspired version of the $198.00 Anthropologie chairs.

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The Anthropologie chairs:

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Photo Image: ApartmentTherapy.com

Read Lesley’s full folding chair saga here, and take a look at my upholstered folding chairs tutorial on Apartment Therapy right here.

And feast your eyes on the two beautiful folding chairs Lesley’s husband created out of red oak. They’re so bee-u-tee-full, they’ve earned a permanent position on her back porch.

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All photo images VIA The Design File