Maddy and Dave were looking to replace the chairs in their dining room.
“We love our table,” says Maddy, “It’s solid wood.”
“But the chairs have had their day,” admits Dave, “They were cloth and are looking rough around the edges. We’ve had a few spills too. So…you know.”
Answer: yes, we do.
Design today is all about eclecticism; blending the old with the new to add a fresh look to everything without actually replacing a whole room of furniture all at once. So the reality today is that Maddy and Dave do not have to junk their dining set to restore their old and still beautiful solid oak table given to them by Maddy’s parents as a wedding present. The great advantage of wood is that it goes with everything. Wood is forever. Better still, it can be sanded down, re-stained or even re-painted to add new dimension to its old design elements.
Even if Maddy and Dave did not want to entertain the prospect of re-doing their table (let’s say, after thirty years of daily use, it’s still in ‘perfect’ condition), then the opportunity to put a brand new spin on their time-honored classic is still completely within their reach.
Today, there are furniture manufacturers like Canadel – a Montreal-based company specializing in dining and kitchenette home furnishings. Canadel implicitly understands a client’s need to keep a family’s ‘heritage’ within the family. And Canadel equally specializes in dining and kitchenette furniture, with literally hundreds of options to celebrate the very best in traditional and contemporary designs. Moreover, the company’s mix and match design philosophy ensures that with literally hundreds of options to choose from, the only real decision Maddy and Dave need to make right now is regarding ‘style’.
Do they want high back or low back; bench seating or chairs; cloth or leather, leatherette, or even Sunbrella fabrics? Do they want wood back and cloth seat, cloth back and wood seat, or wood all over or cloth all over?
What’s really fun about Canadel is their website; a click-a-ble ‘at your fingertip ideas’ potpourri where the customer is in complete control; changing colors and styles with ease and able to ‘see’ and ‘save’ their choices. A word about ‘seeing exactly’ the finished product before you buy. Computers are great. But color gamut accuracy on video monitors varies widely. So, it is always good advice, once color choices have been selected online, to venture into a showroom that carries the Canadel brand to see if the actual ‘wood’ and ‘fabric’ samples you have picked look the same in person.
And fear not if they do not! Because a salesperson will be able to get you exactly what you want with just a quick walk over to the Canadel sample boards and fabric gallery.
Maddy and Dave thought they had found the perfect chair in Ocean Grey until they came into the showroom and realized it was bluer than they hoped for. Thankfully, they fell in love with two alternative greys – ‘Weathered’ and ‘Davey’s’; either, much closer to what they were after. And actually, Maddy and Dave decided they did not want to go with a color match to create their new look.
The chairs, grey with a soft mint cushion fabric will be butted against an espresso brown-stained table; a very modern twist on an old formal and traditional look where all the pieces once sported the same dark wood finish. To ease the eye along, the couple also selected a Canadel sideboard, finished in the same Davey’s Grey. They also plan to accent the wall behind it with a large round mirror, wood-trimmed in espresso brown.
So, the answer to the question, “can a couple with an old dining table they dearly love and don’t really want to part with, find true happiness together with a new look?” is decidedly yes! You just have to be willing, like Maddy and Dave, to open your eyes to the possibilities, take a leap of faith, and enter the future with a bit of imagination. Canadel can help. So can Coulters!
