Readers Go Kooboo Crazy

After writing about these Kooboo wicker chairs a few times, an alert reader informed me that Cost Plus World Market sold them for just $149 (and sometimes they are on sale for even less!) This price is hundreds of dollars less than the Kooboo chairs which are claimed to come from Belgium.   Maybe some do actually come from Belgium, but I don’t see why you have to pay so much more for something that basically looks the same.

An alert reader sent me the link to this chair – $149.99 – amazing! HERE.

Even the magazine Country Living seemed to get it all wrong in this beautiful cover shot this month.

The credits say these two chairs are from Restoration Hardware, $595 each.   To me, they look like the Kooboo chairs that are sold wholesale by companies like Artesia. BTW, isn’t that daybed cute?   A few more cute ones from the same company HERE, and HERE.

This is the closest Kooboo chair at Restoration Hardware that I could find – nothing at all like those shown in the Country Living magazine. AND BTW, been to Restoration Hardware lately? The one in my neighborhood was recently remodeled – all dark walls and moody, low lighting. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Gorgeous! Go visit if you haven’t lately.

I’ve loved these chairs for years, after first seeing them in Cynthia Davis’ house in Country Home.   Gorgeous!

I recently noticed on Cynthia’s blog, Indulge Décor, that her dining room has changed quite a bit with a new faux bois table, crystal chandelier, and wonderful lamps.   Amazing this is in Houston, it’s so Belgium looking!   Just gorgeous – makes my mouth drool!!!!   This picture really illustrates how important texture is in a room – how much more interesting a room is with lots of different textures. It shows how a crystal chandelier can dress up any spot and how versatile these chairs truly are. Read Cynthia’s blog HERE.

After learning about the $149 chairs at Cost Plus, I wondered aloud on the blog what my breakfast room would like with the wicker chairs instead of these smaller French ones.

Two readers actually sent me photoshopped pictures of what my breakfast room would like - here’s one view.

And another photoshopped view – amazing how accurate these pictures really are!   Based on these two drawings, I bit the bullet and bought the chairs.   Although I first purchased the more expensive and larger ones from Pottery Barn which ended up outside in the back yard.

And here are the final Cost Plus Kooboo chairs in my breakfast room.

And the Pottery Barn chairs outside. To read an analysis of the two chairs, go HERE. After I showed my new chairs, I got email from readers who had also bought them!   Here are their pictures, perhaps they will inspire you.

Karen sent me this picture of her cute breakfast room. She bought a few Kooboo chairs to mix in, but is now saving for two more to put around her table.

This reader, Robyn, sent in a picture of her dining room. I was taken by how cute her table was! She said she had it custom made, copied from a table at Mecox. The reader said the table was very reasonable – much cheaper than the one at Mecox.   Think about having something custom made – a lot of times it IS cheaper than what is found in the design store.

This reader lives in a townhouse in Houston – she sent me this picture of her Kooboo chairs.

Another view – I love how she painted the back of her shelves the dark gray and added the sconces – makes the shelves so much more custom looking.   This reader has a vacation house in Santa Fe and she went to buy Kooboo chairs there, but the Cost Plus chairs were sold out until September – they must be really popular in New Mexico!

This reader bought these chairs to put around her French dining room table. She sent this picture last Christmas to show how they looked, along with her new seagrass rug, lamps and curtains.

In each chair, she had lumbar pillows made of the Riad fabric from Windsor Smith for Kravet.

I recently begged a friend to change out her French rush seat chairs for these!   She had just updated her kitchen with new black matte granite and white subway tiles. She added two great looking polished nickel pendant lights from Restoration Hardware, but her breakfast room needed a little tweaking.   We removed a large pine bookshelf and replaced it with a British Colonial style console, new lamps and mirrors and the chairs. It looks like a completely new room with the Kooboo chairs.

All in the family!   I had to laugh. My daughter Elisabeth is moving into an apartment this year at school.   She’s working on floor plans (oy!) and shopping the internet. Last night she came home all excited about the slipcover sofas at Ikea. I kid you not! “Mom!! They are so cheap!!”    I know, I know!   She picked up a few baskets to get her decorating started (naturally she just had to buy something) – and here’s what she bought. Four Kooboo wicker baskets. The small ones were around $5 while the larger ones were $10.     I just smiled thinking about how I was writing this article about Kooboo, while she’s out buying these baskets. I want her to buy the Kooboo chairs for her dining table. but she prefers the slipcovered ones from Ikea.

Thanks to all the readers for sending in your pictures!   I’m accumulating a lot of kitchen redos which I will show soon – so if you have a great kitchen redo – send it to my email: mrballbox329@aol.com