My husband and I are in desperate need of recovering our chairs in the kitchen. Because we have two young children, he wants to use vinyl. My complaint is that vinyl is cheap looking and won't go along with the "stylish" look we have been striving for in the rest of the house. Am I totally wrong here? Are vinyl seats considered OK aesthetically? Will they still give our home the expensive decorating look we are trying to achieve on the little budget we have?

There are pleathers and more natural looking vinyls if you want to go for natural. I know a few Vegetarians who do not deliberately buy leather. Some might say it is a ethical choice, and many people use fake fur and vinyl shoes simply because it is kinder to animals. Vinyl does not always look cheap. I think if you use it, you can go the opposite route and get vinyl that looks "totally" fake, like polka-dots, or candy colored aqua-glitter, or hounds tooth, or tartan plaid. If you make it really obvious, there is a fun factor involved, just as someone my upholster a chair in long pink fake fur for the fun factor.

when i had the kids at home...high style wasn't always number 1 in the equation...It was about how easy would it be to keep my house up...The higher style came after they left...

I recently covered my kitchen bar stools with a burgandy not-leather but looks like it stuff. When I think of vinyl, I think of the old fashioned shiny stuff mother had on her kitchen chairs. Look at the stuff in the fabric stores....I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the variety of materials they have. They have plain, flowered, checked and many other types of not-leather but look like it stuff. My bar stools were ultra suede and with the grandchildren eating on them....a wowser to keep clean. Now the not-leather stuff just wipes clean with a damp cloth.

Another option that is good with kids, microfiber. It cleans easily and can look nicer than some of the vinyls. It may be less expensive than the higher end faux leathers, but I'm not certain of that.

Cover your dining chairs in the stylish designer fabric you are wanting. Don't settle for that cheap looking vinyl. Get your kids a little small table/chair set made out of plastic where they can sit and make their messes. They will enjoy being able to eat with their little feet touching the floor. If you just MUST have them sit at the table with you and dear hubby, then place a plastic bag and towel over the chairs they are sitting in to protect your nice fabric from any spills.

You can also spray some scotchguard on the nice fabric to protect it from stains.

The better fabric stores will have upholstry grade fabrics in their remnant section. A great place to pick up fabulous upholstry fabric at a greatly reduced price.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pipkin,

Or -- cover your chairs in whatever makes you happy knowing that it may get messy and you'll have to replace it sooner rather than later. Enjoy your family mealtime together all at one table.

The day will come that you'd offer to upholster the chairs with sheets of solid gold just to get everyone to come and sit down to dinner together. Enjoy this time and your home together while you can.

Patent leather would be cool!

Or vinyl that looks like that, not vinyl trying to look like cloth.

OR, you could do oilcloth. Anything can be kind of cute and fun. It's the kitchen, not Versailles.

Hi trying2Bstylish,

I don't know how the vinyl works with furniture, but I'm absolutely sure it won't mess your shoes.

Why? Because I had bought some vinyl shoes a long time ago in here:

www.jildorshoes.com/product.cfm/hurl/Audrey_Silver_Leat...Ballet_Flat/PI=46455

and then, after using them so much, they ruined. 'Common' vinyl was the solution for my shoes, but I guess you should ask first before applying it in your furniture.

I never changed my decor to accomidate our children and as a result (once grown ;-)) they know how to NOT live in an ugy home themselves. They did however have "child friendly" areas in our home. The play room for example is for toys, computers and so on but it is also a great place to begin teaching organization skills which they need as early as Kindergarten! The other half of the time it's a mess as children enjoy messes too at times.

At "your" table I would use a pliable wipe-off cloth/vinyl and make slip covers for your "fasionably decorated" chairs. Slip them on prior to dinner, wipe them up, remove them after dinner... now, both you and your husband are happy, your chairs are clean and match the decor around the rest of your home and your children will learn much faster how to be careful about spills so they can begin using the "adult" chairs sooner.

Let's face it... we ALL spill at times. We can't expect our children to be any more perfect than we are so -- do scotchguard! ~smile~ And enjoy those family dinners. Priceless... and for everything else...

Our children learn what they live ;-) having "appropriate" space in our homes for different activities is a good thing IMO.