good meals and great discussions

The table and chairs in my dining area have been the bane of my existence forever. When I was a kid, I never imagined that I'd grow up and live in my own house and have dinner (and a million memories) at the same table I ate Hanukkah dinner at as a child. I don't really like the table and chairs. It's an antique and it's clunky and it's creaky. But, if I put all the leaves in, it's huge and many people can sit here and eat, laugh, and eat more all at the same time. That's important. And, this table belonged to my Nana and Poppa Dave and it's like the table version of the Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants.
The thing I hated the most about the chairs was they were really, really, really fucking uncomfortable. And, for the 15 years I lived with them in our childhood home(s), they were covered in the ugliest shade of green vinyl I'd ever seen. It matched our ugly green shag carpet. I gag just thinking about it. Before the table and chairs made its way to me about 15 years ago, it lived with my brother and his wife, who very quickly stripped the old finish and recovered the green vinyl. When our sister-in-law took the chairs apart to recover them, we discovered the original fabric Nana had on the chairs before the green vinyl. That fabric was a pretty tapestry in gold and peach. In between the layers of wood, then tapestry, then vinyl, there was NO PADDING. Ouch. Our sister-in-law added her layer of delicate blue and white floral fabric and put the chairs back together. A few years later, the table and chairs came to me and the light blue floral fabric didn't work with my decor. And for reasons I still don't quite get, I recovered the chairs in a darker blue fabric and still did not add any padding. I still hated those chairs. So did my tush after ten minutes sitting in them.
Years went by and many, many, many good meals and great discussions were had at this table. Despite the happiness had at the table, there was not a day that went by that I didn't think about how much I hated those damn chairs. Even worse, for the last ten years, the blue fabric didn't match my decor AT ALL.
I've been on the hunt for cool, contemporary fabric to cover the chairs with and nothing was quite right. Nothing was also quite right in the budget. Fun fabric is pricey! The other day I was at IKEA looking for a rug they no long carry (just my luck) when I fell in love with some 24"x24" double sided cushion covers for $6.99 each. Each chair cushion is 20"x20". I could cover 2 chairs with one cushion cover (cut in half) for $6.99! I bought 2 covers and some foam padding all for less than $22.
Today was the big day. Staying true to tradition, I did not remove any of the layers of seat coverings by previous table owners. I just added mine to the stack with a nice thick layer of padding.
I love these chairs now.