Guys have you seen these legless chairs? I’ve seen them called tatami chairs, zaisu chairs and kotazu chairs.
There’s a few reasons I really love the idea of these:
- Store-abilty. A fair number either fold up or stack easily, which makes them easy to move or put away when not in use.
- Low profile. These are short, so the room looks much bigger and more spacious than with western style chairs.
- Kid friendliness. This makes it super easy for dining, living, playing with kids. They don’t need highchairs or even to be strapped in much as they do with western style chairs. Unless the child is very young, they can “fall out/off” these with no problems! This also makes playing on the floor with them a lot more comfortable.
I looked these up on Amazon and they ranged from $40-140. Waaaaaaay out of my budget. So I decided to try and DIY them. Here’s the finished result:
Final pieces
I started with a couple thrift chairs. I wanted high, slope-backed, chairs with a big seat portion so that I could lean back comfortably and had plenty of room to cross my legs and anchor the chair so I didn’t flip back everytime I leaned back. I also wanted something kind of spindly, with little wood so it would be lightweight and visually take up less space.
I really wanted to pick up a broken or discarded chair off the side of the road or craigslist, but to no avail. I did get pretty lucky and scored some for $5 each at a thrift shop.
Before
I then proceeded to saw the legs off, trying to keep everything even with a level and sharpie to draw guidelines. I did this for all three chairs I had.
Sawed off legs
Next, I was going to sandpaper the “legs” but I forgot and only bought the white spray paint. I used these two kinds, first the krylon primer + paint (accidentally got rid of can before photos), then topped with the Rusto-leom. I was a bit unsure about the High Gloss but I’m glad I did, I love the fresh brightness (plus high gloss is easier to wipe clean!) I used the whole krylon can and about 1 ½ of the Rusto-leom
I did a couple coats on the tops and close to the base and decided to let them dry before using my last can to get the bits I missed.
Day 1
The next day I did a last going over and hit any areas that were brown or didn’t have the high gloss shine. The final product:
For now I’m using our trunk on wheels as a table, though maybe a fold up table will be a future DIY. All in all, the entire project was about $28. They really are surprisingly comfortable (according to my husband) and I love how it lets light through to the rest of the room.They’re easy to stack, easy to move, and I’m sitting in one now, writing this post. Success. Plus, it was fun!
Thanks for visiting!