Recycle & Reuse, Shopping Trip 
13 Comments Vintage Schoolhouse Chairs from an online auction
I am always on the hunt for vintage industrial furniture, especially mid-century. You know, the pastel greens and blues that used to be in your elementary school? Well I had heard about PublicSurplus.com where anything old that government offices such as schools, city offices, etc. aren’t using are auctioned off on-line. You can search by the area in which you live, by the type of items available, even a specific school or agency. I couldn’t wait to try it out and my first time was a success! Check out these vintage schoolhouse chairs that I bought!
Here they are in my craft room where I plan to keep them.
I bid on two sets of chairs in order to get the right mix of pastel seats that I was looking for. I won a total of two bids for $24 for 12 chairs. That’s only $2 a chair! Because they were not in mint condition, I salvaged parts from some chairs and gave them to others. I ended up with 7 pastel school chairs for my craft studio and one bright red one that is in my son’s room.
These particular chairs were from a Utah high school that was being torn down. They are made by Virco, a classic manufacturer of schoolhouse chairs based in California. When I picked up the chairs from the school’s district office, they were dirty, had some gum stuck to them and one had some profanity carved into the seat. I had planned on this so after some scrubbing with a Mr. Clean eraser (more clearly needs to be done) and switching out the feet with a pair of pliers I ended up with comfy funky chairs that I love.
Don’t you think the colors look great together? I can’t wait to get back on PublicSurplus.com and find more gems! (A fellow blogger, Natalme, wrote an excellent post about all of her finds on PublicSurplus.com and you can read it HERE.)
(NOTE: In previous posts I have talked about how handy an overhead projector is for wall murals, well Public Surplus has them often, and for around $5! )
Linked Up: Tatertots & Jello, Remodelaholic, Funky Junk
What would you love to find at auction?
Would you ever put used junk in your house?
Are these small size chairs for younger children? How many are you selling? I would want all you can sell.
Sorry, I guess I misread, something I saw on Facebook looked like you were selling them!
No worries Shannon!
Shannon, They are adult sized from a high school. I did sell four of them at a yard sale a while back, but trust me they weren’t ones you would have wanted. Check PublicSurplus.com. They have amazing stuff!
Amanda
Check out these children’s chairs available on their site now!
http://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/granite,ut/auction/view?auc=1001455
This is awesome. Man, I want to move to Utah!!!
Julie, If you come to my house, we can do crafts and sit in the chairs
Also, PublicSurplus.com is for the entire USA. Maybe something close to the border of Canada?
Lol, I have a lot of junk, repurposed, consignment and thrift store items in my home. I believe that is what makes a home unique…not Rooms To Go!
Love your find and the color combination of your chairs. Love how you combined sick chairs to make healthy.
have a blessed week, Ginger
This is so awesome!! Thanks for the link! I love old school finds like these! Great colors too!!
Katie,
The colors are quite fab, right? I could buy a ton of stuff from Public Surplus!
Amanda
Those are very unique and the look excellent. Thanks for the info about the auctions.
You’re welcome Joani! Hope you find something awesome!
[…] awesome vintage school house chairs in pastels. You might recognize them from a previous post (find out how I bought them for $2 each HERE). The colors are perfection for the space, don’t you […]