It can be clean. It can be neat. It can be tidy or smart. It can be a fashion coup de grace or a style disaster. We could be talking about either one of two things - chrome, or the perennial barstool. Combine these two most volatile elements known to modern design and you could easily have a design train wreck on your hands explosive enough to confine you to social exile for years to come. Yes, chrome bar stools, or any bar stool for that matter, do enjoy brief outings at retro-themed parties for laughter's sake. But thank God, that kind of behavior seems to be going the same way as the unfortunate trend in the early '80s where people stand around at parties reciting lines from Monty Python. Irony seems to have become a thing of the recent past and chrome bar stools, as we have known them, seem to have gone the same way.

The Vengeful Invisible Chair

While the 21st century may have come with its attitude problems, people in general do seem to be more attentive to design aesthetics when it comes to their everyday surroundings. If you take a careful look around, you will see that chrome bar stools have shot back with a quiet but widespread vengeance. Whence the appeal? Well, while we think of chrome as almost kitsch; chrome bar stools have a design edge that comes from the versatility of their construction material. It's dull to say so but it looks clean, it is easy to clean, it can very good looking, and a chrome bar stool goes with anything. Why? Because it reflects everything around it, so you don't have to worry about the color of this furniture fitting in with your existing furniture -chrome bar stools are almost invisible furniture.

The Chameleon

This brings me to my next point - portability. No, I'm not suggesting that you carry your chrome bar stools around with you wherever you go. I'm suggesting that in terms of design ethics, although chrome bar stools combine two of the most volatile materials and styles, they also pull off the most prevalent and portable design features of any type of furniture in existence. They are portable through different styles and different time periods of interior architecture. Frankly speaking, I have never been a fan of the chrome bar stools, or even of bar stools in general. To me, they say "sleaze" but the problem is mostly of the people sitting in them. Let's face it. These days we see chrome bar stools everywhere, and not without reason. Chrome is a look used in a variety of different settings and can look incredible anywhere. Of late and at present, it's featured in the latest and greatest that architectural design has to offer.

The Chair of All Ages

We have become conditioned to think of chrome bar stools being "so last month/year/decade/century" but, as seen in the actual innovation of the shape of the piece and in classic furniture, such as the legendary Barcelona Chair, the modern currency of construction materials depend not so much on the changing tastes of a fickle market, but on the creative talents of the designer. With the right combination of design and designer fabrics in the upholstery, chrome bar stools can set off your bar, kitchen, or dining space like a Chinese fireworks display!