Bertoia chairs/ eames wire chairs...  

A matt Black would look good...
A matt Black would look good in my opinion, never that keen on them in White.

My 50's eiffel and cradle...
My 50's eiffel and cradle bases are both matte black, not glossy or somewhere in between. I suppose the wire seats would have the same color... but I'm not sure.

and.......
..It's another vote for matte black from me 🙂

i like black shiny cause ...
i like black shiny cause if you leave them outside over time they will tone down or patine up

Matte black
Matte black was my first choice. These will be inside chairs, so I don't need to worry about them aging outside. Right now the bertoia chairs are covered in slight surface rust. The funny thing is that I'm somewhat drawn to that look. I was even comtemplating some way to keep them looking like that, but I've got a favor coming in the way of sand blasting and powder coating, so now is the time to do it! Thanks for all the input!

do it...................... ...
do it...................... you will be happy you powdercoated them

DUDE.......go SATIN black on white!
matte is too flat in color tone and unflattering, you will wish you went satin. a satin finish has a attractive light luster which is perfect for mid century metal finishes. ask your local 50's dealer, he'll emphaticly point you toward a satin finish. depending on your taste and color scheme, color is a personal preferance. i love the black base, white top combination for these chairs. the black bottom almost dissapears emphasizing the white grid top, very 1950's.

Depending on your taste
I would go black for the Eames wire chairs and the white/black combo for Bertoia. I love that look too. If you don't like the two tone idea, go all black.

I admit, the two tone combo...
I admit, the two tone combo does look nice. I just don't like a glossy finish - It makes the chair look new, losing all of it's patina and character.

i'll weigh in on the satin finish
a satin finish has the dual advantage of revealing more visual dimension than does flat, and it is more resistant to fingerprinting, burnishing, marring, soiling from body oils, etc.
a flat finish [especially in black] absorbs almost all of the light thrown at it, so if you have something that you want to pronounce [namely lovely design], flat is typically not all that--ahem--flattering.
this is not to speak disparagingly of flat black, of course. it can be a nice contrast finish, especially next to a high-gloss black. but that's more than you asked.
my clear vote: satin. good luck to you.

Hi all
I love and own...
Hi all
I love and own every Betoia piece of furniture. So here are some little known tips.
Orignial early diamond chairs had a black phosphate coating. I would never paint those models. Black phosphate was used on many metal items like machining tooling, washers, etc... It must have been the zinc coating of the 50s. Its not very corrosion resistant... but proves age, and old-old. It will not chip like paintand looks like the bare metal itself.
Knoll powder coated chairs... sort of. Around 1970 they dipped them in that Rislan crap, and baked it on hard. Its a bear to cut or grind off, to do a TIG weld repair. All these wire chairs will break eventually, if not already. Rislan is thick and shiny, a plastic I guess. Powder coating is basically a plastic also. Some people here place way too much value into powder coating. If you ever need to reweld a chair you will regret the powder coating. There is a lot of paint loss with spraying all that surface area. It will be wasteful, and in that way, maybe powder would be an advantage on all that wire. Paint would be lower cost.
If its an indoor chair, a Krylon rattle can will do the job. I like white wire better than black or chrome. White and black together are great!
"Ivory" white by Krylon looks really vintage, but spray the wire with primer first.
good luck

I had my diamond stove enamel...
I had my diamond stove enamelled in a glossy finish (see below) came out much nicer than I thought it would, the first picture is a before shot

Here is the pad I went for, c...
Here is the pad I went for, cost more than the chair itself 🙁 and that includes the refurbishment!