December 3, 2011

Bringing the Past to Life





After a few hours at work yesterday, I came home to wait for the chair and cushions to arrive. As it was carried up, I found myself a bit frightened by my bold choice of fabric. Now, the chair exceeds all my expectations. Rebuilt from the wood up, the broken springs replaced, the wood treated, and the legs refinished, the chair should now be good for another eighty years.

I remember my grandpa Gunny sitting in it in a corner window at 2439 A street. I remember grandma sitting in it reading by the light of the same window.

It was a crème boucle when I was 12, then after grandma died, mother upholstered it in a dark textured blue. For a while Lenora owned it, as she still does, and she upholstered it in a dark blue patterned fabric. When I got it back, I had it slip-covered in white. But the damp and mold in the big house had done their damage. The chair itself reeked of mold. I banished it to the garage.

When this last trust was disbursed, one thing I wanted to do was resurrect this most comfortable of chairs. Bravely I chose a plaid fabric that would work with the deco spread G had chosen as well as the colors in the room.

I’m just as pleased as punch.



8 comments:

  1. It's perfect! May you enjoy it for a hundred years.

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  2. It looks wonderful. It is amazing how something that looks bold in small sections (like a fabric swatch) looks so sensibly perfect in the larger setting. Enjoy-there is nothing better than a perfect chair.

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  3. I love the fabric, you two are good, it looks like it was made for you in many ways. What a great place to sit and read, sort of in the arms of your family.

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  4. Oh I AM impressed! That's a wonderful choice. It looks fabulous! I agree with Celia. I looks like it was made to have that fabric and looks perfect in that room. It invites people to sit on it.

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  5. I love it!!! And I love the dusty rose wingback chair sitting in my own living room it's my favorite place to read.

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  6. It's beautiful and fits so well next to the wall-O-books! Very cozy and inviting.

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  7. I have a butterfly chair that had been owned by my mother in law. It is in a beautiful blue fabric, but needs to be reupholstered in red for my bedroom. Our extra money has gone to the living reef and osprey nest. Maybe next year...you have motivated me.

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