I for sure, one hundred percent get my junking tendencies from them. Both my parents are the use it up, make it last, only throw it away as a last resort type. They were green before it was trendy. My mom reuses her zip lock bags because using them only once would be wasteful. My dad also tends to be a junk collector like me. Recently I have been able to use a few of his finds. I now have this awesome work table under the porch at the Garagemahal because he found the resturant table legs. I have this amazing buffet table because he picked this wood up out of the trash, and now I have a reading chair in my bedroom.
Of course she has a story. It involves a scary old house, a copperhead snake, and a cane.
My dad purchased some property a while back with a house on it that is literally falling down. I have been the recipient of this amazing window from there.
The house has not been lived in for 50 years. While looking around the house from the outside dad saw a chair that had been abandoned. He asked me if I wanted it. Heck yeah. I didn’t even have to ask any more. A chair that was junk 50 years ago and still is around today was at least worth looking at. My mom and dad climbed up in the old house to get the chair. Quite a feat since my dad had recently had back surgery and was on a cane. As they walked across the room of the house toward the chair a copperhead stuck its head up between the boards, according to my dad, my mom took off and left my dad to fend it off with his cane. We have a history with copperheads at our house
. My Hubby almost died from a bite at Star Hill a few years ago so we have great respect… and a score to settle.
- English: Copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen at Louisville Zoo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Dad made short order of the snake and managed to bring home the chair. The chair wasn’t much to look at. Okay, she was a total wreck. But I liked her low slung style. She is definitely from the 1940’s. The total opposite of the sleek modern style of the 50’s. Thick and chunky and close to the ground. She was broken on the back but nothing a little Gorilla glue and screws and Hubby couldn’t correct. This piece has really for real worm holes. You know how they try to replicate the tiny pin holes in furniture? This old lady got hers the hard way. My brother brought the chair to us and she looked even worse than I remembered. You could literally take pieces of it off with your hands because the pegs holding the chair together had shrunk to the point they weren’t holding. Hubby had to put it back together like a Tinker Toy set.
See the dots on the arm below? Those are the for real wood worm holes that people try to replicate.
I found a cushion that fit perfectly in Target’s patio clearance section. $7.00 for this all in. It was originally much more expensive. I have no idea why it was marked down so much. I love that. Perfect color for the room with the updated lamps, and my newly built bench. The cushion fit the chair upside down. The part that should be the back is the seat.
I am just going to stick in some pictures of the process here, but I am sure it would put you to sleep to see how many weeks this old girl was in the process of gluing, clamping drilling etc.
I stained the arms dark walnut and I painted the body of the chair Behr Powdered Snow with a brown glaze.
Didn’t she turn out pretty? I am going to love sitting in the chair by the window reading. It is a real curl up in chair.
WOW! What a transformation!
Thank you!