Kind of a Spur of the Moment Project

I continue on my mission to slowly replace the crap in this house with decent things. It's slow going because I truly believe that things should be done right. Also because there is a LOT of crap.

Some of the crap came from my family (no offense to my family) but it's crap with good bones. It's mostly antique crap. It's crap that is in need of reupholstering or refinishing but it's good crap. A declining number of items are crap that even my possession-loving ex wouldn't bother to take, thrust upon us by his family. This is true crap. This crap basically consists of items they didn't want to pay to have hauled away and since I conveniently drove a truck and was married to a pack rat who would never turn down anything that was free they gave it to us. Slowly I have gotten rid of most of it. The only thing that remains now is the round butcher block kitchen table and the 2 chairs that went with it.

The problems with this table are 1) It was not finished correctly by his father and so needs major refinishing to be nice 2) It was not put together correctly with the stand by his father and so it wobbles and 3) 2 crappy 70's era chairs came with it - chairs that are far too low for the table so when you sit at them you feel like a small child with the surface of the table up under your chin. I despise this table and always have. And the chairs are part of the reason my old kitchen flooring became scratched and stained.

When I refinished my grandmother's kitchen table last summer/fall I moved the old table out to the front porch along with one of the chairs. The other chair I have been using as my desk chair. Now the carpet under it is messed up and stained.



Note the lovely chrome. Note the 70's caning for the back. At least the seat upholstery matches the crappy berber carpet!

I'm selling this crap at the next yard sale which I hope will be by Memorial Day but I want to sell it as a set so I knew I would need a replacement desk chair. Considering my desk is a true family antique that I refinished 20 years ago and my file cabinet was chosen to compliment the desk I wanted a chair that would be fitting to this admittedly hodgepodge group of furniture. I knew it needed to be wood. I knew I wanted arms. I knew I wanted rollers incorporated in a pseudo-antique look. I knew I could not afford a true antique so I started searching. I contacted the unfinished place where I got my file cabinet and inquired. The chair I was interested in was pretty expensive even unfinished and would take 4 to 5 weeks to come in. So I went on the internet and found unfinishedfurnitureshowcase.com. I found a similar chair for $40 less and it would be delivered within 5 days.

Today it came. In a box. Looking like this:



Well crap. Another thing to put together and then finish. Guess that's where the $40 and 4-5 week difference comes in. Still, I am happy with the quality of the PIECES and figure I can get this done no problem.

Here's how it will look when it's together and finished:



Final observation. I am not a shoe snob. God knows I wear my shoes until they are so pitiful I have to throw them away in embarrassment. I have only rarely bought shoes that weren't on major sale. But I try to always buy quality shoes. A quality shoe, if cared for, can be worn for several years. I could be blindfolded and led into a Payless and I would know I was in the wrong place by the smell. Cheap shoes smell cheap. I would rather buy a good pair of shoes and pay for it and wear them for 7 years than buy a cheap pair and get a season out of it. Same for furniture. I stop into furniture places every now and then just to look around and get an idea and I can tell by the smell whether it's good furniture. Cheap furniture smells cheap and will only last a season.

Thank goodness this chair smells good.