A Chair for Me

So after thinking about this idea many times over the years, I'm actually doing it.

What started as a reoccurrence of an old idea bouncing around in my head...took root and started to grow.

Let me tell you a little more...

I've been interested in upholstering old furniture to make it usable again, new again.  But the details always got in the way.  I had inherited an old antique rocker of my grandfathers several years ago that was in crazy bad shape when you considered the fabric and cushion, but was in crazy good shape when you looked at the beautiful wooden frame.  I wanted to refurbish this and checked out some books at the library...and reflectively considered the chair.  Read through a few of the books....reflectively considered the chair, again.  And thought about tearing that chair apart and building it up from scratch...and started looking up upholsterers in the phone book.

It was too much responsibility.  I mean this was my grandfather's chair!!  If it was to be ruined, I didn't want to be the one to ruin it!  I wanted it to be a piece of furniture I could sit in and enjoy once more.  So I paid for it to be done and it turned out beautifully.  I don't regret that choice.

I've had other moments when I've wanted to try my hand at this, but that takes space and time...lots of time, if I read the books correctly.

So as this idea surfaced once more, a few things had changed.

Primarily, I have gobs of time.  That reason just got knocked out of the excuse ballpark!  I officially received my visitors status last week since my total stay is extending over the generic 6 month time frame.  So I'm here as a visitor until we hear something back from the permanent resident application.  But being a visitor doesn't really change anything.  It doesn't permit me to obtain employment, or travel back and forth across the border.

And as I considered the future, I realized I wanted to have more of a purpose over the next months.  The winter was fine,  I got in a lot of reading, housecleaning, grocery shopping, and cooking but I wanted to think about the upcoming months in a different way.  And as this idea of refinishing furniture came up, there was something else different:  My own personal cheerleader.

As Nate heard me thinking out loud, his response was: "I think that's a great idea!"  And got behind me all the way.

So after looking at a few Kijiji ads (Canada's version of Craigslist)  in the area, I found this:

and I thought, "Perfect."

This chair has become my learning project.  It's now been stripped down to the frame, and upon finding loose joints, disassembled completely.  My next step is to re-glue and strengthen the structure before embarking on the rest of the journey of putting it back together.

Will this pilot project be a success?

I don't know.

But I believe it will satisfy my need to pursue an untapped interest.
And if it becomes a completed piece I'll show you how it turns out.