Chairs...part 1

Alright.

I've been on a mission.

A divine mission to acquire seating.

Chairs.

Beautiful, delicious, yet impossibly inexpensive chairs.

My task was herculean: get my hands on a set of dining room chairs to go with the new diningroom table (a landlord's garage acquisition!), and find two living room chairs to replace the aging mid-century modern chairs in the living room.

Orange chair depicted left

Let us pause a moment and honor those incomparable orange masterpieces.  They were quite literally the first thing the husband and I owned as a married couple.  In fact, they were purchased as a surprise gift for me while I was touring the country--before we were wed; merely betrothed.

I saw them and fell instantly in love with the pair of them at our local salvation army.  There they were in all their kitschy glory: bordering on godawful, in decent shape for something older than me, and at a deliciously low price.  I know I salivated.  I may have wept a bit. 

But buy two enormous retro arm-chairs when my living arrangements included a curfew? 

So i went to tour and thought nothing of them again.  Upon returning I discovered my husband-to-be had returned to Sally's (as she's known colloquially) and purchased the pair of them "for when we finally move in together".

So.  Five years later, and it pains me to talk about it, but the time had come to retire the velvet lovelies.  They were becoming worn--one was breaking--they couldn't keep up with our evolving aesthetic--they needed to be replaced.

With a heavy heart we cannibalized the swivel chair-- being theatre folk we cannot bear to toss out any piece of hardware that may be useful, and try to tell me that a swivel-chair apparatus won't come in handy sooner or later!  And it's solemn sister, the better-preserved of the two, was put on the side of our well-traveled road for tacit adoption.

Orange chair depicted right

I must've run more than a dozen times to the window to gaze out with nostalgic sentimentality--personifying the chair to the degree that I was actually worried about her out there, distressed that she might be feeling abandoned and unwanted.

But she WAS wanted!  Someone snapped that old dame up! it happened whilst I was at work.  My only hope is that she's gone to a loving family who will appreciate her retro charm!

Ok.

So then we had a chairless living room!

SERENDIPITY!
My first chair came in much the way my last one left us!  on my route to work someone was giving up a fantastically golden-chartreuse mid-century arm chair!  I didn't bite right away.  It took some mulling on my behalf, but ultimately I decided to adopt this darling accent chair. 

Hard to believe someone was getting rid of this for FREE!

And believe it or not-lol- nobody else had taken this bizarrely hued sweetheart!It is in near pristine condition, and is an Ethan Allen chair, so that bodes well (solid construction).  We altered it slightly--removing the oh-so-dated skirt to bring it into this century.  I febreezed it, vacuumed it, and sprayed it with this fabulous "No-Scratch" stuff that discourages cats from making furniture their personal scratching-post, and Voila!  One new chair.

The color is more...um...something in real life.

The Chartreuse is such an interesting accent in the apartment.  It feels more grown up than the orange ones, yet still just off-beat enough for us.

Now, for the next chair I really wanted a club chair or a slipper chair.  They come in so many great patterns and shapes!  I fell in love with at least a dozen possibilities.  I love chairs.  One of my favorite books (and I have a ridiculous amount of books) is this coffee table book called 1,000 Chairs.

Chair Bible

I sigh over chairs, I drool over chairs, I dream about them and want a million.

But have you seen the fucking price of goddamn chairs ever?

Holy Good God!

For a girl on a budget of slim-to-none, it is a far cry from FREE to over a hundred!  And all the really GOOD chairs, the ones that looked like they wouldn't go all goldilocks beneath the weight of a person of average-to more-than-average girth, those chairs are starting at 250--easy.

And did you want some style?  some panache?  some 'wow' factor?  Fucking forget it.

And so we did forget it.  Put it out of our minds.

And on a whim visited a new 'antique' store-- though I find it strange to call a store that sells things from the 70's an 'antique' store.  It is called The Eclectic Collection (no fucking website... rt 18 in abington) and boy was it ever!  It ranged from traditional antiques (great-grandma type of stuff), to art-neaveau, to art deco, to 50's diner charm, to 60 mod, mid-century moder, then to the 70's the 80's and even some new stuff made by artisans and craftspeople who are up-cycling old crap into stuff that looks half-way decent!

And there.  In a corner.  Inconspicuous.  Almost forgotten.  Sat love-at-first-sight.



I had one of those moments that hurts--those moments where you're spinning deep into love with an object and simultaneously reminding yourself that anything worth having in a store like this will cost more than you could dream of paying.  That clenching in your chest--knowing that NO ONE  could possibly love this secon-hand item more, appreciate it better than you, but that yoou will have to turn your back on it because you simply cannot afford to go spending that kind of...

wait.  What?  Is this a joke?  Is there something I'm not seeing?  No.  What's wrong with it?  Pull it away from the wall and check for some huge gash or something.  no...
What the fuck?  This must be mis-labeled.

A gorgeous, and I mean mouth-wateringly gorgeous deep-red leather armchair and matching ottoman.  for a measley, conceivably affordable (if we forgo groceries) $75.00.

Holy good lord.  I swear I made Aaron stay by it while I went to check that they hadn't had a stroke or other such mental lapse while tagging it. 

This oxblood beauty isn't just comfortable, she seems to embrace you when you sit--to hug you warmly as you sink into her.  She is like home.  And talk about good-looking!  PERFECTION!  All she needs is a cleaning. 

And I've always believed that a home should contain a good, solid leather chair.  Being a vegetarian, however, I've known that any such purchase could ONLY come as a second-hand item because I refuse to support the leather industry.  (I wish they could make a decent leather substitue, and for wallets and purses they are ok, but shoes? forget it.  And I don't even know why anytone bothers with furniture.  Sigh.  nothing wears and ages like leather.)

Aaron and I snapped her up.  We didn't have room in our car to take her home that day as we'd just purchased an incredible barstool (more later) and an amazing standing sewing machine at a yardsale.  So our gratification was of the delayed sort.

Oxblood makes her sound so... sophisticated!

And this gorgeous lady needed quite a rub down--and her odor is still a bit...musty? She smells like she's live with old folks for a long time.  But that'll disperse. 

She's gorgeous.

And the two of them flanking the entertainment center are perfection. 

And sooo comfortable as a gaming chair!

yellow(ish) and Red, and homage to our first furniture. 

More on the exciting world of second-hand furniture aquisition next time! I have to go watch...er, READ The Outsiders...


TEASER...