I love old.
I love furniture.
I love old furniture.
I love restoring old furniture with a new twist.
I love old interesting furniture that looks like it could speak, telling tales of days gone by, of time periods and peoples lives, the things it seen and heard, spilling the secrets it has quietly kept while sitting silently and stoically listening. While it may seem indifferent or unaffected by joy, grief, pleasure, or pain, it absorbs them. You can see it in the scar, scratch, or dent here. You can feel it in the well worn or sagging place there. You can view it through its aged bend, bow, chip, or crack. You can touch it whether rough, smooth, crackled, or tattered. You can sense its rich life and history by just being near it.
Everyday pieces are my favorites, not rich antiques from across the ocean, yes, I admit it, I am a commoner. The pieces that interest me are items the everyday working class man would have used in the past. I am not particular about period or style, a piece just has to speak to me. I have to sense its story. And if its story just happens to connect to mine then all the better.
The chairs in this post are just such chairs, we share a history. If these chairs could talk they would tell you a story of living in a tiny three roomed house with electricity, no running water, where the heat source was a pot belly stove in a tiny living room, all meals were prepared on a wood burning stove, and the wash was done outside over an open fire, line hung to dry. They would tell you of a happy family who never knew they were poor for there was always food on the table, clothing on the back, shelter over head, and lots of love and laughter.
They would tell you about joy, grief, pleasure, and pain. They would tell you about jolly holidays and everyday goings on. They would tell you about a little girl perching on them eating her jelly toast and fresh from the cow milk on warm summer mornings. They would tell you after dinner stories when bellies were full of fresh garden fare as the patriarch uncle would rare back in one of them and regale the table with wonderful tales that always ended in side splitting laughter. They would tell you womenfolk's secrets they heard whispered over steaming cups of coffee. They would tell you about the silence that suddenly surrounded them they day the family moved away from the old house and they were left behind.
They would tell you of their rescue in their rusty and rotting state, how they moved from the farm and the remains of the old house to rest in the loft of the barn of the little girl who sat on them and ate her jelly toast on warm summer mornings. They were resting after so many years of service, over twenty years they reposed and listened to the rustle of farm animals below, then to the sound of things being built when the barn was converted into a workshop. One day they saw the little girl all grown up clamber up the loft stairs and come in their direction. Each one was lovingly lifted down the stairs to be restored and given new life.
If these chairs could talk they would tell you how wonderful a good scrubbing felt after so many decades. They would tell you what the tickle of primer and paint feels like as it brushed their legs. They would tell you how solid and firm their new wood is. They would tell you what it is like to be padded in cushy foam and swaddled in batting. They would tell you it amuses them to now be clothed in vintage feed and flour sacks. They would tell you of moving back to the farm, not to their former residence for it has long ago perished, but to the newer farm house where new stories are bring absorbed and mingled with those of the past. They would tell you of a refurbished life where old is sacred and cherished.
I love old.
I love furniture.
I love old furniture.
I love restoring old furniture with a new twist.
And if its past and mine just happen to connect then all the better.
This week I am linking to Debra's Vintage Inspiration Friday.
I hope each of you have a wonderful weekend!
Blessings,
Sandy
P.S. I know some of you are wondering if I will ever get back into my studio and share some new art. The answer to that is YES I will! I have a few DIY projects I am juggling right now and I need to get those off my plate before I can play artist again. See you in the studio soon!
