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HomeSafeHome:  Your Favorite Chair  |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 28 2005 : 4:00:28 PM
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Homesafehome may be about making your home safer, but it is also about enjoying the safety and coziness that only our homes can bring.
So when you all tell us about reading and having that cup of tea by the fire, I always want to picture you in a certain chair. Do you have one?
Mine is a club chair with an ottoman. So soft and near the fireplace. It is navy with a golden pattern in it. My second favorite is a black Windsor that I "pad" with a quilt hanging over it. It is straight and yet comfy for watching TV.
Tell us about yours!
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Jan 28 2005 : 4:40:36 PM
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My favorite is now MINE!! My mom had a chair with an ottoman, angular 50's style. When they were consolidating to move to their retirement home, she asked me if I wanted it. Of course! I have photos of myself standing next to the chair at age 2. It's now a teal green but I will eventually redo it. It's at our little trailer up in Wisconsin.
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 09:26:01 AM
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My favorite chair is a overstuffed chaise that I bought from my neighbors moving sale that belonged to his grandmother and had been recently reupholstered with a blue and white toile. His ex wife bought furniture like we buy groceries, and it was never even unwrapped after being delivered from the upholsterer! He told me he was glad it was going to someone who knew and appreciated old things.
I love this chair, it's curvy carved feet, it's deep comfy seat that I can put my feet up on and the plump padded back that you just sink into the right amount! It sits in front of a window on an angle and I have my Mom's wrought iron swing arm floor lamp( think vermont country store)as my light source. It is my sanctuary to read, hand stitch, write letters and just rest.
with a happy heart |
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terese
True Blue Farmgirl
63 Posts
terese
chagrinfalls
ohio
USA
63 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 11:20:34 AM
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My favorite chair is the hammock out back in the summer...i love to swing and read and rest on it.
It lies between to large maples and right along side my herb section of the garden. When I look up into the trees it takes me back to being a 10 year old girl. Not a concern in the world other then what shapes i see in the leaves.
A breath of fresh air.
beginnings |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 11:32:47 AM
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My favorite place to read is in the lawn swing out side as well. Nothing more relaxing that listening to the birds and bees while reading. Winter is another story. I have a very old rocking chair with wooden arms and an ottoman that belonged to Rodneys grandmother that I used for nursing all my children abd reading to them all of their lives. It currently needs a new spring so is in the recovery room of my shop waiting for me to recover enough to fix her. Currently my favorite place is sitting up in the bed with a nice hot cup of tea and listening to my husband read to me. We are currently reading "Ahabs Wife" It is a novel about the wife of Ahab the whaler in the Moby Dick novel. Really fascinating and beautifully written.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 3:28:51 PM
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Right now (winter) my favorite chair is a platform rocker I've had for 15 years; probably could use newer cushions but I recently added a back massager with rollers which run up and down your spine. I don't want to get up from it, ever! Warmer weather finds me in a wicker rocker in the sunroom, reading, relaxing, having a cup of tea in the early morning.
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 4:00:54 PM
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In the summer I would have to say it's a tie between my grandparents woven porch rockers on my front porch or the hammock strung between two sugar maples that provide such cool delicious shade on a hot summer's day. But definitely neither in January!
with a happy heart |
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terese
True Blue Farmgirl
63 Posts
terese
chagrinfalls
ohio
USA
63 Posts |
Posted - Jan 29 2005 : 5:10:52 PM
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What a wonderful idea to read with your husband...I think my husband and i could benefit from that...
thanks for the thought
another wonderful idea brought to you by the wonderful woman...at this site.
beginnings |
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terese
True Blue Farmgirl
63 Posts
terese
chagrinfalls
ohio
USA
63 Posts |
Posted - Jan 30 2005 : 08:32:12 AM
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It is a beutiful day in Ohio..35 degrees and sunshine ...it makes the heart ache for spring..and is making me feel alive again..
There is hope for a bright future....have a great day ladies.
beginnings |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Jan 30 2005 : 3:09:54 PM
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Sunny day for us as well, here in Illinois!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Feb 01 2005 : 08:32:50 AM
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I have several favorite chairs for reading. My spring,summer chair is a beat up, wobbly, old Anarondac with paint peeling and wood so rough I have to drape a towel on it. It leans back just right to gaze up at the sky and trees. The arms are wide enough for placing a glass of iced tea and a book. Wintertime is a second hand store 80's club chair upholstered in a gross mauve and green plaid, but oh so comfortable with a matching ottoman. I throw afhgans or old coverlets on it to hide the ugly plaid and wear. It is next to my bookcases and computer desk...my safe haven in the winter.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Feb 02 2005 : 11:56:03 AM
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| My favorite reading chair is an old canvas beach chair, low to the ground, that I place in the garden in the shade of my apple tree. I also made a little table of an overturned clay pot with the saucer on top. Just perfect for a glass of iced tea! The best part is that since it is low, I'm sitting below the "sight line" and neither the kids or my husband can see me just by looking! It's sort of my little version of a secret garden:)Oh,no! Now the secret is out... |
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marlyn
Farmgirl in Training
36 Posts
marlyn
Norwood
Ontario
Canada
36 Posts |
Posted - Feb 02 2005 : 3:28:47 PM
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My favourite (Canadians spell favorite different!) chair is a Mennonite wooden rocking chair. I have had it since I was 18 years old, and was given to me by my brothers along with a braided mat to sit the chair on. I read rocking, have nursed all my children in that chair and find it a gem to quilt in, by the cookstove in the winter.
Marlyn |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Feb 03 2005 : 05:19:53 AM
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Marlyn - How is your Mennonite rocking chair shaped? Is the back straight like a Shaker chair would be? Does it have a wide seat and deep? What color?
All of our favorite chairs are so different, but all sound so inviting as perfect places to read and quilt and hold babies. Love it!
We have my husband's grandmother's rocker. It has a slight Mission-style look to it, but a padded seat that I have had recovered. The wood on the arms is still the golden oak color while the rest of the rocker has darkened with the years. But where his grandma's arms rested, it kept the wood from getting the age patina. I love to look at it and picture her rocking there.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
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marlyn
Farmgirl in Training
36 Posts
marlyn
Norwood
Ontario
Canada
36 Posts |
Posted - Feb 03 2005 : 06:47:57 AM
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pjbluesky
My rocker in a large seat at the front and narrower near the back, with straight spindles at the back. I have arm rests but not at all fancy. The arm rest is very sturdy, and wider then most rockers. Its a real arm rest. Good for a baby head rest once the fall asleep in your arms. When they were babies I would rock them to sleep and still have myself all curled up on the large seat.
I just can't picture myself without that rocker. Its been a big part of my life.
Simply Marlyn
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Feb 04 2005 : 12:28:40 PM
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My favorite for the last few years has been a glider rocker with green cushions and the glider ottoman that goes with it. I did have a willow rocker years ago that was by alltime favorite. I put it out in the garden though, and after a few years of loving it outside the weather finally deteriorated it too much to sit it. When we moved here it just sort of fell apart. Bummer. I will get another some day I am sure. The mennonite rocker sounds wonderful too!!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2005 : 4:22:29 PM
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Thinking more on this subject (in my favorite chair, of course!), I thought back to two chairs my parents had when my brother & I were young (before #2 brother came along). They were huge overstuffed '50's style chairs, one blue, one sort of a cranberry color. Those chairs were everything to us, as we had few toys and no TV. We could put them together to make a railroad car, in which we traveled to wherever our imaginations took us. Tipped on the arms, they became a cave or tent in which we became pioneers out west. Side by side we were in a train or plane (though we never were in the real thing, so I don't know where we got the idea - books probably).
They were simply chairs to other people, but to us they became a means of escape and imagination.
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2005 : 5:57:49 PM
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I can relate to the chairs being an escape...As a kid mine was my parents huge old black painted wooden rocker. ( It probably wasn't that big...I was just small) It was my "spaceship". Don't ask me why, but I would imagine blasting off into space and traveling the galaxy in that rocker. I would rock so hard in it it would tip over at times. Ahhh childhood...
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Feb 06 2005 : 7:00:29 PM
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What great memories, girls!
I remember my mom's favorite chair. She had it positioned so I could see her through the crack in the door as I went to sleep. She always left a crack in my bedroom door. I could go to sleep knowing that mom was there in her chair and the world was right. I would sometimes sit on her lap in the afternoons, with my arm under her, and she would rock me. Even until I was eight! It brought me all the comfort and security a child could want. That chair had wooden arms, was a platform rocker, and was covered in many different fabrics through the years. She even took it to her room when she went into assisted living. Sadly, she became incontinent and it did not come away from the place where she spent her last years. But it certainly fulfilled it's role in our family.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
Edited by - jpbluesky on Feb 07 2005 04:51:18 AM |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Feb 07 2005 : 2:30:56 PM
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That is a beautiful memory JP...Do you think that sometimes objects like chairs or favorite coffee cups, or a well knitted sweater can take on a little of the personality of the person who uses them and loves them? It sounds like the chair you described that was your mother's favorite was special in that way.
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there." Rumi, 13th century. |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Feb 08 2005 : 12:02:02 AM
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Meadowlark, I do agree that loved pieces of furniture and clothing can be filled with personality. Sometimes in an antique shop certain pieces will have a feeling that seems to come from them. I recently bid on and won a little cane-seated sewing rocker at a silent auction in our church. It just spoke to me. I tracked down the person who donated it to the auction and learned it had come from an historic home here that is now a state-owned museum/reception house. It had belonged to the maiden aunt who was the last to live in the old southern home. Her great-nephew did not know what to do with it as he has lots of furniture that came from that home. I was so happy to know where the rocker had come from and pleased that it was historic. When you look at the rocker, it somehow lets you know it was loved. Now I need to have the back re-caned! :)
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Feb 16 2005 : 2:54:11 PM
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I found someone who will recane my antique sewing rocker but she charges $1.75 per hole to do it! I counted just the back of my rocker and it has 97 holes! So much for having the seat done too. (The seat is in good condition, but I want t hem both to match when it is done.)
I think I may try to teach myself how to do this. Has anyone on this site done recaning of old furniture? Do you know where to get supplies?
jpbluesky |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Feb 17 2005 : 2:05:37 PM
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Hi Jpbluesky, You can get recaning supplies on line through constantines.com. This is where I get all of my rush and cane for jobs here. $1.75 per hole is a fairly common charge. It is labor intensive but if you want to learn see if your library has the video on how to recane. My mother-in-law taught herself with a book and really enjoyed it. I charge $175.00 to re-rush a dining room chair if I do not have to do major repair on the chair itself, more if I have to fix the chair too. It takes about 8 to 10 hours to do it and you have to keep going until you are done once you start a project. You cannot let it dry out so that is why this is an expensive type of work. Caning is a little different but you still need to keep all the cane damp to work with and should not stop in the middle but not as hard to get going as rush work.It could become a very profitable hobby for you if you find it fun.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
Edited by - Eileen on Feb 17 2005 2:10:58 PM |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Feb 17 2005 : 2:24:57 PM
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Thanks, Eileen. Now I feel better about the price she was asking, knowing that it is labor intensive and must be kept damp, etc. Many arts and crafts are habitually under-rated. I have found that with my needlework designs, too.
I will visit the site you mentioned.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
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Eileen
True Blue Farmgirl
1199 Posts
Eileen
USA
1199 Posts |
Posted - Feb 17 2005 : 2:40:02 PM
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jpbluesky, I just logged on to that site and found that they have a chair recaning kit for $14.95 with instructions and a pattern. Just click on caning/upholstery and go to the handweave section. Might be just what you need as well as a little patience in learning this fine skill. We crafty people don't have too much trouble learning this type of thing I think.
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
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bramble
True Blue Farmgirl
2044 Posts
2044 Posts |
Posted - Feb 17 2005 : 5:28:44 PM
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Jeannie-- another good source for supplies is Connecticut Cane and Reed. They have all sorts of supplies that I have had a hard time finding elsewhere. They even had a good selection of the twisted braid alot of 1920's and 30's wicker furniture was made with. I am sure between the two sources you will find what you need. We have an old swivel business chair that has been missing it's seat for too long. This discussion might spur me to do something about it!
with a happy heart |
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HomeSafeHome: Your Favorite Chair |
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Your Favorite Chair
