Too Many Chairs

I had a conversation at work today with my boss where I eventually ended up uttering the comment: "I need more chairs like I need a hole in the head".

This prompted me to actually go through the house tonight and COUNT all the chairs.

Apparently I have 38 chairs.

38 chairs is TOO MANY CHAIRS. I mean, seriously, that's insane. Now I should mention that I counted everything that could be considered as a chair. What I mean by this is that I included "chairs that can't currently be used", like antique chair frames that need upholstery, and broken chairs that need repairs or refinishing. I also counted junk pieces like the busted-up chair I keep in the garage just out of convenience (it's covered in paint and the original seat was changed to a piece of painted plywood long ago), and other oddballs like my computer chair, a small bench, as well as chairs like the fancy wing chair in the living room, and the deteriorating "papasan chair" in my front porch (which I want to get rid of).

Refurbished wing chair (free - found at the road, but I redid all the legs and changed the shape of the back):


Lovely antique straw and kapok stuffed chair found at the road:


Out of the "incomplete" ones, I was donated 3 chair frames. One is a completely disassembled Victorian chair in a box (it needs repairs, refinishing, gluing together, and complete upholstery), and a pair of beautiful inlaid French or English tub chairs (just the bare frames, these will be GORGEOUS but need a bunch of work, too). I need to take a photo of those chair frames. I also have a fairly plain bare frame with springs from a roadside find that I picked up probably over a decade ago.

Plain bare chair frame (roadside find) with a solid elm frame (an old photo from back at the apartment):


Then there are the full set of chairs for the dining room (8 of them), and the chair and bench that go with my walnut bedroom set. Aside from these, all the rest are random finds. Some were bought from yard sales, one came from an auction, and several others were free or nearly free. Pretty much all of them are antique, or at least 60 years old.

Dining room chair set (mahogany):


Gibbard furniture set which has one chair and a matching bench (shown in the next photo):


Old (vintage?) chair with fancy arms and turned legs (yard sale find):


I do have at least a dozen that I want to get rid of. Obviously the majority of these are piled in the basement right now, so they aren't being used in any way.

So yeah, it's not like I'm hoarding chairs or anything (not purposefully anyway!), but I definitely have WAY TOO MANY.

New (Old) Sofa!

I scored a pretty nice old sofa this week. I saw it on Kijiji (our Craigslist) late last week, and I debated whether or not I should go have a look at it. Based on the photo, my boss said it didn't look too promising. I ended up going to see it on Sunday, and it was just what I wanted:

- Good solid frame
- Springs (Coils rather than no-sag/zig-zag)*
- Nice Size

* The way to tell if a sofa or chair has coil springs is simply to feel the bottom (underside). If it's hard/stiff (rather than just a loose dust cover) then it's webbing and coils.

I made arrangements with the lady to pick it up on Monday evening. I went after work with my mom to get it. It was only 30$, and I think it was money well-spent.

The fabric that's currently on it is very good quality (and matches the living room colour scheme), but I'll probably be redoing it (in the next year).

The frame is loose (you can pick it up and twist the sofa), and the legs have been sanded down to bare wood. There's also some bumpiness to the springs/seat, so it will definitely need work. In the meantime, it's perfectly usable, and I love it! I plan to add 2 throw pillows to it.





The legs were originally a dark brown mahogany colour, and will eventually be redone in that colour.

The best part is that I can now finally get rid of these two "temporary" sofa chairs that I've had for over a decade*. They were comfy, and I had planned to reupholster them, but the foam in them needs replacing, and the frames aren't that great, plus I really don't like them that much, so it's finally time to say goodbye. They're currently at the road for tomorrow morning's pickup.





* I honestly can't remember how long I've had them, but I've had them since at least 1998.