Monday 27 April 2009

On how I spent my last vacation and weekend

Before I was born, my father made a couple of living room chairs. They consisted of four main pieces of plywood, two additional pieces of wood, plus padding and cloth. They were very much 1960's inspired pieces of furniture, down to the colour scheme which was dominated by bright red and blue. Over the years, they were pushed aside by more formal pieces of living room furniture. As I had a soft spot for them, I latched on to one of them, eventually taking it to Montreal with me. However, the years and users had not been particularly kind to it. The upholstery was grungy and the paint chipped. After much delay, I finally got around to restoring the chair.

I began by finding a reasonable material, which was dominated by a dull red and a yellow-gold colour. Using the material, I selected a yellow ochre coloured paint that went with the material, my walls in Montreal, and my understanding of the function of the chair. You see, I have long seen the chair as a particularly inviting one. And not just for one. In my mind, I see it inviting more than one person at a time. I can just see one adult with a child or two sitting in it snuggling, or reading, etc. In the process of deciding the colour scheme of the chair, I began to appreciate the colour scheme that my father had chosen all those years ago as it was evidently calculated to make the chair appear warm and inviting. I can only hope that my scheme will work equally well.

During my week off in early April, I painted it with my father's advice. Last weekend, yesterday in fact, my father and I finished it. Feeling rather smug, I insisted that it be put in the living room for the time being, if for no other reason than I can show it off during the family reunion/collective April birthday party that will be taking place next weekend. (For some reason, there is a significant number of family members whose birthdays are in April. As my family is a large one, this is used as an excuse for an annual party.)
Here are two members of my family born in April, one of which is sitting in the chair in question. Unfortunately, the photograph doesn't show off the colour scheme very well, especially the paint colour.
This photo is a bit better at showing the chair, however Adèle Désirée's face is blurry. Ideally speaking, my niece should be on my dad's lap!!! That is the function of the chair!!! ;-)

I like to joke that I have restored an Elizabethan chair. After all, it was made during the reign of Queen Elisabeth.

1 comment:

Margo and Chris said...

I have a very sweet vintage photo of two little boys, Stephen and Philip (this latter in one-piece fuzzy pajamas)reading a book together in that chair. A very fine chair!

Margo