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Rearrangement
We rearranged our living room recently, eliminating some excess furniture, and overall, we have more space. While we attempt to get used to the change, I am quite pleased because one of my favorite pieces of furniture is now the first thing you see when you walk in:
This rocking chair was a fortuitous and free find on Freecycle. I had been looking around for simple but cute rocking chairs, but found that the cheapest I could find was between 200 and 300 bucks. Serendipitously, one was offered for free on Freecycle in the same town in which I work, and so I quickly responded and picked up the chair later that day.
Have you ever done Freecycle? It’s a great system that operates over email. But it also has some strange aspects to it. Trusting people will offer something for free to be picked up at their house. They often arrange pickup of their offered item by saying that they’ll leave the item on their front porch, where you can claim it at any time. Some will even leave inside the house, with the expectation that you’ll just open the door, take it, and go on your way. Whether the item is left outside or inside, I feel oddly intrusive approaching some stranger’s house with the intention of walking away with something. I always feel like I’m stealing.
Anyway, I was thrilled to see the chair on this particular stranger’s porch just waiting for me! Even though it was dark and I could swear lots of people were probably eying me suspiciously, the rocking chair was stable and sturdy and had no loose parts. The only problem was that it was an awful red bronze color and was adorned with painted pineapples. Thankfully, some sandpaper, a paintbrush, and a small can of black paint later, the pineapples were vanquished, and it was much, much cuter.
To finish it off, and for an extra bit of comfort, I sewed these cute cushions for it with some fabric from my stash (ok, so one time a while ago I randomly bought, like, 7 yards of this fabric on sale, not quite realizing how much 7 yards actually was, and what on earth was I going to do with it? This took care of about 1.5 yards…)
The cushions even have cute ties to keep them settled on the right spots on the chair:
My other favorite thing about our new living room arrangement is the newly exposed large window that will now accommodate lots of plants. I’ve never had much of a way with plants. Most die within weeks of acquisition, but I think but I think one of my New Year’s resolutions is to Stop the Killing.
Not a bad start, eh?
Posted by robyn on January 22nd, 2008 under crafts2 Responses to “Rearrangement”
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I'm Robyn. Thanks for stopping by! This is my craft blog.
Contact me at robyn [at] dognamedbanjo [dot] com.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:06 am
I really like what you did with the chair. I wish I had a rocking chair, but I have no place to put it. And I have a feeling my boys might turn it into a jungle gym, LOL!
January 27th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Love the new look and can’t wait to see it in person! I have had little to no luck with freecycle, though … in my city, the good stuff that gets offered is lost among the totally undesirable stuff(broken toys, half used bath products …)