What is it about chairs at the side of the road that stops me in my tracks?  I had something completely different to post about today and then I saw the four perfectly good, albeit old, chairs outside the dumpster. A little sanding and paint, new fabric on the cushions, remove the caning and replace it with the same fabric as the new seats…I’M OUT OF ROOM IN MY HOUSE or I would rescue them.  It must be something about bulk trash days that brings all the chairs to the curb as I’m driving by from wherever.  These old chairs are right outside my window.  Aggghhh

I didn’t even know I had a fascination with chairs until Sandra pointed out that nearly every framed photo in my home has a chair in it.  And here I thought I was fascinated with gardens and porches….apparently I was in denial.

The more I think about it the more it rings true.  When I left Oak Tree Road to come to Stowe Lane I brought very little with me.  My spoons, of course, my clothes, some kitchen stuff, some other stuff, my Grandmother’s metal top kitchen table and the following: fabulous blue slipper chair, two folding mahogany chairs that belonged to Grandmamma, a wingback in a subtle oriental floral, my father’s wingback, a 1929 rattan for the porch, two rattan arm chairs from the set left behind on Oak Tree Rd, the reproduction swivel desk chair for my office, hhmmmmm.  Oh yeah and the Adirondack chair I rescued from the dumpster by hauling it in the back of a 750LI.

Ok I love chairs.  Maybe it has to do with a funny saying my mother had when we were kids and only half sitting on the kitchen chair at dinner, “Sit right, the rent’s paid.”  Meaning you didn’t have to high tail it for the door if the landlord came knocking.  Maybe I find it comforting, maybe it’s the style, maybe it’s the design, maybe it’s that its individual meant just for your butt.  Who knows?

I put on an all-out search for two additional dining room chairs to complement my four existing chairs.  Notice I didn’t say match the other chairs, I’m not a matchy matchy kind of girl.  But complement it must.  Lend itself to that collected over time, I’ve got a story to tell, I’ve been here for years vibe of my home it must.

I’ll always take note of an interesting chair, can’t pass it up.  I have a Pinterest board called Something about Chairs.  As do many other people on Pinterest, I’m finding out.  The names vary from “For the Love of Chairs” to “Chair Fetish” (also a group on Flickr), “Chairs, Chairs, Chairs”, “Unique Chairs”… you get the picture.  Point is I’m not alone.

So what’s the attraction for all these people? Unframed is a blog of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art intended to create a conversation about the art and artists of LACMA, Los Angeles, and Southern California.  They recently had a blog post entitled, wait for it, “What is it about Chairs?”  I kid you not.  They asked John Kapel why chairs have such allure. “He gave a thoroughly compelling explanation of why chairs are particularly expressive opportunities for a designer.  According to Kapel, a chair is a showpiece, one that is often positioned in a living room such that it can be appreciated from many different angles – unlike, say, a sofa, which typically sits against a wall. He also explained the complex geometry of a chair, its assortment of lines and angles that invite design innovation. And he made the point that, unlike, say, a table, a chair cradles the human body, and reflects our physicality.”  See…it does come down to “sit right, the rent’s paid”.  To read the entire post, http://lacma.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/what-is-it-about-chairs , it has even more interesting chair masters works and conversation.

To me I think there’s always a story.  An object being kicked to the curb when it still has use bothers me. If something belonged to someone special and you can picture them in it or you can feel their energy when you sit in it that becomes amazing to me.  When you can be enveloped in comfort and wonderful fabric then it’s the tactile nature of it that I love.

Then there are all the chair idioms, grab a chair, pull up a chair, nearly fell off my chair, play first chair, play musical chairs, keep you on the edge of your seat, there’s never a bad thing said about chairs. To sum it up there is a magnet on my microwave from Curly Girl Designs (www.curlygirldesigns.com):  A good cook knows it’s not what is on the table that counts but what is in the chairs.  That’s where I live, mismatched chairs and all. I know like I know I just love chairs.

ps. It’s not just me…Nicole found one she loved too.  It resides in her office, just sayin.

I never thought about chairs before – why would I?

Let me just say that everyone believes they look good driving a convertible.  Let me go one step further in saying that everyone is completely transformed as soon as they get in the driver’s seat of a convertible such is the anticipation of putting the top down, and feeling the sun on your shoulders, smelling the world around you and then…feeling the wind in your hair.

By what unfolding of the universe I wound up with this beautiful and amazing car I don’t know but suffice to say I am enjoying the hell out of it…and yeah I look damn good driving it.  Enough said.

I don’t want to own anything until I know I’ve found the place where me and things belong together. I’m not quite sure where that is just yet. But I know what it’s like…. It’s like Tiffany’s….Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

I think I’ve found the place.  Me and my things do belong together because almost all of them have come from someone, or someplace or some something with a story.  Walk around my home and there is the gift of art from MJ, there is the pottery from Chatham Pottery, the photographs from several different artists, including me.  There is pre-war Noritake that I use every day from Grandmamma, there is crystal from my sister, and there are books from everyone.  There is my Grandmother’s kitchen table that serves in my office as my inspiration of all things family.

And there are the spoons.  Hundreds of them from all over the world, all over the United States and literally from almost everyone I know.  Each displayed with care in the most beautiful cabinets and lining my dining room.  My collection was started by our dear friend Jeanette over thirty years ago.  She has a cabinet all her own that contains spoons from her mother’s house in Danbury CT.  They are antiques, they are chachkias, they are very expensive and some cost a mere fifty cents at an estate sale.  Each of them has an amazing story and each of them is quite unique.

Most recent addition is from my friend Justin.  It is a wind chime made with antique spoons and forks by his father.  As I understand it his father made them for members of the family and gave them sparingly.  How wonderful that I have this precious gift.  I’m sure I couldn’t have expressed my gratitude and joy to have this addition to my collection sufficiently to Justin, I was that blown away by the thoughtfulness and perfection of it.   The thing that prompted Justin to gift this to me was the Mother’s Daughter Lunch picture taken in my dining room.  I just love that.  If I didn’t say it with enough conviction before, thank you my friend for this wonderful gift from your family.  You can’t know how happy that makes me.

Having dinner with these two is always a treat for me; they make me believe I might just have a bit of cool left in me.  We worked together several years ago and developed a mutual admiration, love, and appreciation for one another that just stuck.  I love that.

These two men are so supportive and encouraging to me, and of me, and my little project that I can’t even express how grateful I am.  And I can’t wait to hear their latest adventure and adrenaline fix.  There’s always something they are shooting, driving, riding, traveling to, coming back from or getting ready to go on.

This dinner is a farewell of sorts for Justin who is starting a new adventure, a new job, in a new state.  And I thought I knew how to do over.  Through whatever circumstances, this opportunity presented itself and he has grabbed it with both hands.  Love that too.  But…

The more we all talked the more he’s realized that this is a BIG move and with that comes what he was calling pressure, we changed that to motivation, with that comes the realization that you have only you to rely on for your happiness, your success or failure, your inspiration for all things great and small, your connections both old and new.  There would be the learning to love your own company for a pretty good amount of time until those connections get made and then reestablishing yourself as friend or acquaintance or associate or colleague. The unknown just reeks of resourcefulness and Justin is well versed in that particular area.

These two have been fast friends from the moment they met; they have traveled many miles together and will absolutely learn to move this friendship into accommodation mode until things are more established.  For now Matt is challenging his friend to think the deeper thoughts necessary for him to succeed/survive and chiding him as only a good friend/big brother can do.  They are both working on this together, though I’m not sure they realize it yet.

I know like I know this will create the growth Justin needs to move closer to the man he envisions himself to be.  I know what kind of man he is, he just has to figure it out for himself.  I’m at the ready for anything either of them need whenever they might need it, such is the love I have for these two.  I must admit I probably won’t feel the impact as much because I only get to see them a few times a year but I’m pretty sure we’ll be firing the emails back and forth with whatever advice (or teasing) might be needed.  They will remain, as they always do, on my mind, in my heart and loved. I continue to remain open to whatever life lessons they can teach me.