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Amusements Home ~ Pottery
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at Queen's
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Ultra Posh Office Mate
By definition a
hand-me-down is an undesirable. Someone doesnt want it and since there are
starving people in Africa and Los Angeles the owner is loathe to throw it
away. Instead, the owner passes it on to someone who doesnt have the
luxury of choosing something he or she desires.
So how do you turn
something undesirable (see Fig 1.) into a desirable? You ask your mom!
The office chair in this project originally belonged to my
mother's company. They were giving away old office furniture so
she took it home for my brother and I to use at the computer. (See
the filing cabinet in the background? That was a give-away too.
There's nothing a can of silver automotive spray paint cant do!)
The chair is soft and pretty comfy, adjustable, and in good
condition. The only real problem is that it's ugly. |
Fig. 1: Before
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When I moved to Cleveland my mother suggested that I take the chair,
thus making it a hand-me-down to the second degree. (Oh, what an unloved
little chair...) Now, being a bit of a snob when it comes to home
furnishings, I was hesitant to accept the gracious offer. However, in a
moment of pure inspiration which reminded me just how alike my mother and
I think, she suggested that I could easily slipcover the chair. It would
be snap. It's not like it's a sofa or anything. It's just a simple chair.
"Ooooh," I
said. "Purple velvet!"
And then I remembered
where the like-mother-like-daughter line is drawn. She wasnt as
enthusiastic about my vision of regal slipcovering as I was, but in the
end she came around. So much so that she ended up doing most of the hard
work on this one. She's a much better sewer than I am (although, now that I
have made friends with my sewing machine Ive improved some. Did you know
you can buy old sewing machine manuals at http://www.sewingmanuals.com?) I bought the
fabric and after many months of pestering, my mom whipped up a simple yet
highly effective slipcover. Finally, we had banished the beige. But
my crazy vision didnt end there. It needed MORE!
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I wanted to cover as much
of the ugly chair as possible, but I wanted to do it with fringe. Long,
gold fringe. It took me a while to find fringe that didnt look cheap and
tawdry (some would argue that I never did find it) and
was the right length, but in the end my patience prevailed. In fact, from
the project's initial conception to the final trimming it took the better
part of two years to complete.
It's entirely
possible that I have gone completely off the deep end with this little
project, but do you see me calling for help from mom? I dont think
so. And you gotta admit, it's pretty wild. I believe the correct
term for such a freakish bit of decorating is "conversation
piece". Once undesired by many, it is now very much desired by at
least one person: me.
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Fig. 2: After
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