RE-Furnished

MY CHAIR

This was MY chair.

Ever since architecture school I wanted an Eames Chair, but they were too expensive. I got a good job after the Navy and we shopped for an Eames Chair, but of course, the price had gone up, still out of our reach. As my salary went up so did the chair, always just beyond our means.

When we were moving to San Francisco in the summer of 1992 — after I had moved but before Carol came with the bulk of our furniture — Carol found a used Eames Chair at a classic furniture dealer in Boston. We bought it.

Just after the turn of this century, it broke. You see, the back is attached to the seat at the arm; that connection gave way. See those two bolts just below the arm? That’s how it was fixed, but by 2003 it broke again. Irreparable.

Just before Christmas of ’03 we went shopping and settled on a leather club chair as a replacement.

I didn”t really consider this MY chair, but I usually sat in it, leaving Carol to the couch or the loveseat.

CAROL”S CHAIR
Time passed and we got our “Cambridge Loveseat” recovered. Then Carol mentioned that she wanted her own chair. It was more like a mumble than a demand, but I noticed that often when I walked into the room, she would be in the club chair. I didn”t mind the couch, but I like the chair better. I sensed a “chair war” could emerge.

So I started scanning Craig’s list for an “armchair.” Periodically I would show her a chair from Craig’s List. She guided me by saying she didn”t want leather. Fair enough. I found a wing chair that she said she liked, but she was late to commit and by the time I called for an appointment to see it, it was gone. That’s the way it is with Craig’s list.

After we got back from Europe, I found another interesting listing, a pair of hound’s-tooth chairs that had furnished a model home, for sale individually or as a pair. It happened during the Thanksgiving break, when Carol’s school was closed for a week. I showed her the chair on Craig’s list. She liked. I called.

“We can see it in Union City between noon and five. Let’s go.”

“We can go tomorrow.”

“No, now, or it”ll be gone.”

We went. The price was so right, we bought the pair.

So now the loveseat is on Craig’s list for sale. The coffee table sold in an hour.

REFRIGERATOR
About the same time, we began to find puddles on our refrigerator shelves and in the crisper drawers. The refrigerator was about 5 years old and I always hated it. It was a crappy refrigerator, the cheapest our landlord, John, could find when the original one died.

I went shopping for refrigerators on the Internet and in stores. I wanted the freezer in the bottom and it had to be less than 66 inches high and 30 to 32 inches wide. Not an easy task. I found a Maytag at Best Buy.

When John came down, we explained the problem, but before he could utter the repair word, I said, “Look, this is a crappy refrigerator. We”ve been here 15 years and deserve a good refrigerator. You don”t have to do anything, I”ll buy the refrigerator, get rid of this one and simply deduct it from the rent.” I showed him the refrigerator specs from Best Buy.

John was not surprised. He said, “OK, but I”ll give you a check, I don”t want to mess with the rent.”

The crappy old and the spacious new.

Betty Furness presents the cleaned out old.

Coming in (The guys couldn”t park their truck on the hill).

 

The new and the old. Doors had to come off to fit through the kitchen doorway. They even had to take down the kitchen door.

 

Up it goes.

 

Awesomely spacious!

BOOKSHELVES
We decided to leave the kitchen door off, we never closed it and the space behind the door gave us a new wall in the dining room. What better way to use it than a tower bookcase? I had been admiring these on the DWR website for a long time, but they were soooooooo expensive. Carol found a knock-off for half the price.

Excellent!

Good things come in threes.