Old Green

I got a new chair. That's big for me - change is hard. If you've been to our house both before our move to West Des Moines and after, then you've seen me sitting in my chair - Old Green. It wasn't always old, but earned the moniker because we purchased it many years ago from Coen's Furniture, Creston's wonderful local store - owned by a great family.

I've never been a recliner fan. That probably comes from my incompetence in working the mechanisms to make recliners comfy. Mom always had a chair with an ottoman in their second Atlantic home, a nifty condo on the Back 9 at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. That chair was so comfortable through the years it influenced my chair choice. Mom lives on through me in picture placement (don't hang them high and be eclectic) and furniture.

Because Paul and I lived close to Atlantic and because we weren't rolling in $$, we were fortunate (or cursed) to be the furniture hand-down recipients. Early in our marriage, sadly, my Atlantic grandparents passed away. They had just outfitted an apartment at Heritage House, an Atlantic retirement home, with furniture from their condominium (my grandpa, Bubba never mastered the pronunciation of that word, "condoninium?")

Thanks to proximity and my grandparents, Paul and I received a colonial-style plaid couch with blue tones (my grandmother, Momo, and I share a love of blue), and several Ethan Allen pieces including a dining room table with chairs, and the cabinets that we still have today. We sold the table/chairs with our Creston home. The couch - a heavy fold-out wore out long ago. Sorry to our buddies that helped carry it into and out of our basement on Port Road. That was a labor of like and pizza payment! 

Dad's chair looked like this when we got it. We recovered in a darker red stripe

As I mentioned, Creston has a great family-owned furniture store that we were happy to support. They always had plenty of stock to pick from and competed with the big city stores on price. After we moved to our second Creston home, the time came to replace Dad's old chair (yes we got hand-me-downs from my parents too). I'd had it re-upholstered once, but the springs were poking - the cushions were finally shot after 50 years of use.

Old Green was wide enough for both pets

That's when I picked out my green chair with a matching ottoman. That chair hugged me through many highs and lows in my life:

• When I took on increased job responsibilities as the landfill director in Union County, that led to some insomnia. Middle of the night chair sitting was required. 
• I created Amy and Jud graduation slide shows sitting in the chair, occasionally shedding sentimental Mom tears carefully selecting photos and music. 
• The chair soaked up many grief tears especially when Dad died - leaving me parentless. Hard even at age 50. 
• Countless hours of watching TV, movies, funny, sad, educational, scary....transitioning from watching kid shows to binge-watching things like Entourage with our kids - to today's Netflix  
• Genealogy work - tracing my roots online never leaving my living room
• Real work as I was fortunate to be allowed to telecommute nearly every Friday during the eleven years I worked for DNR, even after we moved to West Des Moines from Creston eight years ago. 
• The chair was a comfort during illness - migraines, shoulder, issues, and more. When I couldn't get comfortable in bed it was a comfy alternative.
• The pets loved the chair too. Odie and Kitty (real name Samantha) would lay across the back or on/by my lap. They loved it too. So much the Odie dug and snagged the cushions for that "lived in" look. 
• I could go on but you get the idea. I'm willing to bet you have a piece of furniture you connect with like that too. 

So why replace it? We are updating our living space and it was "one of these things is not like the others". My new chair is lovely and well made. It doesn't yet fit me like a glove and we haven't bonded. Perhaps that's for the good because I really don't need to spend my days and nights in a chair! These days I stand up at our kitchen bar and sit there for some of my work. In nice weather, I can even be found under an umbrella at our deck table. 

I hope you have someplace comfy to settle in/on at your place. Especially in these unsettled times, we all need some comfort. 

 

New chair has no name yet. A little stiff - needs to warm up to my buns...

I hope Old Green goes to a good home who will enjoy her comfort as I did. Not college dudes! haha.