I took apart two chair seats Wednesday.  They were my grandmother’s cherry dining room chairs;  I had recovered them about 10 years ago by stapling fabric over what was already there.

Then I had my “shabby chic” secondhand-furniture nervous breakdown and painted everything white.  But even then, in the midst of insanity, I was not stupid enough to paint cherry chairs.  A friend needed a new home for four wicker chairs, so I painted them white and recovered the cushions, which I would do several times over the years.

This is not a very interesting post.  I’m sorry.

That same year I bought a great big mahogany table that had seen better days, but was sturdy and had two leaves.  I painted it white.

Now that we have the enormous, new, brown sectional, the old white stuff really stands out.  Sigh.  How was I going to tone it down a bit?  So I took two of Grandma’s chairs out of storage (over my mother’s garage) and cleaned them up.  Then I took apart the chair seats so I could see what I was dealing with.

Oh, my goodness.  I’m dealing with a lot.  Five layers of fabric.  Lots of little rusty nails.  Lots of big rusty staples.  Cracked, ancient plywood.  But do-able, if I convince my husband to make new plywood seats.

BIG IF.

Last night Banjo Man hauled his leather what-he-sits-in-when-he’s-playing-chess-once-a-year chairs upstairs from the cave and they looked wonderful.  He was thrilled I liked his decorating idea (he didn’t know I’d been trying to figure out how to steal them for the dining area).  I’m not sure they’re going to be great dining room chairs, though, because they are a bit low (makes it easier to put my face in the food, but not a pretty sight) and will definitely need cushions.  And that’s another project I don’t have time for right now.  I have a book to write!  And decorating makes me slightly (?) insane and compulsive and obssessed and hyper and depressed.

Tuesday I thought about stripping the dining room table.  Oh, my goodness.  I might be too old for stripping.  When I was sixteen I refinished an oak cupboard and loved every minute of it, but…I’m not sixteen any more.  I’m sixty!!  (Hurray!!!)

Nevertheless, I took one of the leaves outside and coated it with paint-stripping gunk.  And nothing happened.  Whatever paint I used to paint that table will be on there forever.  I guess I did a really good job.  Or the paint-stripping gunk was old.  I have to wash it all off today.

So…maybe I’ll paint the top of the table a creamy aqua blue.  Or tan.  Or cream.  Not black.  Not brown.

And not until after Christmas.

Color suggestions, anyone????

 P.S. Pay no attention to the old green drapes. They’re temporary. So is the quilt hanging over the patio doors. They’ll do until I figure something else out!