This Old Chair

This old chair, should I keep it? My children actually sat in this chair!! I have so many memories attached to this old chair!! What do I do with it? This the question I ask myself as I begin the overwhelming task and begin to declutter my home from 35 years of collected memories bound up in the stuff of life.

My children actually sat in this chair. How can I discard it? So many fond memories are bound up in the old wood chair, worn and marked by the passage of time. At times, it was used as a desk chair with little blond heads bent over homework depending upon which room the chair was residing. At times, it was used as a vanity chair by daughters carefully applying makeup as they prepared to go out...other times it was actually used as a shelf/lamp table for cosmetics. I remember the chaotic mornings when several teens sat on the floor near the chair in front of a mirror propped precariously against the wall following a sleepover to apply their makeup.

In time, they went away to college, jobs and have gotten married. I remember the day I bought it. I found the chair, already worn with age, at a sale from an old hospital that was closing and moving to their new modern facility across town. It was probably used in one of their offices or maybe even in an examining room for one of the thousands of patients that passed through their doors. No telling what it's life was like before I purchased it!

Now I notice it really is sort of a crummy old chair in sad need of replacing yet because it is so sturdy and well-made perhaps it just needs refurbishment? A decision must be made as I learn that not one of my children is interested in moving that chair laden with my memories to their own homes for their children. So what can I do with this old, very useful chair? Throw it away? No!!! How could I!? That seems a bit like tossing my memories away...especially since it still has so much potential utility left! So what should I do? I know there are plenty of creative people that could take this chair and refinish it back to the golden oak as it it first started out with a bit of elbow grease for a price (perhaps much higher than the chair is actually worth)! Certainly not my elbow grease ... not mine, because these days I need grease, (a wonderful invention-"Ben Gay"), to make mine function!! There are others that would paint this chair in bright colors and patterns to reuse it in a multitude of ways...a study desk chair, a garden chair, extra seating, or many other ways. Some are great at chalk painting and they would paint this chair in a neutral or shabby chic to fit with many uses in the current design, styles and palettes of color.

So, now my decision suddenly becomes easier as I think about the "new life" my old chair might have! I'll list it for $15 or $20 in VarageSale, a great new online app and a super community of recyclers I've found and give it a chance to carry on! Now I am excited as I look around at my house full of memories! What can I find to clear out, declutter and recycle so I can refashion my nest for this new era in life!

It's a treasure hunt!!

It's easy, I'll start with "this old chair!"