A Different Kind of Special

I wish you could talk to me. Yes, you the damaged table and the old chairs right beside you. Tell me where you have been. Who made you and where do you come from? Who owned you throughout the years and what did you see? How did you like your life so far and now in up in age, would you like to be brought back to live on?

Sometimes this conversation goes on in my mind when I look at old pieces of furniture. I feel the same way when I look at an old building or a tree, that has been around for hundreds of years. I wish I could put my hand on it and feel and see history being made.

But they don’t talk, the old pieces are quiet, what makes my imagination run wild.

Once in a while, I get lucky and a customer knows the history of the piece they want me to work on. “This was my Grandfather’s chair,” or “This piece has been bought for $5 almost 100 years ago.”

Working in the present, knowing the past is a special gift I treasure.

A woman visited me a while back and asked me to restore her Grandma’s table and chairs. When I looked at the picture I didn’t see anything spectacular. A 50’s table and chairs, the kind we only see in old movies these days. A metal frame and a vinyl covered seat and back -nothing special about it. I wasn’t sure why she would call me.

And then the woman talked and the love poured out of her with every sentence. Her eyes looked soft and seemed to see a picture in a far distance, that I couldn’t see.

>>>This was the dining room set my Grandparents bought when they came to Ohio. It was placed in the kitchen and used for dinners as well as for homework. My father ate on it and one day he crawled under it and left notes underneath the table. 

This is the only dinette set my Grandparents ever had and now its mine and I want my children to eat on it as well, because it is going to be the only table and chair I will ever eat on.<<<

Checkmate! I melted like butter in the sun and agreed to everything the lady asked me to do. The same night we found the original vinyl online. “Cracked Ice” it’s called and we ordered it right away. I don’t know who was more excited, my customer or me.

The vinyl got delivered and a few days later I started working on the chairs. What a mess they were, they had indeed seen better days.

The chairs had been covered with new material numerous times, and nothing fit right anymore. I tried to guess the way they had looked originally, but wasn’t very successful and then I got lucky. One of the chair seats still had the original manufactures name hidden underneath of layers of vinyl that had been added throughout the years.

I went online and found pictures of the original advertisement and my heart started to beat faster. Now I knew what I had to do and went back to work.

When all was done I called the lady and she came the next day. She teared up when she saw the old chairs and she gave me a big hug.

There was so much excitement in her voice when she told me about there new home. The house was built in the 50th and the original owners never left. They took good care of their home and everything is still in good working condition, even the old fridge and the built-in oven still work well.

The perfect surrounding to honor her Grandma’s dinette set!

I hope the parents and the children will make lots of memories in their new home!

She left me a very kind review and I am entirely grateful.