Secondhand Surplus

Sunday, January 29, 2012

A Tale of Two Chairs














I decided I need to just go ahead a dig right in. Its been a long time since my last post, and my life has changed drastically in the last four months. We went from a family of three to a busy family of four. My pregnancy didn't keep me from thrifting or decorating, but the lack of time has keep me from blogging all of the many changes that constantly go on around here.

With a list of goals for the new year, and one being to spend more time on my blog, I thought I would start with a couple of the newest things (not baby related) to the house.

The first two pictures are of the Vostra chair I found in the alley last year, re webbed. This poor chair had been sitting in the basement, just barely missing the clean sweeps I've been doing since the addition of one more beings things, needed room also.

I went to the army surplus and purchased this black webbing, and finally made it my mission to breathe new life into this old girl.

I think it turned out beautifully, the webbing is nice a tight, giving your tush a firm seat. There are still bumps and bruises visible, and they help remind me of the life it used to have, and none of us here are perfect.

The second new chair is a beautiful Adrian Pearsall brought home from an auction near my in-laws house. My father-in law attends a local auction every Tuesday night, and if we are in town we load up and go with him. There are two auctions that go on at the same time, one in the main heated building, where you can also get your choice of homemade pie. The other goes on in what they call the lower barn, and is heated with a wood burning stove. The lower barn is where you will find flats of random crap sold for just a dollar or two. But if you are the type that likes to dig, like me, and get the best deals, this is where you'd be.

We stood huddled up next to the fire, waiting for the only thing we were interested in to be auctioned off. I had the baby in the Moby carrier, inside my coat, while plenty of the locals wanted to either touch him, or let me know it was too cold to have him out there.

After an hour, they finally grabbed the chair, naming it " this fancy chair" and letting the locals have their way with it. Testing it out, wondering why it sat so low, have how is a 250 lb. man supposed to get out of this thing! there were remarks about how " that there wood must be walnut" and as this goes on I start to wonder what my husband has in mind as too much for this fancy chair. The binding starts at $4, and we were the only bidders. We grabbed our chair, told the auctioneer that the cushion had been laying on the couch behind it. The locals began to comment on the fact the cushion would make it more comfortable, and easier to get out of, but we just headed to the check out, and started to wonder how we were going to get it all the way back to St. Louis with all of our other stuff.

It was a long and uncomfortable ride home with the chair in the back of the land rover and the kids and dogs shoved wherever there was room. But, for $4, it was all worth it. and it has become the most fought over chair in the house( I usually have to kick a cat out of it if I want to sit down).

It feels good to be back, and with the newest member finally napping the way he should, hopefully I can find time to post again more regularly.




7 comments:

  1. Great to see that you are back, Hannah. I've heard wonderful things about your place from Mr. Modtomic so I look forward to seeing what all you've done. Also always good to see another St. Louis Mid-Mod blogger.

    If you get a chance, come check out midcenturymidwest.blogspot.com

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  2. Congratulations on the new family member. Those chairs look great, nice work on replacing the strapping. I always get a kick out of auctions and the weirdness you see on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes you'll score a great deal, and sometimes you'll see the auctioneers or their help do really dumb things, but no matter what, I can't remember being to a dull auction.

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  3. So glad Secondhand Hannah is back in action! I had found you through your Apartment Therapy house tour and added you to my Google Reader. I was missing the alley updates and as another South City-er, I always wondered if it was an alley I drove by too and didn't think to look. Love the chairs, especially the Pearsall. Cheers - CT

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  4. glad you're back Hannah! I found you through Apartment Therapy too! Glad you're back to blogging!

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  5. Congrats on the new addition and the fabulous chairs!

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  6. What a B A R G A I N !!! The Pearsall chair is beautiful. Glad to see you blogcasting again! The Girlfriend and I just had dinner and some beers down at the Tin Can on Locust and I thought about you two...er four. Glad to see you back!

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  7. welcome back! i was wondering where you were!

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