And In My Spare Time . . . .

Projects.
To-Do Lists.
Why are there always more of them, than there is
time in a day?  Or a week?  Or a month?

There ought to be a name for this phenomenon;

I don't think Cass Syndrome will catch on anytime soon.

My today project is this:

A Victorian settee, from an auction last week in Pennsylvania.

The fabric on it is intact and clean, but poorly done and cheap.

I aim to replace that fabric with something less poorly done.

On a side note . . . I have never done this before.  Could get interesting.

"Dear upholstery gods . . . help!  Amen."

There's a home dec fabric outlet shop nearby, with a clearance room out back,

where all the bolts sell for $5 a yard, and the trimmings are a buck a yard.

The settee was a very good bargain, so I didn't want to spend

a lot on new fabric.  I want to sell this at a reasonable

price to someone who will love it, so I need to keep the costs low.

In the clearance room, we found (okay, Anne found) a simple upholstery

fabric in a neutral green with a little quilted diamond pattern,

and a multi-colored gimp that tones nicely with the fabric.

The fabric and gimp together cost me $27.  Now that's what I call

a bargain, and I can pass that savings on to someone else.

Wave bye-bye, little settee.

I am about to do scary things to you.

********************************

After my whining over the weekend about not finding anything 

at that auction in Connecticut, I need to show you a recent

New Jersey auction find.  Nye and Company in Bloomfield

holds live online auctions, and during the last one I made a

ridiculously low bid on a late Federal (early 19th century)

turned maple rope bedstead . . . and won.

Bonus challenge:  Guess what I paid for it?

I picked it up yesterday.

It's lounging, wearing its original 200 year old dust, in my front hall. 

 I love the swoop of the headboard. 

Obviously, it needs a good cleaning and

a beeswax massage at the That Old House Spa.

Easy peasy.

Good sturdy legs.

Perhaps it played field hockey once upon a time.

And once upon a time it had pegs along here, below, to hold the ropes

that supported those lumpy mattresses of olden times.

Someone sawed off the pegs a long time ago, probably at the 

request of his wife who was tired of dusting between them.

Yowser! that's a lot of dust.

And that's all I can think of for today.

Except that my next project is an old Sheraton style washstand

in mahogany.  It weighs a ton, despite its slender good looks.

Must have an excellent metabolism.

I hope your Wednesday is as beautiful as mine!

New Jersey is showing off the last of its August weather. -- Cass