Embracing the Ugly

So the other day one of my kiddos asked me how long I was trying to grow my chin hair.  I gave that one the most chores that day.  I'd like to lie and say that the chin hair has only recently shown up just to further drive home how much closer I'm getting to middle agedness. (is that even a word?)  The cold hard truth, however, is that baby started rearing its ugly head when I was 22, and pregnant with my second kiddo.  I deluded myself into thinking it was a pregnancy thing, and would miraculously go away when I had the baby.  Just like all that weight I gained.  Yet here I am, 13 years later, and the hair has persisted.  I find it to be super uncool.

So one thing I do (sometimes) when I get a new piece is let it chill in the room I want it to go in.  So I can firm up my mind on exactly how I want to refinish it.  That was the case with these two sweet chairs I got several years ago on Craigslist.   

(Cue interesting backstory...)

So we had just finished our remodel of the interior of our home in East Texas, and were in need of furnishing a family room.  Well I have a love for french provincial pieces.  Which were evidenced by the french provincial end tables that were proudly sitting in our formal living area.

This is an old picture (i.e. our old house), but the only one I could find of the tables in question.  Sure they are just sitting in the other room, but I'm feeling lazy.

  I loved them so very much that when I saw tables similar to them on craigslist I jumped on them.  I emailed, and negotiated a lower price.  Then I showed them to Señor Hotness...he was not in love.  He didn't want to get them because they were so similar to the tables we already had.  So with a heavy heart I had to message the lady back, and let her know that now wasn't going to be the best time to get them.  That was when she told me that if I would come down I could just have them...say WHAT?!? How? Why?  It all came down to my email signature, it says, "Sarah...mommy to 5 ladies".  You see she was a mom of 5 too, and was just paying it forward.  So I head on down with a friend, incase this lady was actually an axe wielding lunatic at least I would get to spend my last moments with a friend.  However, when we got there the lady was, in fact, just an empty nester, and not an axe wielding crazy person.  She was just getting ready to embark on a new personal adventure, and she really was just purging her home.  So I walk in for my tables when she says, "If you want any of this other stuff its yours for the taking".  Ladies and gents this is the stuff of legends.  I have dreams that people will say this to me again (it did happen again recently but that is a tale for another day).  Just giving free stuff to a cheapskate DIYer?  Yes, Please!  So when I regained consciousness (kidding) I saw sitting there next to the tables were two of the most elegantly boned chairs that were upholstered in this golden vinyl.  The vinyl was in tip top shape, however, the golden was in fact harvest gold.  The love affair of every 1970s decorator known to man.  So I brought them on home thinking Señor Hotness was going to flip, but that they would be good chairs to cut my teeth on trying to reupholster.  To my surprise he instantly saw their potential, and let me put them in our formal living room.  There they stayed always having their rehab put off in lieu of something deemed more pressing at the time.  Until that moment when I realized that they worked just as they were.  Not in a "They work because I said so" kind of way, but more in a "Wow, I never would have thought that would work, but it does" kind of way.

So I took a gamble on a couple of supposed duds, and have been reaping the rewards ever since.  All because I learned to embrace the ugly...just like my chin hair.  (Just kidding I still super hate that.)

linked up at: jannolson.blogspot.com

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