For the time being…

We took our ten-year-old library couch back to Mead Interiors in Astoria a few weeks ago.  Five hundred Friday nights, give or take, and one hundred House Concert potlucks, more or less, had taken their toll.  The couch was trashed with spills and it was time to re-cover it.

Mr. Mead built the couch in 2002.  We picked the style, gave him the measurements, and chose the fabric.  The fabric was a big mistake.  I had the idea that I wanted a gray, wide-wale corduroy.  The closest I could come was a dove gray in a very narrow-wale and, worst of all, it was cotton.  But I loved the look of it, anyway – never mind that it weighed a ton and Nyel had to take the front door off its hinges so that we could wrestle it into the house

The first bad spill on a cushion happened not too many months later and, stupidly, I thought I could remove it with Resolve.  It removed both the stain and the color in nothing flat.  (And, yes, I had ‘tested’ it first and all had seemed well.)  So, of course, I turned the cushion over.  Not long afterwards someone splashed something on the up-to-then pristine side of the very same cushion.  We took it to the cleaners and were told they wouldn’t do cotton.

So, we collected drips and smears for ten years, periodically wondering if we and our guests were messier than most.  Finally, we decided it was time to make a new beginning.  We spent time at Mead’s looking at fabric, brought swatches home, chose and re-chose and finally made our decision – something patterned and not cotton this time.

Once we took the couch away – way harder to deal with now that we are ten years weaker – we filled the empty space with rocking chairs from the east room.  They are the chairs we usually sit in to watch TV.  We replaced those with captain’s chairs which aren’t comfortable but temporarily do-able for our usual hour or hour and a half of daily TV viewing.

I consoled myself with the “new look” in the library with the thought that “it’s only for the time being.”  I don’t do change well and, at first, every time I entered the room I was startled anew.  But… now I’m getting used to it.  In fact, I even like it and am getting queasy about that patterned fabric that will be arriving on our two-ton-couch soon.  At least I hope it’s soon.  As I said, I don’t do change well.

4 Responses to “For the time being…”

  1. Nancy says:

    Dear Decorator: We need some help with a sofa situation/couch consideration here in our little Healdsburg home. Would you be willing to advise when you are next in California?

  2. sydney says:

    Wow! “Decorator” no less! Better wait until we see the couch before you elevate me to such a grand sounding title. I’m pretty leery about the fabric I chose. Plus, I don’t know if Mr. Mead travels and he is a necessary part of the equation. (Which is worrisome… He is now 81 years young and, as far as I know, does all the work himself! Whatever will we do next time?)

  3. Stephanie Frieze says:

    I am sorry that the timing wasn’t right. Dave is bringing down the truck this week to move my mother’s “new” used chair which decided not to work and Dave is experienced moving furniture. I wish he’d been around to lend you a hand and a dolly. When will the couch return?

  4. sydney says:

    Thanks for the kind thought, Stephanie! Mead’s just called and we will pick the couch up on the first day Nyel isn’t subbing and it’s not raining! Maybe even tomorrow! I don’t think Mead’s is open on Saturday so Dave is probably safe! (And we do have a dolly which helps a lot.)

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