Change is good...

....or so they tell me.  I'm not crazy about change, but I've sure seen my share of it in my lifetime.  So I didn't quite make Sunday, but I'm 'close'... workin' on it!

Anyway, that's another story.  This story is about my recent living room change.  I've lived in this house for almost 28 years and there haven't been too many changes during that time.

I've had two 'vintage' (nice word for old) chairs against one wall in my living room for a number of years.  They came out of my mother's house and while they served a purpose, they didn't necessarily serve the one I wanted at this stage of my life.  Couldn't find a picture of both of the chairs, but this gives you an idea.  The other chair is this one's twin and sits to the left on the other side of the cute little yellow table.  BTW, that's my cute granddaughter sitting in one.

So what did I change - the chairs have been moved upstairs, the clover table to Ariel's left is now in the office and the cute yellow table has traded places with another table on the other side of the room.  The fan has gone to fan heaven.

And, in the place of the chairs..... drum roll please.... is a comfty futon that I can lay down on if I get tired and want to lay down to watch tv without going to bed.

The futon is a story in itself.  I've had the frame for years.  We originally bought it used, for my office years ago.  It lived in there for quite a number of years, then moved to my sewing room, then moved to storage when I got a nicer futon for that room.  Bear in mind, each time it moved to a different place it had to be completely disassembled - it wouldn't fit through my doors assembled.  It's really a pretty frame - metal with 'sleigh' ends.

So, when I made this momentous decision that I wanted a sofa/futon/bed - something - in my living room I remembered the frame.  Now, I'm cheap (I actually prefer frugal, but...) so even cheap sofas they were more than I wanted to spend.

On top of that - this was a job what was definitely above my pay grade.  Enter Jeff (my oldest son).  Now, he lives a gazillion miles away in St. Louis, but he does come to Alabama every few months to check on me.  So, on his next visit we checked out the frame and found what we thought were all the pieces (turns out they were all there).  And, made a trip to Big Lots where I bought a new mattress - not the best one, but not the lowest priced one either.

The color wasn't anything I was real excited about - actually a beige about the same as my love seat, but I fixed that with a green sheet.  Add lots of pillows, rearranged a couple of tables and I have achieved an acceptable look.

It's actually pretty comfortable and I may just enjoy it some later today.  You understand that I don't get to lay on it alone.  Koda is always happy to keep me company.🐕💖🙂

Vintage metal chairs and Glider

Switched front porch and back deck seating back in April and FINALLY have the vintage metal deck chairs repainted.  It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted, then forever to get them painted - at least it felt like forever.

The days I had available to work it rained, or the wind blew (not real good to spray paint in strong wind).  Then it rained some more or there was more wind. I could only do about one chair a day - between the time delay for coats of paint and my energy level.  I got the last one finished today and I'm pleased with the results.

So here's what you see when you walk out onto the deck.  Couldn't get it all in one picture, so there are two.

The green chair behind the glider is set up to be Boots (cat) bed - but you'll notice he's opted for the floor during these warm days.  It's a nice dry/warm place when it's cool though.  He has an enclosed bed that he slept in the first couple of winters but refused to use it last year.  The chair on the left in the first picture is PURPLE.  I couldn't get it to look nearly as pretty as it actually is.

I've had the glider for 20+ years - it was one we rescued - originally painted green, I painted it blue when I first got it and it was easier just to repaint it the same color again.

The chairs were my parents - so they're probably almost as old as I am (and that's old).  I'd painted them all blue too - don't ask, blue isn't my favorite color. I think it had something to do with DH's tastes.  

NOW, they're lots of bright, happy colors - purple, green, orange, red and yellow.  I'm lovin' them!

This is the purple chair - love purple.

So, plenty of good places to sit and enjoy the pleasant summer.  

Look what I found

Putting away the last of the Christmas decorations today, I found an old paper bag in the back of the storage room. Curious, I opened it up to find a stack of vintage handkerchiefs and a vintage ladies slip.

Now, when I say vintage - I don't mean the 70s or 80s (that's just a few years ago). These are from the 1930s or 1940s - certainly no newer.

At first I thought it was silk - but I'm not sure.  The inside looks handmade, but it does have tags, one is a heavy paper tag, so it hasn't been worn.  The color is a peach with cream lace trim.

It's been folded a long time, but doesn't look any the worse for wear.  I'm sure the wrinkles will iron out.

Now to figure out what to do with it.  It's a "large" size (40), so who's going to want to wear it.  And anyway, why would one want to wear a slip that's 70 plus years old???  Offer it on Etsy maybe?  We'll see.

Most of the hankies are stained - mostly from being folded for so long.  Some of them are handmade, others just old.

Then there are a couple with full designs.  I'm thinking I'll try a vintage hankie Barbie dress with one or both of them (wish that was an original idea, but it sounds like a good one anyway).

I really thought I'd gotten rid of all this old stuff, I'm not usually a 'saver'.  I'm thinking my DH stashed this away at some point in time being sure I'd want it eventually :)