Lest you think my primary job has been scooting furniture around my house, things have been moving a bit more than usual. I moved furniture around when I did the family room reset. Then I rearranged again to accommodate our Christmas tree and again when we gave our sofa away and the new one didn’t come and again when we took the tree down. Now I’m moving things around to sell some pieces and make space for Jeff to work in my old office. My mom’s even getting in on the action and is moving things around in her house, so she offered a displaced bench to me.
As you have probably caught on, I’m not very sentimental about furniture, but there are a few pieces that are very special to me. My Oma’s rocking chair that she had when she was a child. We have a picture of her in it as a toddler and my Opa stripped off the white paint and fixed it up, making it possible for their children, grand children and great grand children to sit in. The farmhouse chairs around our kitchen table that came from my husband’s great grandparents. The antique French buffet my parents bought as newly weds and now sits in my dining room. Joining them now are this bench my mom gave me.
It’s not a typical Miss Mustard Seed piece of furniture with straight legs and a pine finish. But the memories outweigh design and material worth. My dad bought this bench when we lived in Germany as a surprise. I don’t remember if it was for her birthday or mother’s day. I do remember my brother, dad and I putting it together in the attic of our apartment building. We lived in a German-style apartment building that had three stairwells with six apartments off each. The stairwells were connected by basement hallways with storage units for each apartment and an attic hallway that use to house maids. They were now used for storage as well. It was an amazing set up for hide-and-seek games, that’s for sure!
In a 900 square foot apartment, there was nowhere to hide a surprise bench, so we would sneak up to the attic to assemble it and then presented it to my mom. The bench has been a staple piece of furniture in our home ever since…through all of our moves. It’s now perfect under the window in the family room, providing some storage (it opens) and seating at the table.
I will, of course, be painting it and making a new cushion to make it work in my home. (My mom’s all for that, by the way.)
Oh, you can see in the foreground that one of my “frosty ferns” is still alive. Actually, I’ve managed to keep two healthy. One bit the dust a couple of days ago, but it hung around longer than I expected.
I think I need to do everyone a favor and just stick with preserved boxwood.
Is anyone else ready to get back into a normal routine after the holidays? I’m so there!
