A Blessing of Unicorns
Do you know what itโs like to have a vision for what you want, or what you actually need, and you cannot find it anywhere? ๐ง๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐๐๐๐ผ๐บ ๐๐ฝ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ผ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐. ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ป, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น, ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐'๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด. That happens to be the story of my dining room chairs.
Like you, I had a vision for what I wanted but finding it was tricky. It didn't take long before I realized that what I wanted wasn't "out there" and I'd likely be making my own custom dreams come true.
My dining room table is 140 years old, as close as we can guess. It was built by my great grandfather, likely from a kit, on his rural farm in Iowa. Plymouth Restoration Station beautifully restored the tiger oak table for me five years ago in a walnut stain. While I LOVE this hefty, antique table, I wanted comfortable chairs that invite guests to linger at the table, over a board game, dessert, or dominoes... I was searching for a unicorn.
๐ผ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ช๐ฅ ๐ค๐ ๐ช๐ฃ๐๐๐ค๐ง๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ฃ๐.
๐๐๐ง๐โ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐:
** ๐๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ต 6 ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐ค๐ง๐ฉ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด.
** ๐๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ 20โ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ.
** ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ค, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ด๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐น๐ต๐ณ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ.
**๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ (๐ฆ.๐จ. ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ, ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐น๐ฆ๐ญ-๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณโฆ)
** ๐ผ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ $300 ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐โ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐ช๐ ๐ฆ ๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ค!
After months and months of searching I found six Ethan Allen dining room chairs, fully upholstered, with scroll backs ... and boy were they ugly! They were originally built in 2000 and absolutely filled someoneโs skirted Tuscan dreams at one point in time. The owner was letting them go because she had ordered new chairs. I smiled all the way home after handing her $200 in cash for the set.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ต๐๐ป๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ:
** ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ.
** ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ-๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต.
** ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ.
** ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐บ. ๐๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข ๐จ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ. ๐'๐ฎ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด. ๐๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ.
** ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ต.
The original Tuscan brown upholstery on this blessing of unicorns did not live up to any of my wants and dreams, but that's what custom work is about, right?
๐ฆ๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐พ๐๐ฎ๐ป-๐ญ-๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐บ๐ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ!I combined the leafy Stout fabric on the front and back of the chair with a medium blue performance rated chenille by Greenhouse (F1995) on the seats. It was clear after choosing the fabric that my earthy sage carpet in the dining room had to go. Marketplace found it a new home quickly and I replaced it with a blue wool geometric rug by Safavieh.
๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐๐จ๐ซ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ง๐๐ฑ๐ญ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ฅ, ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐จ๐๐ญ ๐ ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐๐ฌ. ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ? ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ!
