Ugly Chair Becomes A Swan

Time to talk about Ugly Chair. Ugly Chair has been a fixture at our house for years. We found it beside an empty lot in downtown Mesa more years ago than I care to remember. It was peeking out of a big pile of junk that someone illegally dumped. We were driving by in the truck and I instantly recognized the sound bone structure and limitless potential in Ugly Chair. Ok, really - we just needed a chair for the porch where HuzBen could sit smoke his ciggies away from my asthmatic lungs. It fit our main criteria of not costing anything. I wanted to do the "green" thing by recycling someone else's junk. We took it home.

Ugly Chair spent the last several years going back and forth between the yard and the porch, depending on the weather and the need for space. It got to be sort of a joke that I never seemed to get around to refurbishing Ugly Chair. As rough on the eyes as the chair was, my husband put cardboard and newspapers on the seat, covered it with an old blanket and spent many confortable hours in Ugly Chair while reading on the porch.

When my mother would visit from New Jersey I would tell her about my grand plans to re-do the chair and make it presentable. Bless her heart my mother never has a cross word to say about anything but her eyes were saying "Seriously? Hello! Put that thing out at the curb where it belongs!" In direct contrast, my father actually said on many occasions, "Seriously? Hello! Put that thing out at the curb where it belongs!" And at least once he tried to do just that when I wasn't looking. If it wasn't for our superb neighborhood block watch I'm sure he would have snuck it off to the dump while I was in NYC.

That's all behind us now because this week Ugly Chair had it's makeover. I took a Home Depot gift certificate I'd been saving and I purchased some almond colored spray paint. Joann's had leather beading cord that I used to replace the leather strips that had rotted away. The folks at Mesa Sales helped me pick out a foam cushion and some marine grade thread for the seat and the pillow. The vinyl was found at a steal for 80% off when Hancock's closed a few months ago.

Ugly Chair is now back on the porch and HuzBen and the kitties are thriled with the makeover. While no one is going to mistake it for being redone by a professional, I think Ugly Chair approves.