Curbside Antiquing: A French Chair

 A very basic day began....

It was another cold day in Boston. 
And it was local trash pick up day so bags and boxes dotted the sidewalks.

Baby Reeve was in the backseat, and we were headed home from a trip to Lowes. 
We had picked up a toilet repair kit to fix a pesky commode. 
Glamorous. 
 While we were out, we hit Marshall's where we scored some puddle jumpers for Reeve. 
 Exactly what I was looking for, as I imagined her in these boots as my garden assistant
this spring and summer, if the weather ever obliges.

A perfect day in our boring but happy little world,

 when all of a sudden there it was.

I spotted something in a pile of trash on the drive home.

A glimpse of a rounded back French Chair with a painted frame.  

I was driving on the opposite side of the street so I couldn't just pull over easily.  

Instead I looked at it my rear view mirror, getting smaller and smaller.

I debated turning around and checking it out. 

 I told myself to keep going, we were almost home, and the chair 

was probably pretty ratty and falling apart.  

My sensible-self talked my Frenchy-antique-loving-self 

right out of investigating any further.

And I forgot about it....

until the next morning when I had to leave the house early,

 around 6 am to drive Mr. Maison Decor to a job site 

where he had left his truck the day before.

And then it hit me!! 

The trash trucks hadn't come!! 

And my Frenchy antique-loving-self got so excited!!

Because it was a holiday Monday, Patriots Day, 

all trash pickups were delayed one day.  

That meant just possibly, that the pretty French chair,

however ratty it may be, may likely still be sitting at the curb.

The stars were aligning!!

My sensible-self was no longer in the driver's seat.

source

I hoped it would be in great shape, a real antique, and one I could rehab.

A quintessential Louis XVI side chair, not unlike the chairs in Sharon Osbourne's home, above.

As we drove I  told hubs about the chair in the trash, 

and that I planned to circle back to see it it was there.

My plan was to do something with it, even if it was so ratty I couldn't use it indoors, I

would rip out the upholstery and stick a big pot of flowers

 in it and use it as a plant stand by the garden shed. 

Not sure if he was even listening to my plan....

 My gas tank was near empty, so I spent crucial minutes stopping for a fillup.

I was almost there....

as I turned onto the street, my heart sank when I saw

two trash trucks 

ahead of a line of cars on the very street where the chair was put out for pick up.

GAH!! 

They finally pulled over to load trash and recyclables,

 so I sped by and raced to my destination.  

Past the the elementary school I drove where Piper

 and I have walked a million times...

I was almost there!

just around the bend....is the chair was still there?!!

Wouldn't someone have pulled it out already? 

 Shut up.  NO!! Think positive! Ok. 

Hallelulia!! 

Sitting up very proud and tall amongst the trash bags.  

 She was solid as a rock, and heavy too,

which meant she was an older chair.  

Her pale blue upholstery indicated she had lived a nice life

once upon a time, as did the gilding on her frame.  

 She is safe and sound now.

She plans to live Happily Ever After now, maybe even 

getting a turn in the pages of a French magazine. 

Curbside antiquing never felt so good.

SaveSave