Grandma’s chair had been around for years with heavy sentiment attached. It was seldom used and mostly seemed in the way or a convenient place to dump coats or other items on in the basement as we were passing by. Grandma Haegley sat in that chair thought out decades of her life and Kris remembers her sitting in it and climbing all over her as a child in that chair. So it’s no great surprise that she would never consider parting with it.
When we embarked on the basement project, it went into storage and was all but forgotten about. We wrapped up the basement and moved into it just after Ryder was born but held on to a few things in storage for too long as most people do. We finally made a push to get out of storage by the end of the year, and I was determined not to let that ugly thing back into our house… at least not in the state it was in.
For the grand Christmas present to Kris, I arranged to have it reupholstered at Designs By Taylor in Edgewater and did everything I could to keep the operation a secret. Even though I was making trips down there to see color swatches (even bringing some home) and transport the chair and ottoman back and forth without it being spotted.
Somehow I pulled it off and it was ready a few days before Christmas. I picked it up on their last business day before the holiday and it lived in the shop for a few days before the unveiling. I waited until John and Lois came for 2nd round of gifts to give it to Kris so I could watch both their expressions and it was worth every effort to see the tears of happiness. It now lives in our “adult” room upstairs and is no longer a laundry rack, but the focal piece of the room… just how grandma would like it.
