My Goodwill Antique Settee Drama Revealed

Remember this post about the antique settee I found at Goodwill? Remember how excited I was? Remember all the pictures I showed you and advice I asked you?

Here it is in the store where I found it. A stranger put her two kids on it to save it while I paid - she was that excited for me!



Here it is posing in my driveway; neighbors came from near and far to behold her beauty. (Okay, it was more like neighbors stopped by on their way to the bus stop to ask what in the world I was up to this time.)



Well, this dang thing has been a thorn in my side since July and I finally have something to show you! But, let me share the whole sad story first.

First, I tried to strip off all the fabric and padding (which stunk like musty old lady house). BUT in order to do that I had to disassemble it...the whole damn thing...



It had all kinds of crazy screws and a million holes under the upholstery that let me know it had been recovered many, many times before.

The wood was almost black and was SUPER heavy. After some discussion with my mom, we determined it appeared to be handmade and must be made from walnut.



I continued to remove all the pieces since it seemed to have been upholstered with the pieces apart first, and then assembled. I'm not going to lie, there was lots of sweating and swearing. The Big Guy threatened to burn the thing several times and I defended her countless times.

It sat in the driveway for awhile, then in my garage, then in my basement for months. I'd work on it some then get frustrated and forget about it for awhile.

Finally, I sanded down all the woodwork and repainted it with everyone's favorite "Heirloom White".



I pleaded for help with fabric colors and Kimba helped me choose something from Fabric.com. Love that place!

I measured and cut and cried and stapled and recut and screamed and gave up about 25 times.

I finally felt like I was getting someplace and realized I couldn't remember how to reassemble it! Try as I might, I couldn't get the darn back reattached! All was lost, I supposed. $50 worth of fabric down the drain...

It sat in my basement for another 3 months...

Finally, last week, it occurred to me that I might have to just open my eyes to different possibilities. How could I work around this problem? It, literally, came to me in a dream...

Behold my Antique Settee Bench (with no back)!






Here I am with messy bed head trying her out for the first time in the morning sunlight...



Sigh...


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