Yesterday we bought a ten foot conference table to replace our current dining room table. The table we’ve had until now is really nice, but is only 8.5 feet long. It comfortably seats 10, but we are already nine, and we enjoy having company over. Until now, we would bring out an additional table if we are having guests. Now, thanks to the shape and positioning of the table legs, we will be able to seat 12 very comfortably, and add another four on the corners (it’s an oval shape) without an unreasonable squish! Dh was also happy with it, which was nice, since he didn’t really feel the need to get another table. The woman selling them also had some chairs that she offered to give us, since she wasn’t using them and she was trying to declutter the part of her house where they were being stored. Initially, she thought she had four, but it turned out that she had eight! They are good sturdy chairs, though the cushions were kind of dusty and a couple were discolored. So I decided to recover them.

Refurbishing the chairs has been tonight’s project – we started after dinner and worked on it for a couple of hours. We were given a bunch of full length drapes a few weeks ago that don’t match any of our rooms, but the fabric is very nice quality. (I kept the drapes around because I made matching blanket covers for my bedroom with one set, and was planning to make another set of blanket covers with the other set of drapes.) We took apart the drapes (they are flannel lined so we needed to separate the three layers) so we can use the fabric to cover the seats and backs of the chairs. There are a lot of steps involved, and it’s a nice amount of work, but I really would like to finish all of the chairs by Friday. So far, we have four seat cushions finished (mostly the kids’ work – and they look great), and I’m working on the back cushions, which are more labor intensive and trickier to make look just right. It was a good night’s work for us all, and it’s fun for us all to see something so nice emerge from some chairs and drapes that we got for nothing, by just putting in some effort. Two boys went to sleep earlier than usual, but the rest of us worked together – my youngest daughter unscrewed the chairs, oldest son pried off the backing from the bottom of the chairs, and two older dds cut the fabric and plastic covering out and each covered one cushion. I kind of laughingly thought of it as my ‘sweatshop’ when I looked at all the kids in pajamas working on different parts of it assembly line style. We decided to cover the fabric with a heavy duty clear vinyl to keep it looking new for a long time.

In the middle of all the mess someone came by. She had called to ask if it would be okay for her to drop off a gift from a ‘Mompreneur’ group that I spoke to about work/life balance a couple of months ago, but I got so involved in the project that I lost track of time and was momentarily surprised to see her at the door. I was really surprised to receive a gift – I just loved having the opportunity to share some thoughts on the topic with a great group of women. Anyway, she saw what was going on (it would have been impossible not to – everything was everywhere!) and asked my kids if we always do such fun projects. Actually, we do, though I don’t set out to do them because I want us to have fun. I’m not a traditional fun mom in that I don’t naturally play games with my kids (I wrote in the past about how I’ve worked on that), but I’m pretty good at involving them in my work, and letting them share the pleasure of something meaningful and concrete accomplished.

If you’re wondering how I know how to reupholster furniture – I didn’t. I just took apart one chair last night and figured it out, and keep finding easier ways to do things as I go along. I find that most things aren’t as difficult as they seem, if you’re willing to try something new and put in the time to learn.

Avivah