Here’s a little background to this story:

My Friend Debbie: “Hey, I saw on your blog that you like to redo furniture.”

Me: “Yep, I’ve been searching Craigslist for some small pieces to work on this Summer.”

Debbie: “Do you want a rocking chair to redo? I have one that I started to paint in my kids’ playroom. I never got around to finishing it. I’m sure you could do something cute with it.”

Me: (Thinking- Ohhhhh, I could paint it the cute pale blue that I see all over Bloggland and then find the perfect pale blue and red fabric to make a chair pad. I’ve always wanted to do that color combination, but it just wouldn’t work in my house.)

Me: “Sure, I’d love it.” It came out in a very calm tone, but inside I was jumping up and down with excitement about my new project!

The next day Debbie brought it to school with her (we’re both teachers at the same school). She pulled it out of her truck and I fell in love with this totally adorable work of art. She had painted the chair white, added a Dr. Seuss hat to the seat, and then painted the dowels and knobs in black and red. She said she had done one coat of paint and lost steam. (We all know that three coats of red paint are a minimum.) It was the greatest chair it just needed a little more time put into it! Debbie is the busiest working mom I know, so I don’t know how she even got the first coat done.

I took the chair home, knowing full well that there was no way I could paint this chair pale blue and ruin all of that hard work. I scrapped the dream of the blue rocker with the cute red fabric and instead went to work on finishing the Dr. Seuss chair she had started. Debbie had done all of the hard work. She had done the artistic piece that there was no way I could have done. I carefully added a second coat, then a third coat. Finally, I added a few coats of poly over the top. It is beautiful, shiny, and ready for a classroom or playroom! I hope it’s the chair she was always hoping it would become.

So, Debbie, here’s my proposal. I can’t possibly take this chair and put it in my own classroom. It’s like a piece of artwork and I can’t possibly subject it to the abuse of a kindergarten classroom.

So, here are our options:

a: You take it home to your boys and your playroom and continue to read stories in it every night.

b: If you really want it out of your playroom, then I think we should give it to the library where all of the kids will enjoy it!

I hope you love the shiny finished look!

Here are a few linky parties I’m joining!