Drapery people meet en Mass. and talk about life, family, and what else... business.

After leaving Maine, our route home was going to take us through Massachusetts, where two of my drapery friends, that I first met at Northfield, live just a few miles from one another. And I was told most emphatically that I could not possibly drive by this close and NOT stop and see them. Which of course I wouldn't have anyway. So texts and phone calls were exchanged and a rendezvous was organized.

 

We drove first to Sue's house, where the  husbands got introduced, and after the four of us visited for a while, Sue and I spent time talking curtains and checking out her workroom. I have a pretty short commute, just down the hill, but Sue only had to walk from the kitchen to her workroom. Funny how we all have these workspaces, with pretty much all the same equipment, so why is it more fun to see someone else's setup and all their toys tools?

Rob was somewhat interested in the workroom chat, since he is in the "biz" now too, but I'm sure we were probably boring poor Steve, so we soon headed out to nearby Meadowbrook Orchards to meet up with Sarah for lunch. Her husband was a bit under the weather, so unfortunately we didn't get to meet him, but we did meet some of Sarah's family, who, to her complete surprise, were there for lunch also.

 

After lunch Sarah showed us her workroom, which is in Clinton, an old mill town near Boston. The building is an old plastics factory that was owned by the Van Brode Co. which manufactured the spork among other things.  She has a huge space that is jam packed with all kind of gorgeous fabrics from when she had a retail space. A dangerous place for a fabric lover like me, and not surprisingly we did leave there with a few yards of fabric.

     

  Inside mill and fabric photos courtesy of Storibook Designs

We were chatting about a chair that Rob had already torn down, and that we were having trouble finding just the right fabric for, and that also fit the budget. When I described the colors in the room, she pointed to a bolt near Rob and said, "What about that one right down there?"  Perfect! Just like that. And we bought it.

                                                                 

Here is the before and after, very delinquent as I promised Sarah a picture months and months ago.



The before is not a true before as the chair was so disgusting (the previous owner had cats that apparently thought the chair was either a scratching post or worse) that Rob tore it down immediately after getting it home, so I only have it in it's pure state, without even any padding or legs (which were those very ugly, very 50's skinny plastic ones, ick.)

New foam, new legs, new fabric, and now it's even good enough for the mancave, aka TV room. The ottoman, which came from a friend, we saved from the trash heap that it was headed to. Once Rob got rid of the very dated orange floral fabric, and the ruffled skirt, it makes a great companion to the chair. And we didn't even have to buy new legs for it.