David
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Cottage tales | 8 comments
When my aunt died I found this beautiful old lath back Windsor chair forgotten in a store room. I couldn’t leave it behind. It looked so inviting. The ultimate, comfortable kitchen chair.
I tentatively sat between its generous arms, half expecting to find the reason why it had been relegated to such an inferior place. It was as if it had been made to measure. I relaxed and laid my head against the top of the chair. A place where so many weary heads must have rested before.
When it arrived at the cottage I found that the underside of the seat had become home to a colony of woodworm. I was brought up by a woodworm exterminator. Any old furniture was drenched in Rentokil wood worm treatment . Forget Channel No 5, my teenage years were a filled with the heady waft of Rentokil that had permeated the clothes in my wardrobe and chest of drawers.
So I treated the woodworm and sometimes have to re glue a wobbly joint. His front leg became so loose this summer that he was propped out of action, at the side of the kitchen. He was out of the frame for weeks until I couldn’t bear the separation any longer. I grabbed a pot of glue and spent an afternoon giving him a top to toe overhaul.
In the cottage kitchen this is the best chair and the chair that is always offered to visitors. An old friend, David, spent so much time in the cottage at one time that we named the chair after him.
David is where I sit to write these posts, often with a Min Pin tucked behind my back. David is my companion late at night when I am behind with a deadline. Sometimes I fall asleep in David and wake feeling rested and refreshed. I find his creaks reassuring. The kind and considerate voice of a old retainer.
The kitchen is the hub of the cottage and David is as important as the cooker. Essentials for a happy life.
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Hi Slickcut
What a shame that the chair repair didn’t work.
I love this chair and agree with you that old things have presence.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
I would have been happy to have found this article before today, i had a chair like this one that i found and bought at an auction.I ask hubby to fix it but somehow it did not hold.I know this chair could have been repaired,and after seeing yours ,i feel only regret.I am in love with older pieces,and i can see that you are also.When i walk into a room of old things i feel so at home,its almost like i can feel the presence of the person who once occupied that chair or that piece of furniture.When i see a old quilt or piece of stitchery, i think of the little grandmother that might has made it.I think you did a good thing by attaching that chair,it needed a home and you gave it one.What a beautiful story …
Hi Sara,
I am sitting in it right now!
A lovely post about your fabulous chair.
Sara from farmingfriends
Hi Pat,
Dr Quito and The Contessa love sitting on the chair when I am not there!
Hi Rosemary,
I know exactly how you feel. David is the perfect chair for me.
Hi Mildred,
You won’t regret moving the chair downstairs!
What a lovely chair Fi, and some nice memories too.
We have s similar chair that we found hidden in the back of my grandad’s workshop many moons ago. It is currently in a bedroom but now I have read about ‘David’ I would like to bring it into the kitchen to join the rest of the family!
I have a chair very similar to this which I sit at the kitchen table in.It is called Grandad’s chair because it was my husband’s chair before he died twelve years ago.We did not have a grandchild until two years later so I’m not sure who named it.Recently it had to be glued together as all the joints came undone.I love this chair and will never be part with it.
What a fitting tribute to a well loved chair!!! And I love the photos of the little ones too!!!