A while back, my favorite chair started bleeding yellow foam rubber. It’s an old chair, but probably not an antique chair, or anything particularly special. Probably something out of the sixties or seventies.I don’t think it’s valuable, or anything.  It’s just… Well, it’s the right size, so my feet touch the ground at the very same time my back is touching the back. And it’s not too rigid, but it’s not too slouchy, either. It has a slight Auntie Mame feel to it.

Well, you know. It’s my favorite chair.

So, I loaded it into the back seat of the car, and headed off to upholstery shoppes unknown.

This is a process, apparently. The first place I thought of went into retirement after the flood, and the next couple of places were either not open at all, or by-appointment-only numbers. Hard telling.

I got desperate. I went to a place I knew perfectly well was “a little expensive” but which held regular business hours in a regular, store-front type establishment.

I left the chair in the car, and went into… uhm… basically a storeroom full of fabric swatches. And a counter. (Also covered in fabric swatches.)

I was informed that the place is **ahem**  currently booking for March.

I admit I was a little dumbstruck. And I suppose the guy felt sorry for me. After all, I’m going to be chair-less until March, at this point. He came out to the car to look at the chair, and gave me an estimate.

Four hundred dollars for the labor. About. And another two fifty on the fabric. Five-ish yards of it. I can bring fabric in from somewhere else, if I want.

Huh.

Well, I’ll think about it. Not for very long, but I will think about it. Because it is my favorite chair.

And frankly…? I look at six-hundred fifty dollars and booked through March, and, well… I kinda wonder why I’m not doing it. Not just my own (probably non-antique, nothing-special) chair but… why am I not doing everybody else’s?

So, I’m going to try it. Worst case scenario, I wind up with an ugly (but still perfectly sized) chair and a good story to tell. Best case? I might actually have a viable skill going. So, off to the internet I go, and learn something new.