When the weather nips you in the bud, it's time to pick up a book and settle into a wing-back chair that embraces your warmth. I've purchased very few pieces of furniture in my lifetime. The chair below was a find in an old Victorian house a friend inherited. It was a sad frame with a few patches of red frayed upholstery. The non-matching foot stool was minus a leg and sporting a hideous plaid fabric. They were about to take a trip to the dump when I rescued them.
My passion for wing-backs continues with this find. It was just a frame that sat in a pile of "free for the taking" furniture on the curbside . Lucky I drive a pick-up. Screech. Load up and off to my upholsters. I also scrounge old stools as it's always comfy to put your feet up. I think of Martha Washington and wing-backs. She tried to make the house warm and cozy for George when he came home from his skirmishes. (I think) 
I can't decide if wing-backs are my favorite or it's my attraction to scrounging and wing-backs rank high on the discard pile. Shrug!! But can't beat a good find. What's your favorite chair?
I fell in love with wingback chairs while camping in Yosemite. No really. My companions decided to climb up toward El Capitan but my idea of a restful vacation was to sit by a cozy fire and read. So, they went off to potentially plummet off the mountainside and I went to the Ahwahnee Hotel in the valley. They had the most amazingly comfortable wingback chairs surrounding the giant fireplace that I spent the entire day there. Forget the beautiful scenery, I was planted there first with my book and hot chocolate then with my book and a glass of wine, then with my book and a martini. If I could have bought one of them off the hotel I would have. Every time I go back I stop by to visit my chair.
ReplyDeleteI'm small so the most important aspect of a chair to me is the depth of the seat, irrespective of the design. I like the way that a wing-back enfolds you and gives you something to lean your head against if you fancy a little dose.
ReplyDeleteHurrah for rescuing furniture and giving it a new lease of life!
Your chairs are now gorgeous! Wingbacks are so comfortable. We used to have two of them. My favorite chair is a large wooden rocker on the patio.
ReplyDeleteThe wingback is my favorite chair, too. I don't have one right now. But, I wonder if it's more of the happy memories of the time period in which a wingback chair existed in my life. More the better. I sat in that chair a lot. to read, to gab, to gaze out the front window, to daydream, to sleep. I've been keeping an eye open for a find at thrift stores and garage sales. I would screech to a halt too if I saw one on the street for free. Both your chairs look so inviting. :-)
ReplyDeleteLove that wingback chair. Screech! Love it! I had to leave behind a dark green corduroy one when I left Santa Fe. I now have a large comfy overstuffed sage green chair, but there's nothing like a wingback for coziness. What a fun post. I need to get me a pickup... :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Manzanita. Your chairs are gorgeous! Have a nice day.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness!!! Is there no end to your amazing talents?!?! These are gorgeous chairs!! Gorgeous!! I'd be terrible and cover them in plastic and not let anyone sit on them!! They are to be admired from behind a steel re-inforced grate! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteOh but seriously!! These are lovely!!! I like these chairs - they're my favourite!!!!
Take care
x
Lots of wingbacks here in Virginia! Just had my two favorites recovered. Favorites, that is, until I saw your pics. If either goes missing from your house, don't call the cops. It's HERE! Those chairs are gorgeous, Manzie,... gorgeous! Did I tell you I love furniture, watches and sunglasses? I'm like a moth to the flame! Screech, is oh, so right!
ReplyDeleteMy wife is into chairs. My favorite is the one I get to sit in.
ReplyDeleteEvil2win,
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful story.You just changed liquids as the day progressed and read in your wingback!!! I used to do a lot of skiing and I do remember some great old chairs in the chalets.
Christine,
I especially like the "little dose" part. :)
Carol,
Me too..Love to rock. It's so comforting.
Su-sieee,
I wonder if putting free furniture on the curb is permitted in all cities. Everyone does it here. Looks rather tacky but people sure gobble it up, especially the college kids.
Teresa,
You're going to have a fleet of transportation. I remember you want an old car .... pre electronic stuff....:) You could have tied the wingback on top of your car. ha
Thanks Ellie,
It was nice of you to stop by and leave a comment.
Old Kittie,
Behind a steel re-inforced grate?? You are brimming with a great humor.
Kittie,
You can post your wing backs too. We all love chairs. We can have the "wingback club."
JJ
Ha.... men get their appointed chair!!!
Thanks everybody. I love your great comments. Manzi
What a marvelous save and restore. I love the look of the wingback, but they look like they require good posture. I am such a sloucher.
ReplyDeleteWingbacks are so cozy and comfy...especially with a footstool. My favorite chair, I think, is a Morris chair. I don't own one yet; but, I keep hoping to get one someday. Love your chairs! Thank you for sharing! Candace
ReplyDeleteI love wingbacks and I am partial to roses too. Your chairs are perfect!
ReplyDelete…and what about this? I have a little marble base rose lamp exactly like yours. Well, I shouldn’t describe it like that…mine does not have a perfect globe. :( ..boo hooo. The big rose is worn partly away. The lamp was sitting on a “for free” table at a yard sale many moons ago. I grabbed it up and danced all the way to the car!
Gerry
I like a big, broad, comfy chair for nestling in. A fairly upright or firm back helps, I don't feel comfortable in squishiness, it hurts my back after a while.
ReplyDeleteThe wingback part is not so important, there are hardly any draughts in my house!
Thanks for following my blog. I LOVE wingback chair! You'll never see a post about them on things that bother me.
ReplyDeleteI remember two chairs from when I was a little kid:
ReplyDeletea (what seemed like it then) giant rocker that belonged to my great grandfather--I think three of us kids could sit in it at one time and eat Oreos; and
a big-old red-white-and-blue 1776 patriotic-themed upholstered wing-back my mom bought. Why, I'll never know... since we had a lime green couch. I think she liked the wing-back too.
I especially like the second chair you posted.
Your "Screech" made me laugh...my mom loves Garage Sales...
ReplyDelete...When we were kids,we would be on the way some where and "screech"=........., whoosh (us kids flying across the seat)...mom would park the car so close to the ditch we'd "fall' out of the car when we got out.
I don't recall her stuffing a wind back chair in the trunk, though :-)
Visiting from Never Growing Old
Have a great weekend!
www.comeonhome.net
That second one looks so amazingly cozy. I like a chair I can curl up in and tuck my feet. My favorite chair was inherited from my son who found it in a shed who used it for his cat to sleep in. I tossed a cover over it and sit in it writing for hours every day. (It's not nearly so beautiful as yours tho.)
ReplyDeletePatti,
ReplyDeleteSloucher, huh? I guess I'm kinda a "layer-backer." That's probably a sloucher, too. That why I always like a foot stool. Thanks, Patti.
Friko,
I don't like squishy either. Those modern fluffy things just don't suit. :)
Bothered,
OK, I'll be aware of that and look for what you don't like. :)
Big D,
Know just the kind of 3-kid chair you mean. And oreos.... yummm Thanks, Big D
Candace,
I'm not familiar with the term "Mom's chair. Most likely have seen it but haven't heard that term. I also have a small rocker without arms that my Grandmother called a "nursing rocker." Could that be it?
Gerry,
I think you and I have similar tastes in most things. What a precious find that lamp is. I can see you dancing to the car. I got mine at an estate sale years ago in Minneapolis. It's been to Florida with me and now in Montana. None of my furniture makes any sense to a decorator. I just keep what puts me in my comfort zone and really, isn't that what life is all about. Good to talk to you...
Carolee,
My kids grew up the same as you.... garage sale after garage sale. Screech and screech LOL Thanks so much for visiting and I'll be by and visit you.
Karen,
Isn't it amazing that often your favorite chair is tucked away in some dark shed, under the warmth of a furry animal? That's one good reason to explore the contents of all sheds. LOL Thanks, Karen