This weekend, I spend many hours doing what I love to do – pottering around the house, renovating and building stuff. My project (well, one of) this time was to restore a pair of 1950’s chairs my grandparents have had for a long time.
So, out came the upholstery cleaner, the sand paper, the paint.
I love the results – now I have a pair of super comfy, retro, heirloom pieces pride of place in my garden.
And, guess what? As I was tending to these old pieces, it got me thinking. About branding. Obvs.
Some of the pieces were really rusty, they needed a lot of sanding down, wet and dry and elbow grease to take back the layers of oxidisation, to get it ready for a clean new surface, beautifully smooth and ready for a new life. (I thanked, at this stage, my degree in furniture making for the patience and experience to do this.)
Then I thought – if I’d left the rust untreated, what would happen in the next 70 years?
They would deteriorate to such a point that they would be unsalvageable and need to be entirely replaced, or worst – scrapped.
If I’d not deep cleaned the upholstery of past water damage, dust and mould, it would have seen a similar fate.
So scrubbed I did, and sanded I did.
But the chair didn’t change. The comfort didn’t change. The integrity remained.
And the story remained. I can across some repairs my grandfather had done to join two tubes, swapping an either missing or damaged tube for a cut-off piece of doweling. I smiled to myself, thinking that many years ago, he would be doing the same this I was doing now – caring for it, renewing, mending. I felt very connected to him, and he’s not been with us for over 20 years now.
So my thoughts were this:
- “When it comes to looking after something, a refresh is often enough – yes, it takes elbow grease, sweat, the odd swear word and black pinch, but the results can be dramatic and long lasting.”
- “When it comes to change, we don’t need to through the baby out with the bath water – by honouring the history, the legacy and provenance, you can transform something to a modern form without jeopardising its integrity and equity.”
- “When it comes to change that’s needed, the longer you leave it, the more damage can be done. So do the work before all the past work (and story) are unsalvageable.”
- “When it comes to connection, we can find it in the most unexpected places….”
Let me know what you think below!
Happy building,
Lauren
PS Yes, Sundays are also wash days in our house!!
