The Grandma House

I just wrote to a friend, “I am so grateful for the Grandma House” so that’s the topic for today.

The Grandma House is my current home. It’s old and un-renovated. It does not have a great room or an open floor plan. It has a small parlor with a Victorian fireplace. The kitchen has white-painted cabinets and a white stove and fridge. It would be cool if the fridge were a Frigidaire like my own Grandma had. It’s not. I would guess the Frigidaire here was replaced in the 70s and then again in the 90s since the current one is just old. But not avocado greed.

I do have a vintage 50s chrome dining set, though, that I found for cheap on eBay. It’s a grey Formica table and nicely re-upholstered diner chairs. It was in someone’s farm house in New Hampshire, but my mover-helper guy, Joe, undercharged me to drive up there and haul it back. Joe is awesome. Let me know if you ever need a mover.

My favorite find for the Grandma House, though, is a rattan couch and chair from a lovely lady in Beverly. I felt like a thief since she was only charging $150. Online it looked a fairly ugly since she had made new quasi-tropical covers for the cushions in a jarring lime and yellow bamboo pattern. It seemed to have good bones, though, as they say. And you can’t even buy a couch at Ikea for $150. So I called Joe and asked him to run up to Beverly.

He texted me when he got there, “Are you sure you want this?” Apparently it was stuck in the corner of the back porch, looking depleted. Joe’s been in my house and he has a bit of an eye. He was just not feeling that lemon yellow bamboo thing. “Um,” I wobbled for a moment. However, I love rattan couches from the 50s, and this one had been special to the lady and her husband of 60 years who had just passed. I imagined them fixing Mai Tais on sultry August nights, tiki torches and bossa nova…you know that vibe, right? “Yes!” I texted back, “Get it!”

I could hardly wait for Joe to get here. When he did he was shaking his head. “I can’t believe you buy these things sight unseen.” Well, the furniture did need some major cleaning, and of course I’d have to invest in new slip covers. I could get good ones, though, because I basically got the set for free.

When everything was inside, I took a closer look. I wanted to see what was under those slip covers, if I’d have to buy totally new cushions or what. When I started unzipping, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was the original bark cloth. Yup. Palm fronds. Tropical flowers. Ha! Joe and I looked at each other. Grinned and high fived. I’d stuck vintage gold.

My Gram was so fun and funny. I’m grateful for this house and for Gram’s china, which I have as well. I don’t eat ham, kielbasa, and borscht anymore, but I use her Easter plates for every fabulous day.