Open to improvement

The home is a human institution. All human institutions are open to improvement.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman

As we wait for spring to arrive (today the sun shone – then it hailed, whilst the sun still shone – then it clouded over and big fluffy snowflakes started falling. We are now left with what is, I am assured, termed a ‘dusting’!) our thoughts inevitably turn to matters inside the home.

The Girl and I are very fond of our dark-wood furniture – a fair amount of which followed us here from the UK. One ensemble that did not was our rather fine twin pedestal dining room table and matching chairs – the which we acquired here in Victoria from some folks who no longer had room for it. For a reproduction suite it was and is really pretty splendid, with the exception of the rather tasteless fabric with which the chairs had been re-covered. Having lived with this for a couple of years we decided that it was high time to get things upgraded.

As is often the way here in Canada we rapidly established that the perfectionist friend of ours – who did all the difficult painting when we renovated our main floor some years back – was also a wiz at re-upholstering chairs and benches. Cool! She has just completed the task – perfectly as ever – and we thank her most gratefully.

Whilst we were at it we thought we would buy a couple of nice stools for the peninsula between our kitchen and dining room – and a dark-wood plant stand for our over exuberant spider plant.

Anyhow – I thought you might like to see a few photos…