Furniture DOES tell a story

Every piece of furniture that I re-create tells a specific story!  Much to my chagrin, that is why I have quite a few unfinished pieces in my garage waiting for my attention.  But I am drawn to each piece of furniture for a reason and each has a story to tell.

I want to tell you about "Carrie Lee" a particularly "distressed" piece that sat in my garage for a long time until I decided to bring it in just to practice a technique on.  LOL the technique was a disaster and I figured that it would be going out in the next trash pick up.  But that night, I went to bed and dreamt of my Great-grandmother, whom I had barely known and the next day I went to the basement and began to paint and as I painted a story unfolded in my head that brought this old, battered wash stand alive.

Great Grandma was a spunky gal with flaming red hair, a husky voice, and a spirit to match. She eloped with her handsome Bohemian miner on Christmas Day, 1910. Her mother gave her a wash stand from her home because 'cleanliness was next to Godliness and it became one of her most prized and loved possessions. She waxed that piece every month and when it suffered bumps and bruises from her growing family, great-grandpa would smile and fix it.
The stand moved with them as they moved to a home with indoor plumbing, it survived a fire, and the rot that comes with age and it was even there when her little grand-daughter would run to her house buck naked but for a pair of galoshes asking for "bread, butter and sugar." And it was there when her great-granddaughter came and they ate supper of fried chicken and green beans.
Great Grandma passed, and so her loved stand went to her daughter and sat in an empty room gathering dust, sometimes someone would try to mend it, but it didn't serve much of a purpose and then it went to her grand-daughter who could never get rid of it for all the beautiful memories. But memories fade and so did the wash stand. Finally the family could find no more use for the worn, chipped, burned and rotted piece. It was time to move on. But sometimes a piece of furniture cries out and says "Remember!" And someone remembers and is able to re-create that spunky gal with flaming red hair, a husky voice and a spirit to match

May I present to you "Carrie Lee".  I hope you feel her spirit.