Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The Unexpected Sofa.


Erm, yes. Well, it was the birthday weekend after all. For various inexplicable reasons it seems that acquiring Elton John’s sofa* seemed to be the best way to celebrate.
We long tired of our only choice of seating being either fold up camping chairs, with us folded up uncomfortably within, or on toolboxes, or as a frequent last resort the floor. Little did we know that a visit to the local (and reliably quite good actually) car boot sale would present us with the ideal opportunity to do something silly about it.
Obviously we spotted our new sofa a mile off; well, wouldn’t you?
Sat on it and politely enquired the price. Remained poker-faced and wandered off to engage in heated debate once safely out of earshot, walked as slowly as possible round rest of boot sale twice, buying other random objects before going back to discover it hadn’t been sold and make an insultingly poor offer. Fair enough, the seller didn’t bite, but instead came up with a more sensible figure, as these things go, somewhere in the middle. Deal done we grabbed one end each and marched the thing straight out of there, into the car (sort of- didn’t quite fit), out of the car, over the footbridge and into the boat, stopping on the after deck for these frankly scary pictures. Sometime about this point a passing rambler shouted “well, you just don’t expect to see THAT!” which is about right. I mean, it’s so bad it’s good really. And comfy enough to sleep on convincingly, once the bits of dead vegetation had been vacuumed out of all the crevices.


Becky has developed some mad plan to reupholster the thing and spruce up the bonkers faux Louis XIV carving, which I wholly approve of, but also figure that it can stay red crushed velvet for a bit, as for a while at least it’s only going to get covered in dust while we cut more bits of wood up all over the place.
I love it, it’s ridiculous aesthetic crashes horribly into the whole tugboat-tough thing. Also being able to lounge about in front of the fire when I should be sanding something down or wrestling electrics instead is a very gratifying thing indeed, which is a bit of a first.

*A lie.

18 Comments:

Blogger bowiechick said...

Awesome score. Antiques go with everything, tugs included. Yep, I keep waiting to re-upholster mine too. I think I'll be waiting a while longer.

6:06 am  
Blogger rob said...

Great job! An almost fitted "dust sheet" springs to mind? (blue plastic reinforced tarp, and gaffer tape!) so it won`t get worse!:o)) great find, eh? Amazing what a hired/borrowed steam cleaner and a pot of faux gold paint will do when your ready,and a few "throws" too, of course

8:04 pm  
Anonymous Simon said...

Love it. :)
Nice to see an update too, I worry when it's been quiet for a while

8:11 pm  
Blogger IsmilebecauseIhavenoideawhatsgoingon said...

Dear Rob,
Nice one. A suitable dust sheet has been deployed.
I'm 100% with you on the 'throws' thing as well.

cheers, S

8:30 pm  
Anonymous SweetpeainFrance said...

This has made me laugh out loud to see you two lording it aboard on crushed red velour and gold galore!
MadreinFrance

4:07 pm  
Blogger Ib Frohberg said...

Would be nice on the bridge.
As a Captains chair....?
-:D

7:09 am  
Blogger IsmilebecauseIhavenoideawhatsgoingon said...

Hi Ib.

Hmmmm, yes- I thought that too...

7:29 pm  
Blogger steve said...

Hi Seb
Love the sofa, it pays to have a little luxury when you're constantly living in a building site.
Nerdy question; the little davit in the background of the photo of Becky, how much weight can that take? I've been thinking about building something similar next to our wheelhouse and have a tendency to underestimate what welded steel can handle and therefore massively overengineer things...

11:03 am  
Blogger IsmilebecauseIhavenoideawhatsgoingon said...

Hi Steve,
in order to answer your question I had to find out what a hundredweight is as the davits themselves (which are solid round bar by the way) have '8CWT running load' stamped upon them. this has been revised several times over the years as it's possible to make out the original number 12 which has been ground out. A hundredweight is 112lb. 8 x112lb is 896lb. What's this in new money?? 406.4 Kilos apparently. So just under half a ton then. All this however depends upon the strength of the bosses that I made up for these davits to run in, they are made from heavy wall pipe, some large 8mm plate fillets and welded together with low hydrogen sticks, but it's anyone's guess what load they'll take before they shear. At work we always overengineer things where lifting is concerned so I think you should take comfort that you feel the need to do the same and just go for it really. Our own davits have turned out surprisingly useful, in spite of the fact that I only put them up because I was sick of skelfing my knees on them...

8:07 am  
Blogger steve said...

Wow thanks, you learn something every day. It's always surp[rising just how much weight things can take, half a ton is a LOT of weight, and i'd probably be getting nervous hauling a couple of 25kg bags of coal up on them, which is more than a bit silly.
I think, however, that a lot less problems would arise from overengineering davits than underengineering them, so it's good to have a rough idea of what a half ton davit looks like, and then go crazy with bracing, welding and thickness of steel!

10:43 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

qihang0615ray ban uk
hollister clothing store
burberry outlet
coach factory outlet
ray bans
cheap jordans
pandora outlet
pandora charms
oakley sunglasses
oakley sunglasses
true religion jeans
toms outlet
coach factory outlet
toms shoes
ray ban outlet
soccer jerseys
ralph lauren uk
true religion sale
rolex watches
pandora jewelry
michael kors outlet online
coach outlet online
ray ban sunglass
coach outlet store online
hollister clothing
ralph lauren
chanel handbags
burberry outlet online
abercrombie outlet
michael kors
oakley sunglasses sale
prada outlet
kate spade uk
q

10:09 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

2015625dongdong
jordan 3
jordan 8s
michael kors outlet online
jordan 8
tod's shoes
coach outlet
oakley sunglasses wholesale
michael kors outlet online
lebron james shoes
marc jacobs handbags
pandora charms
michael kors outlet
michael kors bag
michael kors outlet online
jordan 11s
michael kors handbags
ray ban sunglasses
louis vuitton handbags
michael kors outlet
ray ban sunglass
abercrombie store
pandora charms
louis vuitton handbags
kate spade handbags
jordan 3s
gucci handbags
louis vuitton handbags
polo ralph lauren
michael kors uk
toms shoes
cheap toms
michael kors
prada shoes
jordan 11 gamma blue
coach factory outlet
jordan concords
prada outlet

2:13 am  
Blogger chenlina said...

chenlina20151229
ugg outlet
ugg australia
coach outlet store online
oakley sunglasses
michael kors outlet
louis vuitton bags
oakley sunglasses cheap
oakley sunglasses cheap
beats by dre
kobe 9
ugg clearance
coach factory outlet
polo ralph lauren
louis vuitton outlet
mont blanc legend
mulberry handbags
coach outlet store online
ray ban sunglasses
canada goose jackets
nike trainers uk
michaek kors outlet online
ray ban sunglasses outlet
fitflops
coach outlet
oakley outlet
ugg boots
ugg boots
uggs on sale
michael kors outlet stores
ed hardy clothing
oakley sunglasses
replica watches
michael kors outlet
michael kors bag
timberland outlet
louis vuitton handbags
jordan concords
louis vuitton handbags
michael kors outlet online
uggs sale
as

1:57 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

Woա, sսperb blog layout! How ⅼong have you been Ьlogging
for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of уour
web site is wonderful, as well as the content! I has some good article to share with you.. Check List Here
bagaimana cara merawat luka diabetes
cara mengobati varises vulva
Obat Cepat Gemuk Dalam Waktu Singkat

5:56 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

obat herbal flu tulang
dampak sgot dan spgt tinggi
cyano spirulina

6:59 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Pengobatan Herbal Berbagai Penyakit Kronis
Cara Alami Pengobatan Berbagai Jenis Penyakit

8:46 am  
Blogger 85 said...

jeje0614ralph lauren outlet
ray ban eyeglasses
skechers outlet
adidas superstar
supreme outlet
fitflops
kate spade outlet online
louboutin outlet
polo pas chère
moncler outlet

5:05 am  
Blogger zzyytt said...

coach outlet store
kobe byrant shoes
links of london sale
golden goose outlet
kate spade outlet
nike react
cheap mlb jerseys
jordan retro
goyard handbags
kobe sneakers

7:58 am  

Post a Comment

<< Home