Troubled Closet Relief Program

Troubled Closet Relief Program
Originally uploaded by 365 Things

What: Large painter's tarp.
Origin: Shabby chic suggestion from a magazine -- so long ago that it might have been "Seventeen" magazine. Or "Young Miss." I used it to cover a sofa that had an unfixable and shredding slipcover.
How Long Kept: The sofa was reupholstered in 1994.
Usage:   Not since 1994.
Why kept: Aaargh. I might decide to paint something and thus I Might Need It? It Might Be Useful? (perhaps to take up a good deal of space -- easily equal to 4 of those plastic shoeboxes in volume -- in my closet?) Sticky.
Destination: One of my students has a painting business. I'm dropping it for him at class today.

Confession: The story of my sofa actually starts with a success story of the depression era/WWII thinking that causes me to hang onto stuff.

I got the sofa in probably 1984 from some friends who were re-decorating.  It was an old dentist's office sofa that his mom or aunt had recovered in a pretty nubby off-white cotton.  After being moved across country and used to death, that cotton slipcover started to shred at the seams.

During the shabby chic era, I bought the painter's canvas from an old-fashioned hardware store in Hoboken, and used it as a slipcover.   In 1994 I had the sofa recovered (the red sofa you see in the photo.) I still love that sofa.

Here's where the story goes wrong.  I folded up that tarp and put it in my closet.   It got packed in and out of boxes in various purges.  Until recently.

Even with this project, my thought process was -- "Someone in my circle might need this."  I couldn't bring myself to just give it away, or take it to the textile recycling drop at Union Square.

Finally, I asked Charlie if he wanted it. (Which kind of rewards me, in a backwards sort of way, for not letting go.    Like the little engine that could, the seemingly indelible mantra, "It Might Be Useful, It Might Be Useful, It Might Be Useful..." played over and over and over again in my head.  And its corollary:  "It's Better to save it for someone I care about."   Really?   Is that true?)

Aargh. Sticky.

Confession, part deux:  One more tea item, a tin of ginger peach teabags.   I didn't like it, too peachy, not gingery enough.  The place I teach at has a kitchen.   It's going over there, too.