As we get older entering different stages of life, things change.  Some are physical, some mental, and some are the things outside of those.  Possessions. Stuff you've had for years and now it's time to let go.  And as silly as this is going to sound, that's where I am with an old couch I have.  I know it's time, and I'm fine with it.

But in fairness, this to me isn't an ordinary couch.  It has a story as I look back on that's pretty cool and that's why it's been with me all these years.  You see in 1983 I was a very young broadcaster who moved to Columbus just starting off on my own and had zero money.  So I built this couch, because I couldn't afford to buy a real one, and it served me well for the next 40 years or so.  As I look at it today, it amazes me that I made it.  I made a matching chest too and that's in Florida at my house there full of pool toys.  But the couch was first.  It's what I could  - sort of afford.

I designed this humble couch as a day bed type of thing, and it was measured to fit the dumpy apartment I was living in.  I drove to my moms farm house in Berea late one Friday night and spent the weekend with her.  I used her -  I think -  70 year old table saw in the scary basement that was my "Grandpa Doc's" for the majority if not the entirety of the 20th century that I'm not sure was at all safe.  I cut all the pieces and there was a ton of them, labeling them with pen.  That took most of the weekend, then I loaded all the pieces up in my Buick Skyhawk and drove back home to my one bedroom apartment in the worst part of town along with some tools. I assembled it in my living room while watching the World Series over the course of a few nights with wood glue and nails.

Every Piece Was Labled

I belt sanded the entire thing, completely trashing my place for a couple of days. After the frame was together I nailed and glued on the platform, only to discover I had nailed in a drop cloth that was an old table cloth to the under frame and it's still there.  I bought an expensive piece ($15) of 4" foam that has lasted wonderfully. (The guy said it would and it did)  After I stained the couch, I covered the foam with a piece of tan herculon I stapled on that's still on there.  That was it.  Whole thing I think cost me $45 to make as that's what I could afford, if I even could then.  Sheesh!

Drop Cloth Nailed And Glued Under By Accident

That couch has been used for all these decades, mostly as a window sill couch after the first few years. My friends kids have slept on it, I have slept on it, company has slept on it, it survived party's, in short it has done its job.  That couch moved with me to Richmond, then to Jefferson City (2 addresses) then to Lakeland (2 addresses) then back here, (3 addresses). A few of the decorative pieces have had to be re-glued back on a few times.  Movers have loaded it on and off trucks and been in storage sheds and now it sits in the basement, warm and dry where it's been for the past 4 years.  The truth is, it just outlived its time. It's still in great shape, and I hate to part with it. But I get it, it's the memory of a different time that's the issue.

Am I proud of it?  I guess, it's not a classic piece of work, but it was my work as a broke 22 year old.  I had zero idea in 1983, I'd be writing about this is 2024, I guess I should be proud it lasted all these years and lived an exciting life - for a couch.

When I think about it, it lived my life too.  - Thanks old couch.  Maybe you'll find a new home.  (BTW it's PERFECT as a window sill couch)