When we get into being old, one of the things we say is “they don’t make’em like they used to.” This refers to pretty much everything, including things they didn’t make at all because they hadn’t yet been invented. Cell phones, for example, lasted forever because they didn’t exist and thus were immune to wear and tear. Houses were built to last — and that might be true. At least good houses were made to last. There were also tenements and they didn’t last, but no one tenderly remembers the vermin infested tenement in which they were forced to grow up.
One of the many things that lasted forever was furniture. My aunts and uncles — even my mother — had furniture that lasted from when I was very little until they died or moved into nursing homes. Friday, we are getting a new loveseat. The one on which Garry and I sit all the time is 14-years old, though it really seems like we bought it just the other day. We aren’t replacing the sofa because no one sits on it except the dogs.
Pondering the furniture my aunts and uncles had, no one sat on it either. It was placed in the living room, but no one was ever in the living rooms. If you were of superior stock, you called it the parlor — but nobody sat in there either. The family was always clustered in the dining room or kitchen. No one had a television till pretty late in life and then, the uncles sat around smoking cigars which meant no aunts ever sat around with them. Phew.
The smoke didn’t bother the furniture because (are you ready?) it was covered in thick clear plastic. Should you even want to sit on it, in summer you stuck to it and in winter, it was like sitting on an ice bank. The plastic got hard, stiff, and very cold … and we all slid right off it. So we, the youngsters, never sat on it and the grownups didn’t sit in it AND it was covered in plastic. Beneath the plastic, the furniture was wrapped in slipcovers, made to order when the furniture was brand new and under that was the original upholstery — which no one ever saw.
Of course it lasted forever. Our sofa, which does not have plastic covers, does have soft cloth covers to keep the worst of the dog hair and drool and kibble off it and still, with no children or grownups on it, it will last forever or close to it. Personally, we use the loveseat. That’s why, in its fifteenth year, we are replacing it.
There’s a moral to this story which is whatever you never use lasts forever. It wasn’t that it was such great quality or they don’t build it like they used to. It was that once delivered, we treated it as if it were in a museum. It’s similar to those fancy wine glasses and silver settings for dining that in the past, we used once a year (maybe) and now don’t use at all. I guarantee — it will last forever and no one wants it. The kids prefer paper plates.
They just don’t make stuff like that anymore.
Categories: Anecdote
Six years ago, a Newfoundland dog came to live in our house. When she started hanging out on the pale grey couch and loveseat, depositing gobs of black hair and drool, I bought slipcovers for those furniture items. The slipcovers do look like unmade beds with black hair and drool. No wonder nobody wants to sit on the couch and loveseat (except the dog). The slipcovers are complicated enough to put on that you can’t just whisk them off when humans want to sit on the couch.
I’m contemplating getting rid of the couch and loveseat and replacing them with a few nice armchairs and footstools. Too small for the dog.
Don’t even think about suggesting we get rid of the dog.
LikeLike
Hey, WE are dog people. The sofa belongs to the dog(s). Also, the small space in the middle of the loveseat? That’s for the dog, too. The footie part of the movable loveseat? Dog.
Dog may visit us in bed, but NOT sleep with us because the bed isn’t big enough for two seniors with bad backs and one very relaxed dog. The poor thing has to lie on the rug next to the bed, except when his passion for us grows exponentially and he’s up on the bed, literally falling into our arms. He loves being loved. I love him too, but not necessarily at 4 in the morning, though he considers this a very special time for loving.
We use old fuzzy “coverlets” on the dog sofa. This is because everything else we tried got horrible and it took two of us to dislodge it, wash it, dry it, and somehow get it back in place. The little coverlets are comparatively easy to put on and remove for cleaning.
I don’t even want to KNOW what Duke has stored in his crate, but it doesn’t smell too evil, so I’m assuming it’s just the usual wreckage. Our sofa, as a result of humans not using it (people sit on it while trying not to look alarmed or downright scared)(unless they have an even bigger dog)(or a baby) will probably last forever. I theorize that if you don’t like dogs, this is probably not the right venue. Although we’ve also had a lot of cats and a few ferrets and an occasional parrot (talk about MESSY OMG), we seem to have stayed with dogs. We’ve had as many as five, but now have just one. I wanted to adopt another one, but the prices they want to adopt a dog these days are higher than what it used to cost for a purebred from a breeder, so I’m afraid The Duke will have to be THE dog.
He’s over there. On the sofa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, any piece of furniture that can accommodate the dog becomes the dog’s. The bed is forbidden territory, though. We knew a fully grown Newf is about the same size and weight as a human being, so we didn’t let Nelly on the bed even as a puppy. We would have had to get an emperor size bed. And I’m a cat person by nature, so all this was kind of a shock.
LikeLike
So true Marilyn, it will last forever if never used.
Leslie
LikeLike
I finally got rid of my porcelain for 12 and my silver and those delicate glasses got rid of themselves. When my mother in law died, she left cases full of never-used stuff — that no one wanted anyway. I decided I wasn’t going to be like that. Unfortunately, even what I’ve got, no one wants.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s true, nothing lasts forever, but have you noticed how fast things fall apart these days?
LikeLike
You mean how the screws just fall out? How the toaster goes from perfection on purchase to useless in less than a month? Yes. I’ve noticed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
and things start to go wrong the minute the guarantee runs out?
LikeLike
In this case, the loveseat lasted 14 years of very heavy use. I don’t think I can blame the manufacturer this time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now CARS — that’s another story!
LikeLike