Trios of Tables and Chairs

So here is a question for you ... how many of something do you have to have before its a collection?

Here, I will help you to decide.

One? - well obviously you cant have a collection of one.  That's just silly.  Lets move on.

Two? - this is I believe whats called a pair?  Ask any man, he will tell you that two of anything is a great pair!

Three? - if you subscribe to the theory that two = a pair, then it logically stands that three of something is a trio?  Unless of course you are the queen and we are talking about castles .. yes I think 3 castles constitutes a collection! Can hardly imagine HRH saying "I have a Trio of Castles". Three cats is the start of being a crazy cat lady and therefore a collection, not a trio.

OK, so three is the number that starts a collection.  In my new uncluttered world, I don't 'collect' stuff anymore.  So how come I have collected three sets of outdoor table and chairs?  Well I know the answer to that, so no need for you to answer.  This is how it happened ...

• I read a home and garden magazine and there is this serene picture of a English cottage garden with a white wrought iron table and 2 matching chairs.  It sits in the space created by an arbour covered in tiny pink roses, blue salvia and white daisy's.  On the table is a book (Jane Austin's Emma, of course), a cup of tea in Royal Albert Old Country Roses teacup and a few sprigs of lavender.  I immediately see myself sitting here, whiling away many delicious hours in the gentle sun with no distractions.  So I bought a white wrought iron table and chairs.

The roses are there, in the background - dormant, the salvia died and the daisy's never flower.  If you look closely you can see dog poo on the lawn!

• I saw a Lifestyle show about a Tuscan garden makeover.  They made a 'focal point' at the end of a long walkway of an aged verdigris table and 2 chairs, surrounded by huge pots with an olive tree, and orange tree and smaller pots of rosemary.  On the table was a pitcher of wine, a cheese platter and a loaf of crusty bread.  I immediately saw myself sitting there, so went to Bunnings to spend my birthday voucher on a metal table and chairs that had a verdigris finish applied in the factory in India.  The olive tree in a pot got too big so its out the back, the orange tree in a pot looks very sick and the dog keeps peeing on my rosemary.

Not quite Tuscan, more like Basso.  Not sure what went wrong here !!!

• Years (and years) ago I went through a 'restoring old furniture to look like even older furniture' phase.  Crackle finish was all the rage.  I found an old table for $3 at a garage sale.  It was wonky but it had potential (in a good light, when you are drunk).  I spent $30 on a crackle finish kit, bought paint in a very uneconomical 1L which cost $25, a tin of estapol as the one we had in the shed had gone hard at a cost of $29, sourced real brass knobs at an antique store for $40; then spent days sanding, painting, applying crackle, getting it wrong, sanding again, painting, applying crackle finish right this time, estapoling, and finally standing back and admiring a wonky table that looked like it was worth $3 at a garage sale (in a good light, when you are drunk).  It now sits on our front veranda in an attempt at 'Shabby Chic' with 2 cane chairs that are not Shabby Chic and a few aged boxes that are an attempt at Shabby Chic.  I think I missed the mark in this design school.  But I saw myself sitting out there on a bright sunny Saturday morning, cup of coffee and latest Shabby Chic magazine in hand, a gentle start to my weekend.  The reality is that I try and sit there, amongst all the junk that was dumped there from the ute, the dog hair that has joined up with leaves and dirt, the old cat who has made his home on one of the cane chairs, the dying plant (I forget to water them in winter) and 17 pairs of discarded shoes.

Well this was AFTER the big clean up. 

So I have a collection of trio's of table and chairs.

Just have to find the time to play out my fantasies in them.  What will I be today?  English?  Tuscan?  Shabby? 

Or maybe I could get Dad to make one of those tables out of an old pallet that i saw on Pinterest .....