Tale of the Rejected Sunshine Yellow Chair

​Tale of The Rejected Sunshine Yellow Chair
Barb Avery    January 18 2017
 
 
We piled into the car, laughing, holding our list of destinations. We joke about this day all year.
You see, for my chosen birthday day, it is my day, my one day each year to drag my husband and son around to do the things they would never do. For these past few years, for birthday day, it has been visiting dealerships to stake out, sit in and feel my next convertible, and to furniture stores to sit and imagine new furniture.
For many, this type of goal planting, the smelling, touching, seeing and getting photos of your “prize” for achievement, is a strong way to embed and commit to the next goal.
 
In a previous life, I was an Interior Designer, yes, 15 years of working in the most magnificent homes. You would think that our personal homes would have been stunning in every detail. They were…in my mind, but reality is we have always purchased fixer-uppers that we made beautiful, and moved on.  And our furniture, although we made it work fabulously, was hand me downs, dump diving, roadside trash picking, and auction pieces, rebuilt, repainted, repurposed, but that is another story.
 
We three spilled out of the car at our 1st stop. I bolted into the store first. I spotted it immediately among the “herd” of benign beiges and greys. 
A bright yellow leather chair in a fancy gallery featuring those Norwegian chairs I love to sit in yet can’t bring myself to spring for the $3500 plus the $1000 ottoman. There it sat, as bright as a newly blooming sunflower, preening, nestled among the beiges, browns and black furniture. I zeroed in and promptly sat myself right into that colorful chair. It was sunny. It was happy. It was so comfortable. The owner spotted me wearing a blissful smile and offered that if I took that chair today, he would make a deal for less than his cost because it was a sample that had been sitting there for 3 years. Three years! Rejected!

“How much?” I challenged.
“$850.”
“With the ottoman?”
“With the ottoman.”
“Sold!”

My husband and son had finally meandered their way to where I was holding the negotiations just in time to hear SOLD come out of my mouth. Both of their mouths were gaping. It was a triumphant moment! My very 1st  outrageous new chair.  I was so excited I could not contain myself!
 
The owner, Bob, went on and on about how this was the hardest color to sell in all his 40 years of selling furniture. I could not believe my ears! Who could reject this chair color?

My sunflower, sunshiney bright yellow chair, I explained, was a very happy versatile color!
I painted him some pictures using my arms for added flair of course;
It would pair nicely in a white-washed beachy themed room of blues and whites!
It would pop in a room full of stained wood, with fall leaf colors of burgundy, oranges, purples and leafy greens!
It would brighten up a cabin folk art themed room of barn reds, forest greens, blacks and golds!
It would have a party in raspberry, fuchsia, with shades of limes, tangerines and aqua!
It would be the diva in a room of black and white.

There is not one color theme this radiant sunflower yellow leather beauty would not feel at home in.

Bob couldn’t sell the chair because he listened to his customers, who could not picture a sunshine yellow chair in their room! It was a problem color! It was gauche and gaudy.

I, on the other hand, with my background, could see this chair in dozens of color combinations! How would I choose one scheme when so many could work?!

The problem was not the problem but how you looked at the problem. New thinking! New ideas! Creativity to solve the problem means it was never a problem in the first place.
 
Bob fretted he could have gotten full price from me, he then quickly proclaimed, I’ll be right back, excused himself, turned and walked into his office.

They were wrapping up my new golden treasures when Bob bolted out from his office.
“I called my friend in Sarasota who also carries this line of furniture and he too still has a yellow leather chair he cannot seem to unload…… are you in the market for two?”


We drove home to exchange the car for the truck. First stop was the last stop and I could not have been happier!
 
What are some “problems” that are blocking your path to success?  Obstacles that may only be waiting for some creative, different-view thinking to solve or work around them. New ideas and thinking comes from books, engaging mentors or a coach!

What obstacles do you face?

Personal development should never take a vacation. Make it part of your daily routine and you will add new bite sized pieces of knowledge, be equipped with new awareness’s to think yourself out of any problem you encounter on your personal journey for success!