Updated 9/24: I am also linking this to Vintage Thingies Thursday blog party hosted by
Coloradolady.
Marie over at
Emma Calls Me Mama is hosting another Heirloom Party. In
part one back in July, I showed you my Grandma's rocker. This time I will be showing a couple of family heirlooms that came from my hubby's side of the family and one from my side.
Anyone who knows me knows that I love old things. That is the real reason I married my hubby, he's old. Just kidding. I married him for his family heirlooms. Just kidding again. They were just an extra bonus.
One of my favorite items that belonged to my hubby is this secretary that belonged to his mom. But even before belonging to his mom, it belonged to his grandmother. Now my hubby never knew his grandmother as she died back in 1918 during the great flu pandemic. In fact, both of my hubby's grandparents died during this time. My hubby's mom was only 5 at the time of her parents death.
Isn't it beautiful? It sits in our kitchen. I've stocked it up with lots of items that I hope will be heirlooms to pass down to future generations. Who am I kidding? I have boys who hate this crap, I mean stuff. Maybe I'll luck out & have grand daughters someday. Right now, I only have a grandson. Or maybe my nieces might like some of these items.
None of these items are actual family heirlooms. But they are still heirlooms. Most everything was picked up at various thrift stores. The green scale did come from an antique mall. I had always wanted one & I found this one for a reasonable price.
The old coffee grinder belongs to hubby. He said someone gave it to him. Did you notice the little clay figures on the coffee grinder? My hubby makes them for fun whenever he uses his bondo to fix things. It's kind of a family joke now. The tall metal thing to the right is a Model A jack. Then hubby has 2 lanterns. The small one tucked inside the larger one is a mining carbide lantern. The larger lantern is a train lantern. Hubby said he was given these items or found them at a thrift store. The bell, bottle & small milk crate belong to me. The milk bottle & milk crate came from Disneyland back in the 80's. The bell I picked up at a thrift store.
The next shelf down houses some of my blue & white china. The cup & saucer in the back came from a thrift store. The old iron belongs to hubby. The heart shaped jar hubby bought for me in Amsterdam. The cream covered bowl came from Home Goods a few years back.
This old crock is hubby's. I think it belonged to his mom. We have quite a few crocks around our kitchen. This one holds sunglasses. You can never have too many sunglasses.
Sorry that this photo is blurry. The delft girl & shoes came from a thrift store to remind me of our trip to the Netherlands. The covered dish came from Home Goods a few years back. Another old iron that belongs to hubby.
The top shelf shown here holds more blue & white china. None of these items are very old. The white platters in the back are. They came from thrift stores. The bottom shelf has cook books, my recipe box (this is a family heirloom. It belonged to my great grandma), and an old wooden bowl that belongs to my hubby.
Luckily we still have the skeleton key to open the desk part.
The left side has a little cubby & a small drawer. Heaven forbid we look inside!!! I wouldn't want to scare you all.
OK, you twisted my arm. I'll show you inside the desk part. Just remember, this is my hubby's stuff. I don't have a clue what is all in here.
I did have to show you the desk part that pulls down. See that big black ink spot? When Hubby's mom was a little girl, she used to love & sit at this desk and draw, doodle, write, whatever. One day, she knocked over the ink bottle & it stained the wood.
This secretary meant a lot to hubby's mom since it had belonged to her mom and she lost her mom at such a young age. I'm glad she kept it all these years and passed it on to my hubby.
The next heirloom I want to share was also passed down from generation to generation. This mirror was a wedding present given to my hubby's grandparents in the early 1900's. I never knew until today it was that old. I love it because it is so chippy!!! It hangs in the little alcove by our bedroom.
Look at all that chippiness. Isn't it fabulous?
And finally I want to show you one of my family heirlooms. This dining room table & chairs belonged to my Great Grandmother. The first time I met my Great Grandmother was in the 1970's when she was 90 years old. She had been living in the Phoenix area and was no longer able to take care of herself. She had to come live with my family. So we went to Phoenix to get her and all her belongings. I remember staying in a motel and all of us kids wanted to go swimming. My parents promised that after they got back from packing up my Great Grandma's stuff they would take us swimming. Well while they were gone a huge dust storm erupted & filled the hotel pool full of dirt. We were so disappointed that we couldn't go swimming. So when I see this table it reminds me of this story.
The table originally was natural wood. My parents used it in their home for quite a few years. In the 80's they gave it to my brothers family. They used it for awhile & then gave it to me. I was living in an apartment at the time & it wouldn't fit. So I stored it in my parents shed for 20 years. It was stored on end & the end on the ground rotted. In fact most of the wood looked real bad. My parents wanted to throw it away. But wait!!! Hubby to the rescue. He used his bondo stuff to repair the end that was rotted out. I was originally going to paint the entire table & chairs black. But the side of the table had beautiful inlay. Hubby was able to find replacement inlay for the end that was destroyed. He said if we painted parts black, he could fix the rest. And he did.
See the inlay along the bottom? The stuff on the left is new, the middle & right is old. Can't tell the difference, right? Also hubby found replacement veneer for the middle section as well. Since the edges were the most damaged, we painted them black. I wish we had taken before photos, but that was before blogging.
Here is a close up of the captain's chair. We painted them black & then distressed them. Hubby left the little area at the top of the chair natural so it would match the table top. We just reupholstered the chairs a few months ago for the
Procrastinators Party.
Don't you just love the table & chair legs? I know I do. One of the table legs had a piece broken off. So hubby used bondo to fix that right up as well.
I just love this table. I don't think I will ever part with it.
The top still needs to be redone. Hubby did it once, but he didn't put enough shellac or something like that on the top. And you can see that I have the leaf in the table left over from last Thanksgiving. I was too lazy to remove it & Thanksgiving is coming up again shortly. The leaf has never been refinished. And I just noticed that my stepson left his dishes sitting on the couch. Had you even noticed it before I brought it to your attention? Keeping it real people, keeping it real.
Well I hope that you have enjoyed my family heirlooms. I have some more, but I'll save them for another
Heirloom Party. Hopefully
Marie will have another party someday. Now scoot on over to her
blog to see everyone else's heirlooms. Plus she is having a fabulous giveaway to
Hudson Goods. They have such yummy stuff!!! You need to visit her blog
Emma Calls Me Mama to leave a comment to win. But I'm warning you now, I'm going to win!!! (Fingers crossed).
And don't forget to leave me a comment & let me know which heirloom is your favorite.
Kim
Most everything we needed for these projects came in the kits. All we needed to supply was black paint, mod podge and foam brushes. Luckily my SIL had everything we needed.
Next we mod podged on the Halloween paper provided in the kits. For the larger block we ripped the edges of the paper first.
Next we applied the vinyl letters to each block. This was my first time using the vinyl letters. It was pretty easy with these large letters. But on the witch shoe block, the lettering was small & it wanted to stick to the wrong side of the paper. So it took a little more time. For some reason I forgot to take photos as I was making the witch shoe block.
Here are the Eek blocks after applying the letters.
The small "e" got a couple of pieces of multi colored ribbon tied together with a piece of some fuzzy stuff glued behind it. Not sure what you would call the fuzzy stuff, other than fuzzy stuff.
The "k" got an orange rhinestone, and some fuzzy yarn that had little pom poms, which was tied in a bow & then glued on top.
Didn't it turn out cute?
The kit also came with tiny ribbons of various colors that we were suppose to tie in a knot & glue up & down the right side. But I left mine off. Thought it was too busy. I liked mine how I did it.
