Decorating With Sentimental Things Part 3

When my husband and I first married, we had a little house that didn't have a formal dining room. When we moved back to Georgia in 1990 we bought a bigger house and it had a formal dining room. We bought an antique dining room set that consisted of a table with 6 chairs, china cabinet, buffet, & sideboard. When my mother passed away I inherited her dining room suite. I never thought I would actually want it (not really my style) but once she was gone I couldn't imagine not having it. My mother was the perfect Southern lady. We actually used our formal dining room (I rarely do). We used the fine china, the silver, and cloth napkins! She always said, "What's the use in having it if you aren't going to use it?" All the memories of family gatherings around that table made me wonder how I could live without it. So, I ended up with 2 formal dining room suites.

Five years ago we built our dream home. I moved our kitchen table & chairs to my screened porch. I put the antique table and chairs in my kitchen and put my mothers' table and china cabinet in my formal dining room. All the antique pieces have been put in different rooms throughout my house. The buffet is in the formal dining room. The sideboard is in my bedroom. The china cabinet is in my family room...

It has served as a great place to put sentimental items and family treasures.

 

On the top shelf is an old photo of my husband and his siblings. He's the little boy on the left. I altered the photo in Photoshop to give it a watercolor effect. The little shoes & bracelet were mine when I was a baby. The antique glasses & case were my great-great grandmothers'.

 On the second shelf, I have some special photos. The one on the left is of me(on the left), my nephew, Blake, and my niece, Lee. Yes you heard right! NEPHEW & NIECE! I was one of those surprise babies you hear about but hope will never happen to you! Blake is 2 years older than me and Lee is 9 days older than me. They were like siblings but they went home at night. The photo on the right is of my brother, Dennis, and me. He is the youngest of my 3 brothers and is 15 years older than me. Blake is the son of my brother, Wallace, and Lee is the daughter of my brother, Gary.

The bottom shelf holds 2 quilts that my mother made. On top of the quilts is my grandmothers' Bible and another pair of glasses that my great-great grandmother owned.

In a little nook in my family room, I have a chair that belonged to my parents. They gave it to me about 15 years ago. They thought it was junk but I saw potential. It was covered in a red vinyl that was torn. I had it recovered in a fun fabric that has martinis, pipes, and cards on it. We call it the "vice chair". It sits next to a table and lamp that also belonged to my parents. There is a small photo on the table. In the photo is my grandmother and my nephew, Blake. This picture was taken around the time my mother was pregnant with me. In the photo is that same table and lamp!

A few years ago, I was at Scott Antique Market and came across a box full old mailbox doors. They used to make those so pretty! One of the first ones I pulled out had numbers on it that were the last 4 numbers of the phone number that we had when I was growing up and that my parents had until they passed away. I had to have it! It was meant to be. So, it's kind of sentimental without being a family heirloom. And it makes a great decorative piece! I keep it on a shelf in the family room.

Sometimes the things we think we'll never want end up being the things that mean the most to us!