Heirloom
Decorating
by
Rachel Paxton
I
love to surround myself with things from the
past. To me "heirloom" doesn't necessarily
mean something really old, because memories
are always in the making, and family keepsakes
can be treasured whether they are a year old
or fifty years old. It's easy to tastefully
decorate your home with family heirlooms. Why
not put them on display rather than locking
them away?
I
have many crocheted afghans that started taking
up a lot of storage space. When we moved to
our new home we had room for our cedar chest
off to one side of the living room. I filled
the chest with the blankets - this also keeps
them from being scattered all over the living
room. We take one out at a time and just fold
it up and put it back in the cedar chest when
we're done using it.
Decorate
with Family Photos
I
love to decorate with family photos. Our home
has a long hallway where I can display lots
of photographs. Instead of randomly arranging
pictures, I decided to go with themes. I bought
a large collage picture frame and arranged all
of our family camping photos in it. Another
smaller collage displays pictures of our daughter
opening up her presents at Christmas throughout
the years. My, how she's grown!
Picture
frames are scattered throughout our home. Black
and white photos of generations past are displayed
on the piano and china hutch. I don't know about
you, but I love looking at other people's family
photos. Ours are definitely a topic of conversation
for visiting guests.
Needlework
and Children's Artwork
I
display needlework that was done by my mother,
my mother-in-law, and myself, and these masterpieces
make a great addition to any room of the home.
I'm partial to wedding samplers. It doesn't
seem like many people take the time to make
these anymore. I made one for my husband and
myself that I hope to someday pass on to my
children. Birth samplers are also something
your children will surely cherish someday. The
counted cross-stitch project I'm currently working
on will probably take me five years to complete,
but someday it will grace the wall above our
piano.
Wherever
possible, I like to incorporate children's artwork.
My favorite is a poem my daughter wrote and
illustrated. One year she made several and gave
them away as Christmas gifts to family members.
Books
and Knickknacks
Our
family has a lot of books that have been handed
down from as many as four generations. Those
books are displayed on shelves in our entertainment
center in the living room. My heirloom cookbooks
fill a small bookshelf between the kitchen and
the dining room. Instead of just filling the
shelves with cookbooks, I alternated shelves,
arranging my favorite knickknacks in between.
Heirlooms
that I haven't found a place for yet are hand-embroidered
tea towels that have been in our family for
many years. I've read that you can make them
into kitchen curtains. I'm going to have to
give that a try!
Look
through your family treasures and see what you
can dig up. You never know what you might find
- like a flower your grandmother dried and framed.
And remember, it's never too late to create
new family heirlooms. Your family will treasure
them someday.
Rachel
Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who
is the author of What's for Dinner?, an e-cookbook
containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas.
To subscribe to her monthly newsletter send
a blank e-mail message to FreeRecipes-subscribe@egroups.com
Websites: Creative
Homemaking and Suite
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