Filling Your Home With Personal Treasures
This sewing machine was in a corner of my parents’ garage for years, before it found a home in my craft room. My step dad said it was either is mom’s or grandma’s. I love the case as much as I love the machine and display it with several old wooden spools of thread that my mom had.
There is nothing more meaningful than holding your great-grandmother’s Bible. There are even handwritten notes inside from church services and Bible studies. It’s tattered and I’m always a bit worried that something will happen to it, now that it’s sitting on a table in the living room where the boys play their video games.
When we were going through my grandma’s old suitcases, many years ago, we opened one and found her wedding dress and my grandpa’s WWII army uniform. Many years before, she told us she had thrown them away because they were tattered. It was amazing to find them in perfect condition inside a suitcase in her garage.
The flower garden quilt is from my husband’s side of the family. His grandma sent it home with me after a visit to her house. It is very tattered, but I just have the good part of the quilt poking out of the basket. The star quilt was made my great grandmother. I had to bribe my sister to let me have it.
This one was made my great grandmother and my great, great grandmother as a wedding gift for my grandparents. The patterned fabric was made from old shirts and dresses. They didn’t have a lot of money and they used the scraps they had available. What a treasure! I hung this in my hallway and think about a great grandmother and great, great grandmother who I never met, every time I walk down the hall.
I fill my home with these treasures because each piece has a story. It reminds me about home and family, and isn’t that what life should be all about?
What story does your home tell?
A New Shelf
A few months ago my son tossed a kitchen towel toward the couch and inadvertently broke a table in the family room. For the record, the table was on its last leg anyway… literally. I bought the little table for $8.00 at Goodwill and used it as an outdoor table. When the weather turned rainy, I brought it into the house but didn’t really know where to put it. My daughter liked the way the table top spun and played with it a bit too much, leading to cracking. I propped it in the corner and tried to make it pretty, while telling the kids to not put anything on the table because I had it balanced just right.
Onto the story about how a kitchen towel broke the table:
We had laundry waiting to be folded on the couch, including a few kitchen towels. My son tossed a towel over to the couch and it hit the little lamp on the coffee table. When the lamp moved, the table became off balanced causing it to fall, which then pulled the cords for the other lamps nearby and knocked those lamps off our taller shelves too.
Now that you know the story of How a Kitchen Towel Broke My Table, I can show you my pretty new shelf in the corner of my family room.
I looked all over the place for a medium sized table that had additional storage. I was really looking for things like industrial carts that had a rustic feel, but all of those were too expensive. A couple nights ago, we were at TJMaxx, killing a little time before a movie, and I spotted this little shelf. It was just what I was looking for. I wanted something a little taller, so I’d get better lighting from my lamp in the corner. I also wanted something wood-toned but not matchy-matchy pieces.
I really wanted a place to store more “stuff” in my family room. This shelf has room for a basket and blanket at the bottom, books and pretty jars, a few picture albums, a picture, and my new lamp that I bought with my birthday money.
I’m liking my pretty new corner in the family room! It looks like it belongs there.
Happy decorating!
My New Barn Door
Summer Beach Mantle
Springing Forward With Pussywillows
Super Simple Floor Pillows
Kids’ Desk, Writing Center, and Bulletin Board
Yesterday I shared the cute little gallery wall in my daughter’s room. Here’s the other area we’re finished with. This is her desk area, which she uses as a writing center and art area. (She does her homework downstairs, so this is more of an arts and crafts area.)
The furniture used to be in my son’s room. So, the desk is new to my daughter, by not new. I painted the peg board writing center that used to be downstairs. This is the perfect spot to keep writing supplies on hand. I loved having this in the kitchen because it encouraged writing every single day. My hubby got tired of running into it and politely asked if it could go somewhere else. He lets me do just about any hairbrained idea I have in our house, so when he says something bugs him, I try change it for him. He puts up with a lot of crazy ideas. It’s the least I can do.
With a few projects down, we only have a few left to go! Happy painting!
Gallery Wall With Painted Frames
I still haven’t posted pictures of my daughter’s finished room because… well… the room isn’t exactly finished yet. The curtains are still hanging in puddles on the floor, waiting to be hemmed and embellished. The quilt is still at my long arm quilt lady’s house, being finished, and I haven’t even started on pillows or cute pillow cases.
I did finish up the gallery wall with some cute painted frames though!

I used frames I had around the house and painted them with colors that coordinate with my daughter’s quilt. I purchased four different colors of sample sized paints from Lowe’s. I knew we’d be doing a few projects in this room and paint seemed like a cheap and easy way to go.

I started pinning several different arrangements for gallery walls. My original idea was to include an old window or some sort of subway art, but this seemed like plenty. I had planned to let my daughter choose all of the pictures for the frames, but she was a bit overwhelmed when I started scrolling through options on the computer with her. So, I just picked photos I like instead. She was happy with the finished wall, even though there wasn’t a lot of ownership into the selection.

This wall is above the long part of my daughter’s bed, so I thought a reading lamp was a good idea. I found this one for about $12 at IKEA and my friend, Diane, picked up the wood block that the lamp is mounted on from Michael’s. I love that redish-pink color and wanted to add one more little accent with it on this wall.
Old picture frames and several paint colors make a pretty cool gallery wall, if I do say so myself!
I can’t wait to show you the finished room! Maybe I’ll get everything done by Spring Break! Now, I need to find more things to paint with those cute sample size paints!
Happy painting!
What’s Your Color Story?
They may not all be seasonally appropriate, but you can totally see the color story here, can’t you?
I’ve been thinking about new quilts recently and the colors I’d love to use. I’m using the colors in the above pictures as my inspiration. I also found these color combinations on Pinterst and I’m kind of liking them too.
Here’s an idea I came up with. We’ll see how it goes.
That’s my color story, and I’m sticking to it.
Happy quilting!
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