Family Heirlooms

Today, I’m joining Marie for an Heirloom Party, not that I have many heirlooms, and actually I have few things that could be considered heirlooms by definition, but I thought it would be fun to share a couple of my family treasures with all of you too. These things that came from my paternal grandma, who has been gone for many years now.

Neither side of my family had much growing up. In fact, if we had grown up back during the Old South plantation days, instead of being like Scarlett O’Hara’s family in Gone With the Wind with all their beautiful finery, big plantation home, filled with fine furniture, I’m quite sure my family would have been living in the sharecropper’s cottage. 🙂 We just don’t come from a lot of material wealth. And that’s OK too. I’ve mentioned before that I had to buy someone else’s family history as I’ve collected my own antique pieces, so now I suppose I can call them my own heirlooms now.

When my Dad’s mom passed away, he was able to get just a couple of things from her house (he had a lot of sisters), so there are only 2 furniture pieces that he brought home and then passed on to me, when I expressed interest in them. First, this little side table. I can remember seeing this table in my Grandma’s little cottage home in Panama City, FL and when we would visit her growing up, I can still remember sleeping in a room with old armoires, feather beds, and smelling those old musty smells.

This little side table was in her livingroom, so when my Dad gave it to me, I promised him I’d keep it and take care of it. It’s certainly not a fine piece of furniture, I’m sure nothing she owned was expensive, but it’s very pretty to me and I treasure it because it is a part of my family heritage. The only thing I’ve ever done to it is give it a coat of poly for protection and it serves me well in my own livingroom.

This old Singer sewing machine spent many years under my parent’s stairway closet and I finally asked for it too. I used it in my old sunroom in GA and then brought it over here, where it’s used as a side table in the beachy guestroom.

The drawers are so pretty and I love the patina on the wood.

The attachments are still in the drawer and I can imagine my Grandma sitting here sewing. My Dad said she used to sew a lot on this old Singer, wonderful memories to treasure! These are the only 2 family pieces I have.

How about you? Do you have many family heirlooms and are you making plans to pass them on to your kids or another family member? It is so special to keep things like this in the family, don’t you think?

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It’s always fun to meet up with blog friends, new and old. And I just met a new one this week, Renae Moore, from Renae Moore Designs. She lives in Canton, GA (near my old hometown) and was over here getting her son settled in at Samford University and we got to meet up for coffee and a bagel at Panera. It was so much fun, she’s a sweet person, a fellow decorator and a sister in Christ and I love that we could just sit down and get to know each other better. We certainly had plenty to chat about. Meeting up with blog friends is always a treat! Renae, I look forward to getting together again.