Connecting to our heritage through reuse and renovation
When setting up house at the FarmHouse, I knew there were at least three things to that had to happen:
- I had to be able to sit in a chair or on the floor and sit cross legged;
- There had to be the ‘coming home” feeling; and
- Repurpose & recycle when able AND splurge when necessary.
Did I mention I was going for Pottery Barn on a Walmart budget?
A Cabinet & A Creator
While looking through our attic, I laid eyes on a green tea chest that had been gathering dust for a very long time. The cool thing about the tea chest is that my Mom bought it when we were stationed in Japan. It was all the rage at the time for the Navy wives to get tea chests and then have them upholstered. Thanking my Mom for leaving one undone. I placed the tea chest in a bedroom (yet unnamed) and knew I’d use it as a bedside table and linen storage. Knowing that I needed at least a couple more bedside tables, I went to town (i.e. our attic) looking for just the right thing or two or three! I found three hand painted TV trays that were perfect! Even better … Dick’s Mom painted those trays. So with three trays and the chests, I now had bedside tables for two rooms. I had been toying around with the idea of naming the rooms, so it only seemed fitting to name the rooms after our Moms … the original comfort creators in our lives.
The Elaine Room
The “Elaine” Room is named after my Mom. I decorated it with her in mind … adding her gardening hat on one of the walls and using linens that remind me of the quiet comfort she always created in our homes, no matter where in the world we lived. My Mom was an avid crafter & sewer, thus the variety of needlepoint pictures in the room. And the finishing touch … a beautiful picture of a red rose taken by our granddaughter, Alexis. My Mom would plant a rose bush for each of her grandchildren … making that picture even more special.
The Jeanne Room
The “Jeanne” Room is named after Dick’s Mom. An amazing painter, home maker, and farm wife extraordinaire. I was blessed to have known her and remember her home being bright and airy. The “Jeanne” Room is just that … bright and airy. The window above the bed is a portrait in itself when the lilacs are in full bloom. There are several of her paintings on the bedroom walls.
Final Notes:
I find myself gravitating towards Elaine’s Room when I am at the FarmHouse – it is a room where I can only imagine my Mom would be appreciative of and she would have fun recalling the memories made looking for the tea chests and the many roses she tended while wearing her gardening hat.
My hope is that others will find comfort and feel refreshed when staying in those rooms, knowing that loving hands from our lives repurposed those rooms with an appreciation for simple comfort.
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