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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
displaying a family keepsake can be treasured whether it's from last
year or fifty years ago.
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 and I filled the
chest with all of 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.
I love to decorate with family photos. Our home has a long hallway
where I can display a lot of photographs. Instead of randomly
arranging pictures I decided to go with themes. I bought a large
collage picture fame 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!
I've also scattered picture frames 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.
I love needlework. I have on 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 myself 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 really
great and something your children will surely cherish someday. The
counted cross stitch project I'm currently working on will probably
take me 5 years to complete, but someday it will grace the wall
above our piano.
I like to incorporate children's artwork wherever possible. 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.
Our family has a lot of books that have been handed down as many as
four generations. Those books are displayed on shelves in our
entertainment center in the living room. My heirloom cookbooks I
keep in a small bookshelf between the kitchen and the dining room.
Instead of just filling the shelves with cookbooks, I alternated
shelves, arranging my favorite knick knacks in between.
One heirloom I haven't found a place for 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.
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Originally published at
Suite 101. 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. For
recipes, tips to organize your home, home decorating, crafts,
holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at
http://www.creativehomemaking.com.
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