still had the smell of mothballs lingering inside when I opened it up...................
I went down to my mother's for a visit and to bring this piece of cherished childhood memory back home with me. I feel so blessed! Not just of because of the piece.............but because of the memory I have of the tall, gentle, old blue eyed man that once owned it and would let me sometime peek into his personal life of the things he stored in it..............with that whiff of mothballs always greeting me.
It is in rough shape,...........being stored in an outside building...........the dirt and the weather has treated it poorly........but the detail and the character is still there.......
I am in the process of cleaning, stripping and repainting the outside. It has some damage on the bottom, but my sweetie, husband says that he can fix it for me...........what would I do without him??
I don't mind the black paint, however, I want to change the blue................I am thinking of either just sanding it off and leaving the silver...........or painting it a lighter color..............but I have not a clue as to which color will look good. Any suggestions???
The inside is what I cannot wait to start working with. I already am in search of wall paper heavily laden with roses and vines .............or wildflowers...........which I really like the best. I want to fix some kind of ribbon on the inside lid to slide in photographs and special pieces of paper.
There are a couple of dates that are handwritten inside.............I have no idea what their meaning is, however, I am cutting them out to preserve.
When I am finished with it, I am storing my hand embroidered linens, items that I am hand stitching for my children to have for their families someday, and crocheted pieces inside. Boo is ready for me to place a quilt on top for her to claim as a resting place............
I will store this somewhere in my home so that I can enjoy looking at it................
remembering a man who wore light khaki pants, sitting in his rocking chair, while playing solitaire and smoking a pipe. He never minded my interrupting his game to listen to my girlish chatter and would sometimes sing an old song to me.
That is the memory I hold dear.
How about you?
Do you have your grandfather's old trunk?
If so, is it decorated and stuffed full of your special items?
I would love to hear!
18 comments:
Kathleen,
what a nice treasure that is for you...I wouldn't do anything to destroy it's "weathered the storm of life" look..maybe some planks of Cedar boards in the bottom and around the sides (anything to keep the old paper lining intact. (for sentiment). Think before you replace or remove any of it..
This is such a marvelous keepsake for you, Kathleen. I'm sure it brings back lovely memories for you. What a wonderful place to store your linens too, once you get it fixed up back in shape to use again. It will look like new again once you and your husband have worked on it a little. :)
It's wonderful that you remember your grandfather letting you look inside. We have an old trunk that looks a lot like this one; it came from my husband's great-aunt, but it might have belonged to her grandfather ? It was filled with glass pieces from oatmeal boxes and glass snuff jars. Anyway, contrary to the previous comment, if you plan to store good things in it, you almost have to do something to remove the odor. I have a catalog that has all sorts of things for re-doing trunks, etc. which you can order.
What a wonderful thing to have! Wonder what the dates mean? I didn't get to meet either of my granddads, although I did have a step g.dad but he was rather old and didn't talk much. I remember we would walk into the house and he would be sitting on the couch, with his dark glasses ( I think he was blind or partially blind) and he would have his cane beside him.
Oh I was hoping you were going to say you would fix it up. With your care, it should be around for many more generations. So very important.
There's an old trunk in my garage that survived the flood of 1937 in Paducah, Kentucky. Maybe when I see what you do with yours I will be inspired. I can't bring myself to give it up.
What a precious memory, Kathleen! I had a girlfriend years ago who had an old trunk like that. She did what you want to do and refurbished it (she put the flowery wallpaper inside, too), and it was beautiful. I'm sure yours will be, too.
That was some kind of sweet man who always had time for you.
Good you are keeping his memory alive. How about preserving the blue and keeping a bit of the color like he had it?
My grandfather always has stick candy for us when we came over. He always was humming or singing.
Great post!!! I have a couple myself! WONDERFUL!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
Hello Kathleen,
Oh what a beautiful piece of family history. We give each of our children a wooden trunk for there 21st Birthday. Enjoy the restoration process. Keep us informed Kathleen.
Happy days.
bev.xoxo
What an awesome old trunk...looking forward to seeing it filled with your embroidered treasures! I have been having a great time reading your past blog posts...great writing and great pictures!
It's a such a wonderful old trunk, Kathleen...so full of memories for you! I am glad you are restoring it and plan to store treasures inside. I love having special pieces of the people I loved who have gone on. It's a way of keeping them with you. I have a great aunt's dresser that I remember her using when I was a child. It is the dresser I use now myself. I will do a post on it sometime.
Thank you for visiting my blog and commenting both from "Eggs" and from "Yesteryear". I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
It's gorgeous! I love old pieces like that! I actually have both my mother's and father's old trunks. My mother's looks a lot like the one you posted! I love the memories they hold! I haven't changed them a bit, but I would love to see your trunk after it's fixed up.
I am glad you have this special trunk and cherish the memories of the man, your beloved Grandfather, who owned it.
Will you show us pictures of how you re-make this trunk and display it? Please?
BTW, I agree with Gingerbreadshouse regarding the restoration of the trunk. I have "re-done" special furnishings and been sorry for it..somehow making them too new and re-done took away the very things I loved about them. Either way, I know you'll make this treasure a delight to look at in your home and your memories of your Grandfather are what make this trunk so special.
Have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving.
What special memories you have of your Grandfather, Kathleen!
Great old trunk. We have had a few of them. Our son has one. I have a smaller version that was hubby's aunts'. It is in excellent condition and I use it right now as a toy box for the grandkids!
Beautiful memories....
And what a neat idea to store hanmade things for your children!
I have a trunk almost exactly like yours. If you look on the little metal pieces, it should have a date on them. Mine say 1880, which I assume is the date it was made. Mine was stored in a basement and had some water damage, but its useable. All I did to mine was scrub it good on the outside and line the inside. Makes a great storage unit for seasonal clothes or blankets. Have fun with yours. I love mine.
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