What I Got

Not long ago, I wrote, partially joking, about what I would like to inherit from my mother.  (Hint: she didn't own it yet.)  In all seriousness, I have been very lucky in the items that have been passed down to me.  The list is very long and very wonderful, and I am thrilled to have such personal items as my grandmother's gold leaf sconces and my husband's grandmother's quilts and cedar chest, not to mention a veritable treasure trove of my mother's castoffs.

There was one item I always adored as a child that actually went to my brother--the nerve!  It was a sweet little desk that was my mom's growing up.  I always loved it because of the small scale and eight little drawers atop the desk surface--perfect for stashing tiny treasures of all kinds.

Turns out, there were at least three of these desks, with the other two belonging to my mom's sister and cousin, and one just came home to roost.  I had been looking for a desk to put between the beds in my girl's room, (see the small-scale desk round up here).  and after almost buying two different options off craigslist, I am so much happier with this little heirloom!

The finish is pretty banged up so of course the question is, what to do?  The headboard need to be re-done, so I am thinking white desk and chair (chalk paint for that Swedish, not a glossy finish), with more orange and pink on the headboards.  OR neutral headboards and a limed finish, using this.  

And sure enough: the girls love those little drawers as much as I did at their age.  The 6 year old is stashing her glasses in one overnight, and the others are already stashed full of untold treasures.

Tell me: do you have pieces that have been handed down to you?

And more importantly: what would you do with this little desk?

Of course, it is STILL too cold here for painting and stripping and all those good projects, so I have some time to think on it.....

Building around heirlooms: Quilts

We moved into this house not too long after my husband's grandmother moved out of hers, and we were lucky to inherit a number of special things from her, including a pair of handmade quilts for the girls.  Originally, as I started planning their room, the idea was to build the design around these quilts, and I folded them at the end of the two beds to get a feel for them in the space.  (It's funny: the quilts are two different patterns, and it was immediately clear to me which was whose: the daisies for my older daughter, who likes to garden and wear dandelion crowns, the waves for my younger daughter, who is always making waves.)  As I was thinking on it, my mother in law sent me an email with a few more details about the quilts: how they had been hand stitched my her mother.  In the 1930s.  After that, the first time a little bit of somethin somethin got on them (boogers, maybe?) I put them away for later.

Lately I've been seeing a number of sophisticated rooms that incorporate quilts, and I thought I'd share some inspiration with ideas on how to keep quilts feeling modern.

Minimalist

The elements: low bed, industrial wall lights, spare furnishings, Scandinavian lines

[via The Purl Bee]

[Lotta Jansdotter's house, via Wise Craft]

[via Design Sponge]

[The Selby via Simple Lovely]

[Via Bolaget Bild från www.bo-laget.se/inspiration/]

Traditional

The Elements: soothing palette, simple bedding, fabric lamps shades, clean lines

[via Elle Decor]

[Via House Beautiful]

[Via House Beautiful]

Funky

The Elements: lots of pattern, dramatic shapes, eclectic art

[Annie Selke via Elle Decor]

[Kathryn Ireland via House Beautiful]

[Via Elle Decor]

[Via Architectural Digest]

Look at that last one again.  Fabulous, no?  That's the one that started this whole thing.

So what about you.  If you were building around a quilt, would you gravitate to one of these styles?  Or would you go for the more typical country or shabby chic scheme?

I'll build boards for two of these looks tomorrow, so come on back!

Everything Old is New Again

My mother-in-law saves everything. As our kids have grown through the ages, each visit to Illinois brings another of my husband's toys, out of the attic, cleaned (preserved, really), and ready for this next generation. Most everything in her kitchen was a wedding gift--40 years ago. I find this remarkable in an age of planned obsolescence, inspirational in our throwaway culture. When we visited over the holidays, Barb pulled out this set of wedding sheets for the pull-out couch.


I thought: I've seen those before.

Sure enough, Dwell Studio's Dorothy Draper bedding has stripes in the same weight, and with the same yellow, but modernized in of-the-moment gray.


But really: same thing, right? (By the way, the Draper sheets can be found on the bed of uber-mom-blogger Heather Armstrong over at dooce.com).

West Elm then knocked off Dwell with last season's yellow and grey striped sheets, which have been reinvented this season in green or blue.

Barb reports that her sheets were a gift in 1969 (incidentally, the year Dorothy Draper died), that she believes that they are Fieldcrest brand (available these days at Target), and that they have held up so well only because their heavier weight made them slow to dry, so she didn't use them that often. I think she is being modest.

What do you have in your home that is destined for a comeback? I'm thinking our Ghost chairs will be to tomorrow what the Eames shell chairs are today.