Family Museum Room-by-Room - The Family Room

Other than the kitchen, the family room is the busiest room in most homes because this is where the family gathers for entertainment, special events and for taking a long-deserved nap (that’s when it is quite in there).

Our family room is in the center of the house, is fairly large except much of the room is used for passage which means furniture is not allowed in this space. Our family room also has a quirky name. We call it our “Club Room.” We even have a small brass plaque announcing its moniker.

This room, no matter what you call it, is a perfect place for Family Museum collections. As I had mentioned in a past post, this room may have a media center where the TV is placed in the center with perhaps books, nick-knacks and pictures taking up the rest of the space.

Not only do these things in the room represent the family’s history, interests and such, they are part of your family heritage. Perhaps there is a piece of inherited furniture, art work painted or drawn by a family member, or antiques given or purchased. One thing for certain, this room is very much a part of your House Museum. Here are a few pictures of our Family Museum collections.

The paintings were done by my husband's mother Gladys over 75 years ago. They are scenes from her home in Minnesota. The photograph is of her parents' home in Norway.  

 

As I had mention before, we like to give our things names. This china cabinet is called Caroline's Chest because my dear friend Caroline gave it to me when she was downsizing into a smaller home. The shelves have silver serving pieces and the drawers turned out to be a great place to store winter gloves & scarves. So when someone is looking for a pair of gloves, we say, “Look in Caroline’s chest.”

On the fireplace mantle is a bronze statue by Remington of a cowboy shooting off his gun for what reason I am not sure. I bought it for Keith because he just loved all the cowboy & Indian movies and TV shows from his childhood. His favorite actor was John Wayne.

No, it is not a meteor, though we thought so for a long time until Keith took it to the local planetarium to have it analyzed. It is a bolder of molten rock spewed by a volcano eons ago that landed in his Uncles fields in Minnesota. In fact, he would plow up several of these rocks and used them in his house and barn. Keith remember playing with them when he was a little boy but had no idea what they were. The rock sits on the bar and when we have guests over, they are simply amazed by its weight and gnarly surface. What a great conversational piece.

What are your favorite pieces in your Family Room?    

Next week’s posts will focus on some of the collections in our Family Museum. Until then, have a great weekend.