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.

Tuesday Treasures

Last post on this subject matter asked, “What do you treasure most?” I wrote that what I treasured most in our family museum was my Barbie Dolls. Having told that story, I asked myself the same question again. Since that April posting, several keepsakes have been added to the museum, but would I say they are treasured pieces? Of course the answer is yes. Otherwise, why would I put them in the museum? So, what shall I blog about today? I get up out of my chair and take a short walk to the family museum. I open the doors, put on the light and perused the collections there that spans over 60 decades.     

Each and every one of those keepsakes has a story to tell. When guests see the museum, it never fails to amuse me on what item they pick out to either ask me a question about or share with me their story, having had and/or remember having the same thing. For example, the Dell pocketbook of 75 Hairstyles, and how we tried with all our might to get our hair to look like those pictures in the book, but never could.

I wore glasses starting in the second grade. Those early pairs did not get saved but the black tiger eye frames with mother-of-pearl inlays, did. I can’t remember what year, but I think I was in either seventh or eighth grade. I even have the original eyeglass case. Since then I have saved just about every pair of eyeglasses. I will share with you all of them in a future post.

In 1967, I was seventeen years old and followed “Twiggy’s” career from the first day she graced the covers of all the teen magazines. Like her, I was tall and skinny, but not that skinny, and loved all the mod fashions. Many of those coveted fashion magazines did not get saved and I regret that, however, when I found this one at an antique paper shop, I grabbed it and another that had Cybil Sheppard’s face on the cover. She was another one of my idols. When I carefully turn the pages of these fragile tome’s of teenage life of the 1960’s, it brings back many of the dreams I had, one of which was to be a famous fashion model. Living close to a big city like Chicago, I thought it would be a piece of cake. Just get some pictures taken, visit as many modeling agencies as you can, and then sit and hope (like the room full of other gals) that the agent likes you enough to send you on go-sees. I jumped out of my seat when she called me, handed me a ticket that told me where to go and who to see, and then report back to her. No problem. Right! Big problem and lots of them. But I won’t go there now, maybe later.

It is a kind of time-travel you take when you look at what you have saved from your younger years. Remnants of quests to conquer, careers you had set your heart on becoming, and the next steps you took to get you to new experiences in your life. Some of these memories are happy, some sad. But they are your memories and they made you the person you are now.

Some of my other keepsakes tell the story, such as the steno tablet from one of my first jobs, first-ever bowling trophy , even my first cell phone. Now how many people you know still have their first cell phone? Not many I am sure.

 

One very precious item is my bottle of real perfume š L’Air du Temps š by Nina Ricci in a single dove vintage Lalique Bottle. It was given to me by my hubby Keith on our honeymoon. The scent is still strong and takes me back to fond days and dreams. Another fragrance I adored was Halston’s Classic Cologne in the tear-shape bottle. Though the scent has faded a bit, it is still wonderful.

From cat eye frames, to a hair-do book, fashion magazines, perfume and cell phones, my collection of oddities still offer me and all who share this array of memories with me, plenty to talk about, laugh about, and feel good about. I hope you have saved some of the things from your past and though they may not be valuable antiques, they are all none-the-less valuable to you and me.

Next Post: Wednesday Wishes