The Goesel Woodshop

In our Family Museum there are several precious items from our childhood, in particular my husband’s toy tow truck hand-made by his father and given to him for a Christmas present when he was 3 years old. Painted green & red with a crank that turned to drop the rope with hook to pick up a stranded vehicle and then turned it again to take it up so that tow truck can take it to the garage. My husband played with this toy for years and now it graces our Family Museum with miles of memories.

In the Children’s Museum are other toys his father made for his grandson Charlie & granddaughter Tiffeni.

Charlie’s is a tractor with wagon full of wooden blocks to represent hay.

Tiffeni’s is the green & red lumber truck with sticks of wood representing logs. Both played with these toys a lot and now they too, reside in our Family Museum.

 

The reason I am sharing this with you is to make now a long-awaited announcement to introduce you to our new website:  https://goeselwoodshop.com/

Every toy is built with heirloom-quality construction. A child can play with these toys for years and have them for years to come, to pass down to the next generation. Three pages of toys and many useful items for the home and even the family pet. Come take a look and share it with our friends and family. All of our products are handmade and are one-of-a-kind and each piece is signed & dated. Personal inscriptions are invited.

“A fine toy today, an heirloom tomorrow.”

“Play is not trivial; it is highly serious and of deep significance. Cultivate and foster it, O mother; protect and guide it, O father! To the calm, keen vision of one who truly knowns human nature, the spontaneous play of the child discloses the future inner life of the man.” ~Friedrich Froebel

 

 

Family Musuem Room-by-Room - The Living Room

When was the last time you took a walk around your house and stopped to look at a particular piece of furniture, antique, or artwork and realized that it was handed down to you and your family from a past relative? Or perhaps you found the piece at an antique shop and placed it among your collections? When you take the time to make this trip, you may be surprised to see that your house is a Family Museum.

My daughter gave me this idea. But first let me tell you about a little quirky habit we have . . .we assign our furniture, etc., names, such as Uncle Mike’s Dresser, Nana’s dining room set, Bestafar’s (Grandfather in Norwegian) clock, Joan Hitz’s lamps, Caroline’s chest, Dorothy’s piano. Get the picture. I guess you can say that we get very personal with our stuff by giving an identity to the piece. Not only is it fun, it honors the person from whence the piece came and helps you to keep their memory alive. 

So now, Ladies & Gentlemen, please allow me to give you a tour of my home and point out all the things that truly makes our home a Family Museum.

The Spinet piano with the picture above has always been in the Living Room ever since I could remember. I am talking about for 64 years give or take. My mother purchased both in 1947. The piano is a Chickering and the print is a scene from an Italian Opera. The two have never been separated, other than the time my brother was first given the piano and then later he gave it to me. I always had the picture and had it restored and reframed many years ago.

Standing next to the piano has got to be the most curious antiquity my family owns. I found it an estate auction and just had to have him. He stands about three feet tall, is made of solid wood and painted in luscious Persian colors. He represents a wealthy Banker, as he is holding a gold bag of money. His name is Ish Kabibble.

On the fireplace mantel stand two identical lamps. We call them Joan Hitz’s lamps because that’s who gave them to my mother. However, at that time they were heavy brass candlesticks, not lamps. Not knowing what to do with them, my mother passed them unto me and I had them converted into lamps with fancy silk lampshades. The crystal icicles tinkle when a breeze comes through the living room windows. An unusual magazine table holds a collection of art books. I found this table at an estate sale and had it refinished. The mirror behind the lamp is also an antique I bid for at an estate auction. The others pieces in the living room; couch, chairs, coffee table, sofa table, and carpet are purchases my family have made.      

As your tour your home and appreciate your things, this is an excellent time to create an inventory. There are many types of inventory books, like the one pictured here. There is a section for photographs with a page for listing all the information about the piece; what it is, date purchased and price and current value if you have the piece appraised. You can also create this document on your computer and save it there or on disc. Physical inventories are important to have, particularly for your insurance company. In case of any disaster causing the loss of your possessions, you now have proof of their existence and the value therein.

Tomorrow I will post about my Dining Room. Many precious antiques reside in that room and the stories they tell are priceless.

Closets & Shelving

Find a closet that is not already filled to the gills? An extra closet? I have to be kidding. Right? Well, I thought the same way. My closet space was minimal and stuffed to the maximum. After I brought down everything from the attic, the boxes lived in the hallway for weeks. It was a daunting task to divide and conquer, and to find everything a place and a place for it all. My toes begged me to do something about it after they suffered numerous collisions with the boxes.

The trick about taking an overstuffed closet and turning it into display space for your family museum is having some kind of space to transfer the closet’s paraphernalia. To meet the demands of both ample closet space and sufficient space for display purposes, invest in shelving, wall cabinets and/or module closet systems. All offer many options and designs for the closet space to be configured and adapted into a display unit. Custom-built shelves can be placed in other rooms: laundry, bathroom, other closets, the basement, attic, and the garage for storage.

           

Linen closets make the best space for a museum because they already have shelves and lighting. After you cleared it out, if the shelves are wire, replace them with solid shelving boards. Replace standard sliding closet doors with decorative interior or bi-fold French glass doors. This allows for viewing and the light from within illuminates the hallway. 

By combining form and function with extraordinary design, reach-in and walk-in closets can be transformed into an organized display and storage of family heirlooms instead of a dysfunctional space. Where ever you create your family museum, it will be an inspiring and gorgeous space that will bring a visually stunning and timeless beauty to your home. 

And don’t forget to hang a sign embellished with Your (Family Name) Museum.

Next Post: Any Room/Space with Custom-built Units

Diamonds in the Rough at Estate Sales

Beginning today is a new blog section titled, “Diamonds in the Rough,” covering many of the places in the world (maybe not quite all but many) where one finds, buys & sells antiques. Just look at your local and major newspapers in the Classified Section to find the places that are hosting these events:

èAuctions  èAuction Sales  èIndividual Classified Sales èDownsizing Sales    èFlea Markets èEstate Sales èGarage Sales èMoving Sales èYard Sales

Today, I will post about finding antiques at an Estate Sale.

On a misty Friday morning, my daughter and I went to check out an Estate Sale at a home we knew of in town. The home was of a prominent family and the sale was being held in the house itself. The ad in the local paper read: 

First-in-line-First-Thur-the-Door.” Historic Sale in a Historic area!

Items for sale were 18^th & 19^th Century Furniture & Antiques, China, Porcelain, Oriental Rugs, Antique Toys & Christmas ornaments, collectibles, postcards, and much more. As the ad read, we knew parking in the historic area was limited, but we knew where the house was and where to find parking. So off we went, umbrella in hand.

When we got there, about a dozen people were already in line, umbrellas soaked with rain. As we waited, we observed the deteriorating condition of the fairly recently constructed home. In fact, we saw it being built in 1996. So as for the home being historical, it was not, but the neighborhood was.

As we waiting, conversations among the crowd were casual and friendly. My daughter asked the lady standing next to her if she knew the family. “Absolutely,” the neighbor stated. “My family and theirs were friends for many, many years. The owner was a well-known building contractor. He built this house.” I could read my daughter’s mind as we both looked at the peeling paint on the windows, wondering if he was such a fine builder, why was his house in need of repair.” I soon found out the reason.

As she continued to talk about the family and taking much pride in her knowledge of them, I asked her if she knew the reason for the estate sale. Her face became somewhat melancholy when she said the couple were both deceased. With a quick recovery from the brief glum mood, I asked her if she knew why everything in the house was for sale.

Were there not family members that should have been given these antiques? Emphatically she replied, “Oh! There are three children and they had already taken what they wanted!” What was left I guess they didn’t want. And goodness me, the things they left behind made me question not only why, but what were the things they did keep? As we finally gained access into the house . . . two had to leave before two more would be let in, we were directed to go into the formal living room still filled with many pieces of fine furniture. Most of it still nice but worn. You could tell that the residents of the home were wealthy and had exquisite taste. Next room was the formal dining room, paneled from ceiling to floor, and must have been the site of many fancy

dinners. The table had stacks of beautiful china, glassware, and tablecloths. On a small table were a selection of old books. As my daughter is a bibliophile at heart, she was thrilled when she found a child's school book she had to have. I have plenty of dishes and glassware, so off we went into the kitchen. You could tell that it was a serious culinary center, counters and cabinets everywhere. Again, piles of dishes, rows of crystal glasses, many colorful vintage Depression glass, all there for the buying. 

Nothing here for us, so we stepped down on thru the long hall into the family room. Gracious me! There was an entire wall of shelves with more china and porcelain antiques,

knick-knacks, books, statuary, candlesticks, etc. On a large table, silver platters, teapots, and more dishes covered every inch. There was two massive chests, a large glass curio cabinet, two wooden armchairs and a very fine card able. With all that furniture, one would wonder if there was room for people. 

Again, nothing we wanted, so up the long staircase we went, then directed into a large bedroom. Here tables of toys reigned, evidence that there were children in this family and the builder husband/father created dollhouses, cradles and toy furniture. Boxes of Christmas items filled several tables. The children must of love reindeer because there had to be at least eight boxes of them alone. In the dressing room were more boxes

of Christmas tree glass ornaments, many vintage and very collectible. I even looked for one particular ornament I remember has a kid, but have yet to find it. 

The only thing I found that I wanted was a miniature replica of the famous statue of the Three Graces. My daughter bought it for me.

Back downstairs to pay for our finds. While my daughter waited in line, I looked around and felt the sad emptiness and silence that was soon to be in this house once filled with children, dinner parties and life. Sales like these make me sad. Even though the descendants got what they wanted, none of them wanted to keep the house. It was being sold after the sale. If one of them kept the house, that bookcase in the family room would have made a perfect Family Museum. It could have had some of those vintage toys, a few of those gorgeous dishes, photographs and antiques on display. But it was not meant to be. So back out into the misty weather and home to write about my time at an estate sale.

Next time you read about one of these sales, go to it. Do not be intimidated by the hoity-toity and snooty sounding moniker. The estate sale manager hired by the family is there to organize and sell. Many times the things that remain are transferred to another sale called an Estate Auction. This subject I will cover later. All of these sales is to make as much money for the seller as it is for the owner. But you never know when someone missed and you found a diamond in the rough.  Happy Hunting!

FYI: Visit online Estate Sales & Estate Auctions Directory   http://estatesales.org

Next Post: Yard & Garage Sales