HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR HEIRLOOMS: FINDING, SELECTING, DISPLAYING

 

As this last week and weekend of summer comes and goes, I will be writing about a new installment for my Blog spot. Therefore, to give myself some much needed time to write and research, the next four posts follows, "Reintroducing How to Create a Family Museum."

Sometimes it is good to review because, as I have found myself, I had missed something the first time I read it or watched it. Better to do it again rather than never have done it at all.  



 

 

 

The key word is organization - one box at a time. It is overwhelming at first, but as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day."

The finding is the easy part. It's all there; just look and you will find it. And as you do, you will be surprised at the things that were saved for one reason or another. For instance, my husband saved all of his naval uniforms. Why? It's not as if he was going to mop the deck anytime in the future. And he was so skinny thirty-five years ago! So out of that collection he picked his navy hats and the photograph of himself when he made Chief Petty Officer.

The selecting part takes time.

Picking the items out, deciding between one or more of the heirlooms, dividing the space equally, and sometimes having to draw the line as to who gets to put what where and how many. When it came to my Barbie dolls, I wanted to put all of them into the museum, along with their kitchen set and dress case. Woe was me to have to select. But I did. And I got it all in and still had room for more.

There is an art to display. Look at a large museum's intimate collections, department store windows, or antique shops. The space you have will dictate how you will display your heirlooms. Organize items in groups. The main idea is to express through display the meaning behind the person, place, thing and event. You want to invite your guests to look closely at your collections, to touch them, encouraging them to ask questions so you can tell your stories.

However you go about putting your family museum together, find, select and display a good cross section of heirlooms because variety is the spice of life.

     "Any color, so long as it's red, is the color that suits me best,
       though I will allow there is much to be said for yellow and
       green and the rest."                   Eugene Field


Next Post: Where to Begin
  





Conservation/Preservation

Cataloging, Storage & Maintenance

                                                    

Heirlooms, antiques, collectibles, keepsakes . . . all of them have different values, monetary as well as aesthetic. Our homes and our lives are filled with things. Some are more important then others. Some are more valued then others.
Once you have selected the artifacts to display in
Your Family Museum, which is a conservation project in itself, those placed in storage will be preserved, catalogued and maintained. Here is a guide for you to become acquainted with archival terms to assist you in this endeavor.
        

►Conservation protects, manages the cares of valued artifacts,
    collections, heirlooms, etc.

►Preservation keeps precious items from change, loss or damage.

►Cataloging is making a complete list of all the items displayed
    and in storage, arranged in alphabetical or other systematic order.
    Account ledgers are efficient books in which to log, make
    entries, document, classify, list, index, categorize, sort and divide
    inventory. Keep this information (in hard copy placed in a
    fireproof box and on a computer disc) for the very intent and
    reason for cataloging. By implementing a filing system, it will
    help you create your archive collection.

►Archive is a collection of historical
    documents or records. We all have archives
    of one sort or another: notebooks,
    scrapbooks, family albums, journals, diaries,
    or account books. These bits and pieces of
    recorded dates, places and events are
    extremely helpful as you assemble your
    displays.

You may even become an Archivist – one who keeps records that have enduring value as reliable memories of your family’s past, which will provide an acute understanding of your family’s history. When you do this, you are establishing provenance.

►Provenance is the history & ownership of the item(s) origination.
►Restoration is the repair & renovation to keep all in a good condition.
 

►Storage is the space available for saving 
    and keeping family treasurers. There are
    many types of storage units, some

    specific to size and shape of the item:
    map chests, filing cabinets & archival acid-free boxes for storing valuable photographs, artwork, or documents and precious items such as maps, prints & newspapers.

A plethora of websites will help you to investigate, compare and learn about the many ways to protect your property. You need to consider the space your unit(s) will require, temperature, lighting, accessibility and safety.

      

Once Your Family Museum is complete, your archives created and the preservation, storage and maintenance in place, you can take pride in a job well done and take comfort in the knowledge that your family’s keepsakes, collections, antiques, and other precious items are no longer obscure and forgotten. Your family museum(s) will be a continuous record of past events, present acquisitions, and sets in motion the preservation of future experiences.

 



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

Your Family Museum in the Living Room or Family Room

                                                      
As you walk around your house looking for a place for your Family Museum, sometimes it is hard to visual where it should go and how it should look. Today, there are a variety of ways; bookcases, wall systems, etc., and furnishings you can incorporate into the room you choose, to showcase and protect your family collections. Here are a few suggestions.    
                  

  The Living Room Coffee Table

What an ingenious way to make the humdrum coffee table become the most interesting piece of furniture in your home. Most coffee tables are large and though they perform a functional use and place to put inanimate objects upon, the coffee table can be so much more. It can
become Your Family Museum.  

Coffee tables come in a variety of sizes and styles, as seen here by some photos culled from Google images. They are easy to find, but if you have particular requirements for the objects you want to display, it can be custom-made to your specifications. When

designing this type of display unit, consider incorporating a

sliding tray, allowing you to slip it out with ease when placing or changing your family heirlooms or collections. This ability will also let you keep the decor you put on the table to stay put. Lighting and ventilation are important elements to also factor into the design. This type of Family Museum also allows you to change, add to, or remove objects from the display. But you must keep in mind the size and height of the artifacts. The mini-museum can display many objects. You may want to concentrate on heirlooms from one family member or a combination of several pieces of memorabilia that make up an interesting story about the owner(s) of the artifacts.

Now when guests and family members take their seat on the sofa, they can peer down into the coffee table and gaze upon a thoughtfully assembled display of family artifacts. When they want to look closer at an item, you can simply pull open the drawer and slide out the shelf. There are many coffee table designs available online and several companies can create custom-made tables for your needs. What an imaginative way to adapt a means to and end and to engage the humble coffee table for a new use and purpose - Your Family Museum. 

The Family Room Media Centers

In many houses today, there are spaces devoted to entertainment called Media Rooms. When I was a kid, (Baby Boomer), there were no "Family Rooms." 
Rooms like these were down in the finished basement. Also called Rumpus (noisy disturbance) Rooms, where the kids played games, watched TV shows and listen to music. Most commonly, the television (separate from the stero/hi-fi player) was in the living room. The family pretty much watched the same TV shows because there were only three to five major broadcasting stations: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Sometimes bigger cities had their own stations. Where I grew up, we had WGN.

Today, big screen TVs dominate the center of the room, some situated in large cabinets with shelves, fixed to a wall or freestanding. Some screens are set over fireplaces, framed by bookshelves. These shelves hold not only books; they are filled with bric-a-brac (small ornamental objects of interest or sentimental value). Now here is a great place to devote to Your Family Museum. First, take off all the things that are irrelevant. Distribute unrelated items elsewhere in your home. 

Envision what you want to show case, which will depend on the size and amount of shelf space there is. One way to display many items is by creating mini-museums incorporated in shadow boxes (more on this later). By putting together photograph and keepsakes, you create a story about a relative, special event, precious artifacts, etc. The shadow boxes also keep things dust-free and safe. This method will also allow you to move the display easily.

Be it that these areas in the home are called media centers, family rooms, or great rooms, however, by merely changing a bookcase into a family museum with heirlooms, now there is so much more to look at and appreciate. Now when you watch TV and become bored with the show, you can turn the TV off and let your eyes wonder and focus on the family collections and maybe drift off into an imaginable different place and time. What fun! 

              
Next Post: A Family Museum
in a Guest Bedroom & Home Office

 

How to Build a Family Museum - Building Materials

The next eight posts will feature the nuts & bolts of how to build your family museum with what materials, continuing with posts on where in your home can your family museum be in. There is a plethora of resources to visit, either by searching the Internet or by going to the brick-and-mortar stores to find, learn and compare all the things you need to construct your museum.

Building Materials

Depending on your museum(s) location(s), whether you buy freestanding furniture, ready-made cabinetry, install do-it-yourself modular units, or hire a carpenter to build a custom unit, of which he or she can suggest types of woods, finishes, paint colors, trim, accessories, lighting, glass doors and/or shelves, give yourself and the carpenter plenty of time to create your museum. After you identify the size and content of your heirlooms and explore your museum style options, the list below gives an overall description of materials that will best fit your collection(s) needs.

Solid Hardwoods

Light-toned woods: oak, ash, maple, beech, and birch

Dark-toned species: cherry, walnut, and mahogany

Budget-minded hardwoods: alder, poplar, and aspen

Softwoods: pine, fir, and knotty pine. Wood boards come in many lengths & widths and can be stained or painted. Carpentry skills are necessary to fashion these woods into the sizes you need.
 

 Sheet Products

Hardwood-veneered plywood can be used for constructing your museum. Plywood panels are more stable than solid lumber and less likely to warp. Plywood used for shelving is usually surfaced on front and back with attractive hardwood veneers such as oak, maple, ash or cherry. It comes in various qualities or grades, depending on if the wood will be stained or painted. In shelf construction, the plywood is usually edged with hardwood veneer tape or trimmed with solid hardwood.

Plastic Laminates

Durable and easy to clean, laminates are popular materials for shelving. Keep in mind they are made of particleboard and the least durable product. A grade up is melamine because of the layer of special paper saturated with a melamine resin. Both affordable and come in many colors. Shelf Kits are vinyl-wrapped shelves, easy to assemble and
are inexpensive. Readily available at all building material stores.
 

Glass

Mostly used in freestanding pieces of furniture such as china and curio cabinets, plate glass is a popular shelf material for displays because it allows you to view objects more fully and does not block the light. Tempered safety glass if the best.

 

Shelf Hardware

To support the undersides of shelves, tracks and brackets, the adjustable hardware comes in a variety of finishes and lengths. Pine Gusset brackets are attractive but less flexible. Make sure that this hardware is firmly secured into the walls because as the weight of the artifacts increase, you want to make sure the shelf will never collapse, which could cause an unpleasant situation.

Lighting

Proper lighting is critical for your museum(s). Whether using wall systems, freestanding furniture, shelving, shadow boxes or a coffee table, pay attention to light. When lighting is installed, make sure it fits the needs of the display. Installing lighting during the construction may require the services of an electrician. And make sure there is ventilation. Lights heat up small spaces fast and a cool stable temperature needs
to be maintained at all times.

 

There are a variety of lighting ways and systems. Basic options are low-voltage recessed down-lights located either at the top of the unit or ceiling-mounted on tracks with the light directed down on the unit. Swivel track lighting aimed at a unit, highlighting any display, including shadow boxes. Concealed Strip lights (rope lights) housed on a flexible backing strip is tucked inside clear or colored plastic tubing. There are halogen, incandescent, fluorescent and gallery lights, wall sconces, small lamps, and other discreet fixtures. You should not see the bulbs, just the glow. Always keep in mind ventilation in closed cabinets and a dimmer switch is a big plus for any lighting scheme. With proper lighting, Your Family Museum will be aesthetically pleasing and inspiring.

Home improvement centers such as http://www.lowes.com/ and http://www.homedepot.com/ have everything you need.
 

Finishing Touches

Details make a difference. Stained or painted wood shelves, wallpaper or painted walls give a finished look. Storage below the bottom shelf requires a door(s) or drapery material to conceal the area. Display tools such as small easels, plate hangers, picture frames, Styrofoam blocks and step shelves to build height adding space and interest to the display. To secure and support the items use proper size nails, staples, glue, thumbtacks, Velcro strips and tabs, picture hooks, and museum gel. You will finding most of what you need at arts & craft stores such as http://www.michaels.com.
 

Visit museums, antique shops and galleries. Observe how the artifacts are displayed. Pay attention to the color and patterns on the walls, how textured materials create interesting backdrops, and how acrylic stands, metal or wood easels incorporate height and support.

Whatever space you use for Your Family Museum, you want the finishing touches to dramatically showcase all of the heirlooms, artifacts, books, pictures, etc., highlighting your family’s history. And be creative. Try different setups and themes. And do not be afraid to change, add or subtract things. Just when I think I got it all in place. something else is found and it needs to go into the museum. All of a sudden, things get piled on top one another and space is no longer available. What to do? Re-arrange. It takes a bit of time, but it is a good thing to re-acquaint yourself with your museum. I find it quite therapeutic.  

No matter why or how often you spend time in the Family Museum, have fun!

 

Thanks for the Memories - Wedding Plans

Picking the Date. Getting the License. Church ceremony or other venue. Choosing the Wedding Attendants. Creating the Guest lists. Where will the Reception be? Wedding Cake. What kind? How big? Flowers. What florist? Entertainment. What kind? Rehearsal party? WOW! I am exhausted just thinking about all the parts that go into planning a wedding. I read that it is recommended that in order to plan the ultimate wedding, use a wedding checklist with a timeline based on the 16-month length of the average U.S. engagement.  One can be found at: http://www.realsimple.com/checklist/wedding-checklists/index.html

Other helpful hints are also available, such as creative cards helping guests find their seats. Photo checklists, and even having the bridal shower at a bowling alley. How about having the wedding in the Backyard? All the how-dos are on this website. As I perused the lists, I was actually astonished that when I, with help from a few others, planned my wedding, we did it without having such an all-encompassing list. I am sure many weddings before 1969 had consultants with lists helping the undecided bride. I did not and our wedding event was successful. But perhaps in today’s fast-paced world, one should get all the help they can. After all, a wedding needs to be the best it can be.   

Using some of these wedding checklist how-dos as lead-ins, here are some photos from our wedding. For, “Picking your perfect attendants,” here are my three Bridesmaids: Lori, my sister-in-law, Janet, good friend, and Runi, Maid-of-Honor. Being that this was a November wedding, jewel colors were picked for their gowns. Royal Blue for Lori, Emerald Green for Janet, and Fuchsia for Runi. Furry muffs, collars and hats complimented the winter theme. The girls loved their gowns and they truly looked as if they were royal ladies-in-waiting.

The “Best Man” was Keith’s long-time friend, Roger. He was quite handsome and had a great personality. Here is Keith and Roger goofing off, like guys do, before the wedding. Roger also gave a wonderful toast. I just wish I could remember what he said. 

The wedding checklist has tips on choosing Groomsmen. Since our wedding party was small, besides Roger, Keith’s and my brother were the other guys. We also did not have a Flower Girl or Ring Bearer. I can’t recall why, but we didn’t miss not having them. I was amused by the little caveats offered on the website regarding the little ones such as, “Crying or not making it all the way down the aisle,” and to “be sure to secure the rings to whatever they’re being carried in or on.” Good advice.   

Wedding requirements can be mind-boggling. So can trying to remember our wedding. To do so, I consulted my wedding album and was thrilled when I found the things pictured here to jar my memory, like the wedding invitations. Creamy card stock with a fancy script was sent to an every-growing guest list. The seven-part invites were assembled with care, and whoever had the best handwriting got the worthy job of addressing the envelopes.

The bridal shower invite came from ‘Hallmark’ and that task was handled by Lori, for the shower was held at Keith’s house. All of his large family and many relatives were there and we were overwhelmed. And to this very day, we still have and use some of those shower gifts, like the Westinghouse hand mixer and assorted mixing bowls. Now how practical can you get! 

Finding my wedding dress was an event onto itself. Not only did I save my wedding dress, I saved the original receipt for the gown. Yellowed with age but still legible, my mother bought my dress from Bramson, a high-end women’s fashion store located in Park Forest, IL in the Evergreen Plaza. My wedding gown was a Priscilla of Boston, designed by Priscilla Kidder, one of the most famous makers of wedding gowns in the US in the 1950s, 60s & 70s.  After coming to prominence in 1956 when she designed the bridesmaid gowns for Grace Kelly's wedding to Prince Ranier of Monaco, my mother needed no more convincing by the sales lady that this was the gown for me.

The dress was an elegant floor length A-Line with hi illusion neckline with seed pearls and beadwork, and many buttons down the back and long sheer sleeves. The very long fine net veil had a gorgeous headpiece of sea pearls and lace. I truly felt like a princess!

I did some research and found a near-like version of my dress purchased in 1968. Asking price was $720, originally $3,500. My mom paid $113.40 for the dress, veil and tax. Of course it was the previous year’s design, but I did not mind that. It was beautiful and I loved it.   

The wedding ceremony was held at St. Mary’s Church in Mokena, Illinois. It was a cold day in November, but I do not remember feeling cold as my dad walked me to the car to go to the church. The reception was held at the Prestwick Country Club in the neighboring town of Frankfort.

As I am half Italian on my mother’s side, and as it was a tradition at that time, most wedding receptions were hosted by the bride’s parents, therefore, our wedding had Italian food and

entertainment. Mostaccioli with sausage, Italian Cream Wedding cake and almond cookies. Often during the dinner, guests banged glasses with spoons to encourage the Bride and Groom to kiss several times. My Godfather was a consummated entertainer, singing and dancing all the good ole Italian songs. The wedding party lined up to do the Tarantella dance. There are many renditions of this dance but the music is the same. What I remember the most was having my veil stepped on a lot. But it was fun and exhausting.

Cutting the wedding cake was a special moment. It was a small cake but there were other desserts. Keith and I cut the cake together and stuffed a small piece it each other’s mouths, and then passed it out to the guests. I loved the top of the cake, and it has been saved all these years and has a special place in our family museum. The bell is yellowed, but the bride & groom look as lovely as they did 44 years ago.

Finally, the reception was coming to a close. As we said our goodbyes, we stepped out to a very cold night, the sky was absolutely brilliant with a full moon that had a ring around it. How fascinating! We were told by a guest that a ring around the moon means that our marriage is like the eternal ring, will always go around and around, like the wedding rings on our fingers.  What a lovely thought to have then and every time we see a ring around the moon, we both recall our wedding and how wonderful it was.

As you create your family museum, make sure you include whatever precious items you have from that time in your life. To see those things is like a gentle reminder and tells you how important was that moment in time.

Next Post:  Summertime Memories

Suggestion: If you do not have a Family Museum to display your wedding keepsakes, gather up what you have and put them together in a shadow box, such as the wedding invitation and photographs, and hang them on a wall. It does not matter how many things you saved or how big the venue is for your heirlooms. What matters is that you still have them, share them now, and pass them on to your family.        

 

Thanks for the Memories - First Date, the Proposal and Engagement Ring

Do you remember where you and your mate first met and where you went on your first date? Where did the proposal take place? Who picked out the engagement rings?

There are millions of stories told everyday about these topics. But where are the stories about the memories? In your head? In pictures? And where are the things you saved from these times? Most likely, the mementos and souvenirs have gone by the wayside, put in a box and long forgotten. How sad. However, many marriages end and the things that represented that union are gone, too. But for those who did keep some of those treasures, where are they now? Hopefully, this blog post will encourage you to seek the answer to those questions. And when and if you find any vestige, please put it in your family museum.

“Practice what you preach,” they say. I am just as guilty of not keeping a lot of things from those times. The one item that seemed to weather time-past storms is the top of our wedding cake. (I will address this feature of the bride blog later). As for the things that did get saved, it is truly beyond me how they were saved in the first place and long forgotten long ago. When I finally got around to gathering the family heirlooms to put in our museum did I come across that box that held those now few precious items. Of course, photographs always seem to be saved, probably because they are in some kind of album that has been sitting on a shelf or maybe a box. The two pictures here are from our first date. Keith picked me up in his Mustang and we went to the local A&W Root beer drive-in. Living in the country there was little to do for excitement. But we didn't care. We were free, single, and falling in love. It didn't matter where we went as long as we were together. 

Then came the Proposal.

It is unclear where the idea of proposing down on one knee originated. The ones noted are during religious ceremonies, entering a church, or kneel in reflection. No matter where the origin, a request for marriage while on bended knee is symbolic of the commitment of one’s own life to another person. The meaning is the symbolism of respect, commitment and honor for both people. Expected or surprised, the proposal is a revered event in marriage and life.

My proposal of marriage took place in my parent’s kitchen. How romantic. I was sitting down and Keith got down on his one knee and proposed. I think I started to cry. There was much weighing on this proposal because “we” were with child. As time was not available, the wedding plans began before the engagement ring was slipped onto my finger. With all our fears mingling together, we agreed to pick out the rings together when time allowed. And the waiting was worth every minute! We shopped together for our rings. I was working in Chicago and on a Friday evening after work, we went shopping. Keith bought our rings and while waiting for our dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant, Keith proposed again and put the ring on my finger. Now that’s romantic!  

Wow! The next day I felt like a Bride-to-be. What a powerful symbol is the Engagement Ring. I couldn’t believe my eyes every time I looked down at my left hand. And even more so when I showed it off.

Engagement rings date back to Roman times or further. But what many people probably do not realize is that the notion of a diamond ring was initially marketed to the masses in an advertising campaign in the late 1930s. In the United States, the popularity of diamond engagement rings declined after World War I, even more so after the onset of the Great Depression when the price of diamonds collapsed. At the same time, market research indicated that engagement rings were going out of style with the younger generation. In 1947 the slogan, "A Diamond is Forever," was introduced as a De Beers campaign that sought to persuade the consumer that an engagement ring is indispensable, and that a diamond is the only acceptable stone for an engagement ring. The campaign was very successful. http://www.americangemsociety.org/the-history-of-the-diamond-as-an-engagement-ring

What is interesting is that given how much has changed over the decades — men now snoop on their girlfriends’ Pinterest boards for clues about what they really like and couples often shop together, because it is a purchase loaded with expectations persists. Mostly men admitted that they were concerned about appearances. Yet the most popular refrain is still going strong: She is going to wear it for the rest of her life.

No matter where, when or how, when a marriage is meant to be, it is meant to be. Those words were spoken by a wise woman, my mom. It was hard to believe her when my heart was breaking, but after I met Keith, I knew she spoke the truth.  

Next Post: Wedding Plans