The Attic... Treasures From The Past

Treasures From The Past...

A few years ago we got rid of the furniture we had purchase for the living room in order to move in some furniture from my past. The pieces were in need of some repair. The sofa was one I would nap on when I visited my grand mother as a baby. I re-upholstered it in a cream fabric and managed to keep some of the original green velvet to make some lower lumbar pillows. I took the sofa down to the wood and springs. I had to retie the springs, replace the wadding and batting but did keep the original excelsior and horse hair in some parts. I then covered the sofa in muslin then in the cream fabric. They sure don't make furniture like they use to. When they say "hardwood framing", they mean it. My staples would not penetrate the wood. I had to revert back to the olden days when they used tack nails. Time consuming but so worth it in the end.

I wish I had of taken before and after photos of the soda, but back then I did not have a digital

camera and developing film was not in the budget. It had been sitting in my brother's basement for quiet some years. One leg was broken off and layers of dust.

The chest is from my grand mother as well and the mirror. I touched the chest up with some stain. The mirror needs some treatment on the back but will put that off till much later. I kinda' like the rustic look with some of the silver on the back fading.

The rocker is the most special part. Its my hubby's when he was a child. Its is such good shape. It does show a lot of wear, but you can still see the painted face and hooves and it still have the original red leather saddle.

The picture against the wall is of my hubby's distant aunt and uncle, its a charcoal drawing. I love the heavy wooded frame.

 So glad his mom never threw anything away. I was watching a program on hording this afternoon and they were throwing away so much stuff. The daughters were in their early teens and did not want their old baby stuff their mom had saved. At that age, neither did I and I am so sadden that its all gone now. I so fear some of these programs to do not take into consideration the importants of keeping some things from the past. At those young ages they have no idea how they will feel later on in life.

My MIL even kept some of her old dress from when she was a baby and we have framed photos of her wearing the dresses and shoes.  I will post those in another post later.



Christmas Time Is Here.... The Decorations Are Up... Now if we could have some snow.

The true reason our family celebrates Christmas is the birth of our lord and Savior. We keep him in our hearts not only at Christmas but all year around. I struggled quite a bit with decorating for Jesus birthday, I felt somehow I was doing something flamboyant to something so holy as his birth. But I know in my heart first and foremost where my priorities are all through the year. I keep Jesus in my heart everyday, We give our tithe and offerings all year long and remember those that are in need as Jesus would have us do. The decorations I put out are just to light up the house and it takes me back in time to when I was a child. With life being as difficult as it is, its nice to daydream back to when we were children and waited for Santa. Yes, we were brought up in a Christian home, we did do the Santa thing until we were able to understand what the true meaning was all about. I delighted in waking up my brother or he waking me and we running down the steps to see what was put under the tree.  I love to look back on those happy times and remembering the old traditions that so warms my heart. And.... its when families, due to hectic schedules or distances can come together once a year.

Can you have both? Some say no if you are a Christian, I think I will let God be my judge. I like to look on the person's heart and not their exterior.  If I see Jesus in their heart... then the rest I just push aside and will let God be there judge.

So with that being said. If you would like to take a look-see, I have put up a few things from years past and present to light up the house.

This nativity set is so old, somewhere about 20 years, I keep it in its original box, guess that is why its lasted so long. Its all made of paper. The wooden manger came from Leeward's arts and crafts store many years ago too. This set sits on top of the roll top desk in the den. 

Hanging from the lamp is a special glass blown Noah's Ark.

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You may click on the photos to enlarge.

This year I put up a snowflake icicle tree in the den. I usually have it in reverse and this one goes in the living room but its so bright and the den is so dark, we needed more light.

The snow under the tree is from shredded tissue paper. This tradition was handed down as a child. We use to sit for hours cutting white tissue paper into strips. Now I just run the tissue paper through the paper shredded in long strips. Then when you have a big pile; Just start fluffing it up with your hands till you have mounds of it. It last for years, I put it all in a big plastic bag then re-fluff it up the next year.

Word of caution, watch out when you vacuum around this paper snow, seems if just one strands gets sucked up, the rest will follow. Also, cats and dogs love this stuff. When we had cats, each morning I would have to put it all back under the tree, I had paper snow strings everywhere, kinda' looked like the house got hazed from my old school days when folks would toilet paper houses.

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Living room tree with traditional glass ornaments and more paper snow under it.

The old rocking horse you see is hubby's when he was a child.

 His mom never threw anything away, So thankful for that.

The back of the sofa you see in the above photo, well that was my grandmother's.

 (Below photo) I re-upholstered it, She had it covered in a lovely dark green velvet. The green velvet always reminded me of Christmas. I slept on that sofa when I was a child when we would visit her. I managed to save some of the velvet to make some lower lumbar pillows.

 I still have a bit of the velvet left for safe keeping. 

 

This is the tree lit at night  in the living room and we have candles in all 3 of the living room windows.

The wing back chair you see in the corner was found by a garbage bin ready to be thrown out. Got that home and took it down to the bare wood. Its from the Hickory Chair Company and was made in 1968, this info was on a small metal plaque screwed into the wood on the back. I brought it back to life about 15 years ago, boy what a job that was. That was my first real upholstery job, the sofa was my second. I use to make slipcovers for old stuff but these needed big time work.

In that chair are so very old quilts found among hubby's mother's belongings. They are priceless. They show some wear but that does not take away from these works of art.

Well, that is our holiday decor, I Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Many prayers for you all to have a safe Christmas and to keep the lord in your heart. Daily living with him is the only way to live. Open his word each and everyday, his words will comfort and guide you.



The Porch.... sigh....

This is our back screen porch, its what sold us on this old house and the property. Its 18 ft long and 14 ft wide. We got the house 1985 and I have put my hard blood, sweat and many painful tears into fixing this place up little by little and holding down a medical career. The house was built in 1970 and was a bit neglected but I saw potential.

I love this old porch, its great in the early spring before the pollen and heat starts here in the south. And its wonderful in the Fall, I love sitting out at night and smelling the fresh crisp cool night air after a hot humid summer. Its keeps us buggy free while we grill out and a perfect size for the family gathering too. 

Pay no attention to the lawn please..... We use to have lovely grass until we had to have the lawn graded back away from the house. Then no sooner than we finally got some semblance of a yard again, we had to have a drainage system put around the house so there went the yard again and with the bad drought we have had for the past 4 summers, well there went the sod. So until our summers start seeing rain again, we just keep throwing down seed and straw hoping we will have a good wet summer then we can lay sod.

I purchased the lanterns last summer, Found an old small gate stored away in the shed,

 painted it black and hung the lanters from it.