Making it My Own

This process of re-orienting myself is SLOW. I mean REALLY slow. I am picking away at it little by little, trying to assimilate all the things I brought from my parents' house and somehow make them my own.

 I took hundreds of pictures over the summer, as I wanted to remember everything just the way my folks left it. I'm really glad I have those pictures because they not only help me remember how things looked before I dismantled everything, but they give context to the things I brought home. That's helpful to me as I try to incorporate a few items here and there into our house. When you take an object out of its original context and move it to a new place, it retains its old identity but gets a new lease on life. I see that happening around here.

Let's start with something I found in my dad's garage. Holy buckets...his work space was not especially tidy! Somewhere on that work bench I found an old olive green lazy Susan which I believe was salvaged from my grandma's kitchen. I don't have a close-up photo of it, but my dad used it for jars of nails and screws. Given the context, you can imagine what condition it was in. (Pssst: See that metal cart at the bottom of the photo? I brought two well-loved shop carts home to re-purpose. I'm really looking forward to that project!)

It took considerable scrubbing but I cleaned up the lazy Susan completely and brought it into my craft room for my tools. It looks almost new, and it's really nice to have this little piece from his garage in my work space. My dad would get quite a kick out of it, I'm sure. :)

I also kept the little olive enamelware pot shown in the photo below. I don't know where it came from but I remember that Mom had kept it for a very long time on top of the fridge. I liked it, so I brought it home. I kept things that spoke to me, even if I didn't know what I would do with them.
 

 This week I ran across several bags of October Afternoon buttons which didn't fit into my embellishment storage containers. The enamelware pot finally had a purpose.

 

It's the perfect size for all of those buttons. They're my favorite buttons anyway, and now they are easy to grab. I just love this little pot, and it's really nice to have something from Mom's kitchen in my craft space.

 

Mom also had a lot of Longerberger baskets. The one with a lid now holds several of my small mini-albums.

 

 Up in a high cupboard in Mom's kitchen, I found three nesting bowls which she used for cole slaw and potato salad. These are VERY heavy bowls which have been used a lot. In fact, each one has a small chip, but I couldn't bear to part with them. Aside from the fact that I remember those salads fondly, I really like their sturdy, simple design. One has already found a new use as a fruit bowl in our house.
 

I found this small bookcase/table in my old bedroom. I don't know where it came from or how long Mom had had it. But once I cleared everything off of it, I liked its simplicity. I thought and thought about whether or not to sell it then at the last minute, I squeezed it into my SUV and brought it home. I had been on the lookout for a small table for our entryway and wondered if it would work in that capacity.

Sure enough, it was the perfect size. I cleaned it up, repaired a loose trim piece with some trusty wood glue, and used scratch cover to mask a few flaws. Now this little bookcase/table has a new lease on life as an entryway table. It will be a perfect spot for a small seasonal decor piece.

 

 Slowly but surely, I will continue incorporating some special pieces into our home, fondly remembering the way my parents used them...but moving forward to make them my own.

Janet