A few weeks ago, I shared by True Value on my Facebook and Twitter. I don’t know if any of you watched it, but it is a really beautiful clip about preserving a family heirloom. It gave me tingles and made me misty, because I’m really into that sort of thing. I love pieces with a story and soul. Pieces that have been patched, repaired, refinished, moved across the country and handed down through generations – all signs of a quality piece that’s been well loved.
With the constant parade of furniture that goes through my house, there aren’t many pieces that have remained over the years. One piece that I’ve never even considered selling is the buffet in my dining room.
First of all, it’s just my style. More importantly, it’s a piece that was given to me by my parents. They bought it from an antique shop when they were just newlyweds. Through all of our moves (my dad was in the Army), I remember this piece of furniture always finding a home. I remember my mom pulling her silver and placemats out of it for special occasion dinners. I remember a German shepherd we dog-sat taking shelter under the buffet, hiding from our territorial (and very teeny-tiny) Siamese cats. The smell of the velvet-lined drawers always reminds me of “home.” I remember being giddy with excitement when my mom said she was giving it to me. I only wish I knew the history of the piece before it came into our family about 40 years ago.
This is what it looked like when I received it…
For a long time, I felt like I had to leave it as is. It was scratched and gouged, but I felt like painting or refinishing it would somehow take away from the history of the piece. I also thought my mom might kill me.
One day, I was talking about the buffet and my mom offered, “That’s your piece of furniture now, Marian. You can do whatever you want with it.” I think I waited about 34 minutes before the paint was going on. In addition to painting it, I refinished the heavily scratched top.
(It’s gained a few new scratches since I refinished it, but that’s okay.)
Painting it took this family heirloom and made it mine. I didn’t take away from the history of the piece. I added to it. Another piece of the story about how great-grandma Marian’s furniture was painted in soft blues and whites with wood tops and we’re so glad we have one of her signature pieces. Maybe whoever ends up with it will repaint it or strip it back to the bare wood. That would just be another layer of history.
Do you have a heirloom piece like that? I’d love to hear about some of your favorite family heirlooms and how you’ve added to their history.
If you haven’t watched the video, yet, you can check it out .
I was one of the bloggers selected by True Value to work on the DIY Squad. I have been compensated for my time commitment to the program as well as my writing about my experience. I have also been compensated for the materials needed for my DIY project. However, my opinions are entirely my own and I have not been paid to publish positive comments.
68 Responses
I have the dresser that sat in my dad & brother’s bedroom as a kid. He was born in 1928 and the lower drawer served as a bed for my youngest Uncle. I love that the dresser is mine and sits beside our bed. I’ve painted, stripped, and painted it again. Love, and yes, the true value clip had me in tears!!
This is great. I struggle with the hand me downs. I LOVE them and am afraid to touch them for fear of devaluing, making making a mistake, or offending the person who passed it along. My daughter has her great grandmother’s bed and an antique dresser set that was my mom’s. This post is inspiring me to reconsider my hesitancy to change how they look to better fit a young girl’s room. Thank you.
A wonderful friend gave me her grandmother’s beautiful serpentine front vanity with a mirror several months ago. Along with it came my friend’s story of a time that she was visiting her grandmother and was caught more than once playing in her grandmother’s loose face powder. She had it all over herself and the vanity. When she was scolded about it, her response was ~ when I am at grandmother’s, I can do whatever I want! I refinished the top in a kona stain, the bottom and mirror in ASCP Old White and sprayed the hardware in ORB. I have also extended the offer to return it to the family if sh ever wants it back ~ I have visions of it being in a granddaughter’s room someday. Thanks for inspiring me to refinish this piece along with many others!
Thanks for making me all misty this morning, Marian. Your attachment to this buffet is so sweet. But the True Value piece had me going. I only wish that my family had these types of heirlooms to pass down. My immigrant parents don’t have anything from their old country. But I am lucky enough to have my deceased sister-in-laws dining table. I love it when my niece and nephew come over and tell THEIR children how they grew up around it.
I always loved my grandparents bedroom furniture, even as a child. The art deco furniture was stained cherry and had ram’s head drawer pulls. The top drawers of the dressers and the headboard of the bed frame have a diamond pattern made by the grain of the wood cut into different directions. After sitting in my parents garage for almost 15 years the finish was chipping off, the mirror was toast and the bed frame was too damaged to save. The dressers were in good condition so I spent a few weekends stripping and sanding and restaining the once very red stain to a dark mahogany. My husband and I still use them today and I still love them. I even managed to save the pulls for drawers.
Lately, I have been considering doing something new. After seeing how beautiful your buffet is I am considering some paint, my issue is with the top drawers and how to accentuate the design if I paint over it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I have many inherited pieces that I don’t touch, even though one of them would look better painted. They belonged to my husband’s family and he has a Master’s Degree in Wood Science. Yes, he love real wood so much he received a graduate degree in the subject.
But if a piece comes from a thrift shop or garage sale, all bets are off!
Your post reminded me of something that happened to my daughter. She has a degree in interior design and is not afraid of painting anything. Her in laws gave her an antique bench, not sure what kind but it was of great value. She painted it a deep burgundy red…
Her mother-in-law told me later that she was shocked when she saw it but had to admit it looked beautiful. Fortunately, my daughter has a very good relationship with her in laws… even if she does paint heirlooms.
I love this story – true for me too! I am waiting on my MMS paint to put my stamp on my grandmother (in law’s) table and china closet that I have now had for 37 yrs. I will be happy to send you a pic as you so gracefully helped me select the colors.
You are truly a wonderful person.
Hi Marian,
This post have me the courage I need to paint an old antique dresser of ours! My sister-in-law gave it to me 10 years ago and I’ve been debating about painting it for awhile. I love that you kept the top unpainted and opted to refinish instead. Your mother was so sweet to give you permission to make it truly yours. What a touching story!
My parents were retired back in 1989, my dad took my mom out to South Carolina to do some furniture shopping – they purchased a buffet with lighted hutch and a dining room table with 6 chairs in Ash wood (from what I heard it is very hard to find ash furniture now). It was Mom’s pride and joy! Both parents have passed on. My 2 siblings and I went thru and distributed the furniture (that really sucked..too many memories) and I received the dining room set. Now I’m in a restored building built in 1886 and am having problems fitting it in.. due to the factory finish and that it is ash, I cannot come to grips to paint or stain it darker… or perhaps too many memories of Mom and Dad… a friend told me it’s ok to mix woods – so I think I will just change the linens and chair pads so it will work. Perhaps painting the wood floor will work?
Recently my Aunt & Uncle have had to make the difficult choice to downsize because of his health. My Aunt is my Father who has passed sister. She has offered to give me a couple family heirlooms my Grandmother’s China & an antique hutch that has been passed down three generations, I would be the fourth. I was thrilled that she would think of me. We have a large family but I think maybe I am the one who will appreciate just how special the heirlooms are & do my best to pass on their legacy & I think she knows that. However, it’s kind of funny because the hutch is still possibly up for debate or perhaps it will find a home with another family member. I asked if she would care if I painted it. I’m not sure that is what she had in mind for it. So for now I am thrilled to be the keeper of the China. We shall see what comes of the hutch. As for me, I say paint it bring new life to an old piece. I think it would be better painted displayed proudly in my dining area in our new home in my families hometown than in someone’s garage or storage never to be seen.
Perfect timing on this post! I just rented a U-haul last weekend and moved two of my grandmother’s pieces to my house. One is an antique secretary and one is a breakfront with gorgeous wood detailing on the glass. I’m already midway through painting the first piece and I’m loving how it looks so far! My mom said that I could do whatever I wanted to them, they were just sitting in the basement anyway. She was just happy that someone wanted to keep them and love them the way my grandmother did!
I have, among boxes and boxes of other items that I saved from my fathers barn when we had to put him in the nursing home, my grandmothers diary from 1938.
It is an incredible read that comes all the more to life because I know the setting, my grandparents dairy farm in Upstate NY, so well.
Interestingly, the day/dates of the diary coincided with the day/dates years ago when I acquired it, and in trying to connect that past to this present, I quoted my grandmothers entries on my blog.
I love the story of your buffet (and the video). I have my great-great Aunt Lula’s farmhouse table that was in her summer kitchen in Middletown, Pennsylvania in the 1800s. She passed it on to her grand-niece, my grandmother, when my grandma got married in the 1940s. My grandma passed it to me when I got married, and it’s moved with us around the country and been in all five of our houses. I’ve had various sets of chairs with it over the years, but thanks to inspiration from your blog, I’m currently making drop cloth slipcovers for six parsons chairs I found on craigslist, and I JUST got the bamboo tattoo mat from Decor Steals to go under it (the perfect finishing touch!).
First, I had noticed your server in a previous post and thought how lovely it was.
I have a smaller server that my mother in law loved and cherished. It came to me when she passed, and was stained cherry. I tried to love the color, but it was so dark. One day I decided it would look better white, so I stripped it bare and gave it three coats of white, followed by polyurethane. ( I was a novice! ) Hubby was not thrilled with me, but I loved it. Fast forward 20+ years to the present – I decided the white looked yellowed, so stripped and sanded all those coats off (not fun) and painted it a light charcoal gray. Once again in love with it, and friends and family all approve the color choice. Every time I pass it, I remember the day she got it, and how her eyes danced with love. She had coveted it and saved for it for a few years, and I knew how much she loved that piece. I was thrilled when her children insisted that I have it, because I understood her feelings for it.
Marian,
My family piece is a curio cabinet secretary. It started out with my Grandpa’s winning bid at auction about 1950. He wanted to use it for the few rifles he owned. Grandma said it was to nice to use so she took over. After he buying 2 more glass door cabinets and 2 buffets and a extension table and many pressed back chairs Grandma said no more pieces for the dining room. When Grandpa passed Grandma moved and the secretary and many other things went to auction and my mom won the bid. The secretary was mom’s piece and in 1992 was damaged in a house fire. The drop front desk was broken and the finish damaged. It was put into storage and when mom passed in 2006 it was a pick of mine. I don’t think anyone thought it could be fixed. It was in our garage and made a move with us and this past year was restored. “She” looks like she is very happy. I remodeled the upstairs hallway,removed a closet, to make a special space for her. The one thing that the refinisher asked about is the couple of fine scratches on the edge of the beveled mirror. When I told him Grandma refinished the outside in the 70’s. he told me that the scratches are from the sanding. I wouldn’t let him polish them out, they are Grandma’s mark on this piece.
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I have a 7 piece French provincial bedroom set that was my grandmother’s. When I open the drawers, there is such a familiar smell that always associated with her. I remember asking her if I could have it someday when I was just a kid and now it has been mine for about 10 years. It has lived in 3 different houses with me and has crossed state lines. With each move, it gets a little more dinged up. Up until recently it was always displayed in the guest room pretty much unused…all 7 pieces lined up which was overkill. I haven’t physically changed it because I really like the finish. It has an antiqued milk painted look actually. However, I finally did the unheard of thing and split up the pieces so they are scattered throughout the house and I am getting real use out of them. so much better and so much more me. I am planning to use the massive mirror in the bathroom and we’re using both dressers and nightstands. My mom is currently using the bed and vanity.
My daughters each have a dresser that belonged to their Nana (my mother-in-law) when she was a little girl. They weren’t new when Nana got them. Her father had painted them black, but I re-did them in cream colored Chalk Paint for my girls and now the antique hardware really stands out beautifully, whereas it was lost against the black. i love the quality of the construction with the dovetail joints and very deep drawers. I would be hard-pressed to find dressers like them today!
I have my grandmother’s hope chest. My grandfather gave it to her when she was16 and had just arrived in the United States. It needs some attention to one leg but other than that is in good condition. I like you, didn’t want to paint it thinking I was taking away from the piece. I appreciated your perspective about making it ours and adding to the history. I think a repair and a coat of paint are in it’s future!
Great timing….I just finished refurbishing an old Saratoga trunk. 60 years ago, my family moved into a home where this was left in the attic. My Mom didn’t want it and I took it. I’ve had it for years and it’s passed from one daughter to the other. Recently, my daughter asked me to refinish it for her 45th birthday. It was a hump back trunk with alligator tin inserts. It was also painted black. We stripped it several times and finally got most of the black off. I antiqued the alligator and wiped it off, painted the metal the original brown and we polyurethaned (?) the entire thing. That gave the metal a gorgeous look as well as the wooden strapping. I upholstered the inside with sage green quilted upholstry fabric which also looks wonderful. This trunk originally looked like something from the trash, now has been shored up and reinforced and looks as good as the day it was made in the 1800’s and is a real family treasure
I have my grandmother’s wooden rocker. It served her well thru her 99th year. A good scrubbing is the only action I took. The arms have worn spots where her arms rested. And the squeak is still there when you rock. When I started dating after a divorce I knew he was a kindred spirit – he had his grandmother’s wooden rocker too.
That is a great story!
I think this post probably has affected each of us that has ever inherited an heirloom piece of furniture. Do we make it our own or do we leave it alone? Having said all that, if we do decide to refinish an heirloom piece of furniture, but want to keep the original hardware, where is a good source for replacing missing or damaged pulls? I love to keep some of the past with the piece! Thanks
“I also thought my mom might kill me…” 🙂
I don’t currently have any family heirlooms (passed down to me) but my parents do and I know they will hold on to them as long as they can. One day I hope some of the pieces my husband and I have collected will get passed along to our kids along with wonderful memories!
I have a piece that was my grandmothers. My dad inherited when she passed away, when i was 12. He said i could have the piece for my room if i refinished it myself. So i spent the summer working on it. The piece was given to me 11 years ago when we moved into our new home, i knew exactly where to put it, my son’s room. It is a lovely piece with two doors on top opening to an open space with 4 small drawers and two larger drawers on the bottom. I have been thinking of painting the piece instead of keeping it in its natural wood color. Hmmm, gets me thinking, maybe i should redo my son’s whole room!!!! Sorry got to go, the wheels are turning for a new project.
This is a topic that is always on my mind because I have an antique shop. I have just started painting vintage furniture for the first time rather than leave it in it’s original wood finish. I still have a hard time covering up the 1940’s mahogany and older age-darken oak but I’ve been painting ash, birch and pine. Now I see that Marion’s buffet was mahogany…maybe I could do it. It looks very nice. I know I’ll never paint over chippy and weathered painted pieces no matter what color they were painted. I love that finish! I had to keep quiet last week when a customer told me they were going to cut a fabulous Victorian screen door in half, paint it and hang jewelry on the screen. One hundred years of wear from all those hands pushing it open! Ahhhhhhh!
Like the others I have been a custodian of several pieces. Some I’ve kept some I have parted ways with. I too will paint if it looks right, and have 2 pieces waiting right now. Oh that video is wonderful and had me in tears too!
I love your buffet and how you made it your own for your children to remember it by. I recently inherited a dining room suite that was in my friend’s family for 70 years. I’m not going to work on it until I have the perfect plan for it’s transformation but when I do, I am definitely sharing that video with my blog post!
I too have a special set of furniture that I have not touched with the exception of refinishing it 36 years ago when I got married. The bedroom set is a wardrobe, vanity, chest and a HUGE cannonball 4 poster bed. When I was little, I would swing on the post of the bed as my granny sat at the vanity “platting” her waist length hair. I can still see her sitting there, looking at me in the mirror while I was swinging around like a monkey and saying,” Deborah Lynn you are going to break something swinging on that post!” She always had a big smile on her face when she scolded me. I love my bedroom set and I might just get the nerve to bring some new life to it with some paint!!
Thank you Marian for the reminder about the True Value video. I had forgotten to watch it and would have missed a beautiful story. Bravo for True Value.
You buffet tells a beautiful story and it is wonderful that you will continue that story as the years go by. It is so lovely.
Hi Marian, I JUST painted an antique buffet that I bought on a Facebook group for our local classifieds – in Lucketts Green and loved it so much, I thought I’d move on to paint a bureau that I got from my grandmother, who got it from her mother. It’s a 1900-1920’s empire styled piece and I have always loved it since I was a child. It has a mirror attached to it with gorgeous beveled glass. Fantastic piece. But at the last minute, I chickened out. Instead I used a homemade concoction of olive oil and white vinegar to restore the wood and it looks great. I”m really glad I didn’t paint it, but I did buy some glass drawer pulls for it. I thought they added a little bling to an otherwise dull facade. Now it is “my” piece of furniture, suited to my taste and preference. Maybe someday I will get brave enough to do something else with it, but I doubt it. My daughter will get it someday if she wants it and it will then have been in 5 generations in my family!
Thanks for your post and the video share! It was wonderfully done and did bring a tear to my eye as well!
What a great story and a great piece…I love the blue:-) Our entire house is full of family heirlooms that I have either restored or that we have built from wood and trims saved from the original 1900 house here where my family has been for 5 generations. We just finished making wormy chestnut countertops from wood off my great grandmother’s house. We have replaced new trim with old trim, and I have matched paint colors from the old house to use in ours. It is a serious labor of love to do all the projects we do because it means crawling in dirty, dusty places and lots of cleaning things up but I am blessed to have such a treasure trove of family items here and I hope I am teaching my children about the importance of family and the feeling of belonging.
So what IS the color of that lovely buffet???
When my father’s mother died, I received her black Singer Featherweight sewing machine (the model quilter’s covet). I’ve used it for over 30 years and my girls use it. The same grandmother also collected linens and embroidery work. I have a portion of her collection and it started me on my own hoard. I keep it all in the small three-drawer dresser she had next to her bed which is now repainted and in my bedroom. My mother did not have anything from her family to pass on to me. She was an immigrant and came only with what was in her suitcase. So she really values passing on her things to us. A few years ago my mother gave me the piano that my siblings and I all learned to play on. My kids now play it. She also gave me the dresser that my father had as a young man and after painting it (it was pretty beat up), I passed it on to my eldest son. I offered him another larger dresser in better condition, but he wanted “Grandpa’s.” My husband’s mother was sadly always throwing things out; maybe because her mother was a frugal hoarder (not in a bad way). She did hang on to a beautiful drop leaf dinning table and gave it to us when we married. We still have it and my husband always, always tells every visitor, “This is the table I threw up at when I was little.” She also gave us two wooden magazine racks that had belonged to her mother and we still use them. All our other furniture is second hand, but with someone else’s history. However, some of them do have stories about how they came to us and we pass the interesting acquisition stories on to our kids. We still have the first desk (an antique) we purchased as a married couple, and I remember my husband studying for the GRE’s at it 25 years ago. I made an outdoor bench out of a headboard last year and I hope one of my kids takes it eventually and they can laughingly tell their kids about all grandma’s “dangerous” (my husband’s word) projects.
In 1925, my father was 18 years old and began teaching school. He had back problems, and an old craftsman in the rural Alabama area where he lived made him a rocking chair from oak. It is put together with pegs. For some odd reason, it was painted brown. Most of that has worn off. I have always wanted to paint it (not brown) — and in fact I think milk paint would look better than chalk paint — but I wonder if I would destroy any value it might have since it is approaching 100 years old. Any input from you or your readers would be appreciated.
Marian, you always know how to tug at the heart strings!
My grandfather suffered from juvenile arthritis as a child. By the time he was in his early 20’s, he was completely crippled. He walked with two canes, was hunched over, and never went anywhere in a hurry. Despite his disability, he never considered himself “handicapped”. He couldn’t work at public work, so he chose to do what he loved. My grandfather was a finish carpenter. He made his own tools, machinery, and devices to make his life easier and help him complete his work. When my parents and I would go to estate auctions in town, we could pick out his pieces of furniture just by his signature craftsmanship.
Unfortunately, he passed away when I was only 2 1/2 years old. My father continued to use his shop my entire childhood, and I would spend hours with him watching him work. I can still see the mismatched drawers with all of his metal files, the saw dust on the floor, and the time worn tops of used tables. My grandfather made the bedroom suite he and my grandmother used for their entire marriage. It’s simple, solidly constructed, and consists of a double bed, dresser, chest of drawers, vanity, and two twin beds. Because of lack of time, I was only able to get the vanity and bed from the suite before the estate was auctioned off. I cherish those pieces of furniture because he made them, and I can still see my grandmother sitting at the vanity putting her make up on. The vanity and bed are now in my upstairs bedroom. I have struggled with the desire to paint them and the fear of changing them because of sentimental value. Your article just gave me the permission I’ve been needing to change them into my pieces without losing the sentimental value. Thank you for your kind words and wisdom.
I have so much joy knowing Marian loves a piece that was in our home when she was a child. I actually made room for my Mom’s buffet when we gave this one to Marian. My most special piece though is not my parent’s buffet that is currently in my office but my Dad’s table that he made in HS shop class. The table was in my entrance hall for years and my Dad even refinished the top once of his own initiative as he wanted it to look nice. He was proud that I valued it. It is special to me. I recently received a small serving chest from my parent’s house that also holds special memories. I talked my Mom into buying that piece years ago and have always loved it. It was the only piece still in my parent’s house that I REALLY wanted. So I have relocated my Dad’s table for now and put this small serving chest in the hall. LOVE IT and I have MMS’s stamp of approval :). Hopefully one day either Marian or her brother or our grand kids will want them in their home and if they want to paint them they have my blessing and at least my Mom’s. Not sure my Dad would approve he was a builder and loved wood. 3 out if 4 ain’t bad :). MMS’s Mom
My husband and I have many pieces of furniture that have been passed down through our families. I have the black Boston rocker my mother purchased in 1959 when her first grandchild was born. She rocked all 11 grandchildren and many great grandchildren in that chair. Over the years, the paint wore off the arms where she rested her hands. I cannot bring myself to refinish the chair knowing my mother’s touch was what wore it away. Also, I have my parent’s first bedroom dresser and chest, which my father refinished with cordovan shoe polish over 60 years ago! I am considering painting the bottom parts with your grey milk paint and leaving the top as is.
I am struck by how the drawer lining evokes such a memory of your childhood. A couple of years ago, I passed along my bedroom dresser to one of my daughters for her home. It was the final piece of our set bought before we married in 1971. Since my girls live in other states, we don’t get to see them or the grandsons nearly as much as we’d like. This was evident in the weeks after she took the dresser to her home and told me she couldn’t find the 5 year old at some point each day. Her curiosity was peaked when she finally found him one day in her room with his head stuck in one of the dresser drawer. When asked what he was doing, he replied, “I’m just smellin’ Grammy!” Bet that dresser ends up in his home someday! Love your blog and hoping to venture into your paints this winter.
Marian,
Your buffet is one of the iconic pieces of your brand. I’m sure it has been repinned a gazillion times. It is as widely recognized as the chair on the front of your book. Life moves along, things change, but there is comfort in knowing some things will stay the same..so it is good to know we can count on seeing your lovely buffet in future photo shots.
What a wonderful story. Even the one from True Value! My husband made many pieces of furniture when he was in high school in the early sixties. Some have the very orangy look to them.I recently painted a step back hutch he made and had him add some scalloped trim to three of the exposed shelves. Then I painted it in ASCP and distressed it a tiny bit. I looks so amazing and he loves it too. One piece that was changed before passing it down. Some things just benefit from our own touches and will stand the test of time with our loved ones.
Hi Marian, I love family heirlooms. I have one piece- a round table that was my grandmother’s. I use it for a night stand and it makes my heart warm to know that I am using something that she did in the past. I want to ask you how do you decide what color you will paint a piece? Do you “just know” or do you take a picture and virtually paint it first?
Thanks!
I have a glass and brass round coffee table that was my mother’s dream back in the late 50’s. Not your normal mid century modern – very elegant and it never went out of style. That table gets more compliments from people than any other piece in my home. I twirled a baton and bounced it off that table more times than I want to admit. I learned to draw and write on it since you could wipe the crayon off it if you went off the edge of the page. I did my homework on whenever no one was home since our tv was in the living room.
I always told my Mom when she died that was the only thing I wanted. When she died no one else wanted it so it sits in my living room and now a 4th generation tells me when she grows up she wants it for her kids.
I have a piece that is a curved glass cabinet on one side and a secretary on the other. Purchased new by my great grandparents I believe ( and I’m in my 50’s). Someone in the family ‘updated the hardware in the ’70’s or ’80’s :-(. It also has a layer of polyurethane on it and the wood is not really that well matched as I believe was typical for that era. I’d love to paint it, but it’s got ornate carving and I’m not sure if I’m up to stripping it. I keep wondering if I can milk paint over poly. It’s a treasure, but I’d love to add my own touch?
My middle son has my dresser. My dad got them somewhere (my sister had one, I the other) and it needed refinishing by the time I was married. My husband did a great job on it, and then as my kids grew, I outgrew the dresser and they ‘grew’ into it. It is heavy, solid, real wood with proper dovetail joins, etc.
Why can’t furniture makers go back to making real wood furniture at a reasonable price?
I will never get rid of that dresser, though my son can take it with him if he wants, I wouldn’t ever sell it. I have had it over 30 yrs. (probably closer to 40).
My husband and I have many pieces of furniture passed down many generations. I feel like we are the momentary guardians of these pieces. Funny, I stripped the paint off my grandmother’s china press, at least on the outside, getting ready to paint a bright color on the inside, which was on the outside when I got it after she died. Full circle. I have a camel back sofa that has been passed down four generations (it’s old, and gorgeous!!) We reupholstered it, every generation that receives it reupholsters. My very favorite pieces is my Great Grandmother’s chair, it is very old. Has gorgeous carving, and when I received it, my Aunt asked that I not reupholster it…what?! Well my new puppy at the time chewed the upholstery, and I am reupholstering. Happy dance!! 😉
Loved that True Value video! I have a mahogany cedar chest that my father built (he was a carpenter) for my mother for their engagement in 1935- 78 years old! It is in great shape
(how I so remember my mother hand waxing it all the time when I was a child!) I have it at the foot of my bed and can’t imagine doing anything to it except of course hand wax it as my mother once did. It brings tears to my eyes to even think about it and it reconnects me to my mom who passed away 15 years ago, but especially to my father who suddenly died when I was just 6 years old. I feel like I didn’t really know him, so running my hands over that wood makes me feel connected to him and I am overwhelmed in such a beautiful way, knowing my parents are together once again. Thanks for inspiring me today…
I have many items big and small that have been passed down through the generations. I have ask my children to do whatever thay want with my items. Please feel no attachment to items because I do. I have Items well over 150 years old, I live in a 140 year old farm house, passed down through the generations. I LOVE my things, but again, what is important to me may not be important to them. So I hope they feel no guilt if they are not connected with items that I am….Having a house full of treasures from family long gone, it is hard to say what is my favorite. I do have a wonderful victorian walnut dresser bought at a farm sale by my pregnant mother in 1948 for 7 dollars. What is even more enjoyable, we have several pics of it passed down through the different rooms, in some it is painted and some not. It have been in seravl bedrooms, dining room now in my entry. I love it, my kids may not. Maybee’s MOM
Such a BEAUTIFUL piece, story, and paint job!
I love this! I have dishes from each sides of our family (from my grandma and my husband’s grandma) and I love being able to pull them out and use them. So special to have something that reminds us of them.
The grandparents on both sides of my family were poor country folk, so there were few antiques to inherit. But here’s a funny story about a set of china that might have belonged to my grandmother… More than 25 years ago when I was a newlywed with a young daughter, I spied a box of china under a table at a neighborhood garage sale. I enquired, and discovered that the dishes had been set aside for a niece in the family. I was disappointed, but left my name and phone number on the off chance that the niece might not want the dishes. I left thinking that I would probably never hear from those people again. I was shocked later that day when the woman from the garage sale called and offered the dishes (all twelve place settings) to me for the sum of $15.00! Now here’s the intriguing part: Years later when my grandmother passed away and we were going through her things, I came across eight place settings of the exact same Homer Laughlin Georgian dishes that I had purchased at the garage sale! My aunt kept those, of course, but in a way, I will always feel as though I am the care-taker of what could easily have been my grandmother’s china. I think of my good fortune in “almost inheriting” the dishes every time I place them on my holiday table.
The buffet is really unique. I have a similar one and last year I decided to give new life to it by repairing it. Such vintage things are still really fashionable. And by the way the picture of cow is really nice and it creates special atmosphere in the room.
I love that piece, it’s beautiful. I too have a family heirloom piece that I’ve been afraid to touch, it was my great grandmother’s, and it’s a round “drum” table that spins. It has inset leather and is not in the best of shape. I believe my mother at one point tried to refinish it, but was not doing it right and stopped. I’ve thought about painting it, but I wasn’t sure about the inset leather on the top. suggestions? thanks MMS, as always, love your inspiring stories.
Would you share with me the paint and finish you chose for the buffet redo?
We had a credenza growing up that always had the Christmas stockings hanging from the draw pulls. As three girls growing up in one bedroom, Christmas Eve was a night of little sleep. We would jump out of bed to check if the stockings were hanging as then we knew Santa had come. Our poor parents did not get much sleep each Christmas Eve and we always woke at the crack of dawn!
My sister inherited that piece and she too painted it. I inherited some of the kitchen items, a yellow ware bowl that was actually my grandmother’s and then my Mom’s. A cast iron skillet that was used every Sunday for bacon and eggs along with every St. Patick’s day she (and now I) use for baking the family recipe for Irish Soda Bread.
My in-laws weren’t into antiques very much, but they didn’t throw things away either. For our wedding (24 years ago), they had my husband’s grandmother’s buffet refinished for us for a wedding present. The story I like best about it is that my husband used to hide in one of the cupboard openings at the bottom, when he used to play hide and go seek with his brothers and sister.
Thank you for your continued inspiration – I don’t comment very often, but I look forward to reading your blog every day!
Love this video…made me tear up too. Anyone know who the narrator is??? His voice sounds so familiar but I can’t place it.
I have several family antiques, but my favorite ones are the ones my children have asked to have to put in their homes because they also mean so much to them.
Awwwwww…. i loved this story. It’s one of my favorites of your painted pieces too. It always looks gorgeous in photographs.
Cindy
where in the world did you get the cow painting over that buffet????
Please share! Where can we get that painting?
I love the cow painting.Do know where I can find one?
I absolutely LOVE how you transformed the buffet! I am so inspired that I want to attempt this with a dresser I have. What colors did you use?
Somehow I missed this post in the years I’ve been following you! Funny thing is, I was perusing your site for some ideas on a french styled dresser I picked up at the Habitat for Humanity store. It is for my daughter’s room and the moment she saw the buffet, she fell in love (I kind of knew she would). We plan on painting it together and was hoping to know which of your paints you used? I’m guessing grain sack and french enamel? I’m probably off…since my laptop makes it look a tad different when I change the angle of the screen. Lol. Anyways, I loved this post. I have some furniture and special items from my parents and grands and wonderful memories associated with all of them…especially now that they have all passed on. As always, thank you for your inspiration!
A lot of people have asked what the color of that beautiful buffet is. I wish I knew…Im getting ready to redo my bedroom in a tranquil beach theme and I wanted to make my dresser look like that.This is my first try at Milk Paint.
Marian, would you tell us what the colors are? Pretty please? With cherry on top?
It’s been a while since this post was written, but it’d be really great, Marian, if you could tell us the paint colours for this buffet please??? Thanks so much.
She used chalk paint samples she was given. Old white and Louis Blue. Mixed to lighten the blue. Found another page explaining this. Annie Sloan chalk paint
I love your heirloom piece and the story behind it. I pinned and sort of copy catted it somehow with white tureens. There’s a buffet that belonged to my dear MIL who left us and yes, I do love it.
Fabby