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Post by E on Apr 30, 2009 18:12:09 GMT -5
For months now I have been searching for a Hope Chest for our daughter. She turned 10 this year and I think that it is time to start the preparations for her womanhood.
We FOUND one!! A Lane cedar chest originally marketed in 1948. A dear woman down the road had it out in her yard sale and when I asked about it she GAVE it to us! Shawn restored it and it is beautiful!! I'll post photos.
Seems early, huh? I think that with current society standards she will be ready to move out as soon as she graduates. That put's her at 17. I think that gives me just enough time to put together her trousseau and put together an amply sufficient collection of "the little things" that make a home.
I feel that this will hold the legacies I will be given a chance to bestow upon her as well as her dowry. I have given it some thought and I settled upon the first gift to go into the box will be a book of our family recipes. Anything from anyone who ever wrote it down will go into it for her. I also have decided that she will get my greatmother's grandmother's strand of baltic sea crystals. It is an old piece of jewelry and hardly expensive or sought after, but they are ours and they are old. That makes them valuable beyond measure to me.
I can't think of anything more special than those to put in there. For the rest, I will put in the usual. Table linen, silverware, dishware, her greatmother's china we saved for her, some little things like salt and pepper housings, a few quilts I will make for her.
What else can you suggest?
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bear
Full Member
Posts: 104
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Post by bear on May 1, 2009 12:24:38 GMT -5
I don't know. But I'm glad you posted this. I inherited one from my aunt. It was my great grandmothers. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it.
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Post by E on May 1, 2009 18:54:23 GMT -5
I was telling Shannon, you guys have an advantage on me. I didn't have Aut until she was older, like walking, talking and out of diapers, so alot of things like baby feet prints and baby blankets I don't have to put in there.
There is a list I put together, from tons of different sites, of things to put in it, I'll have to post it.
Anyway, you also can make out a little note telling her "who" it belonged to and maybe scrounge a photo?
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Post by E on May 1, 2009 19:41:21 GMT -5
Here are the photos, I'm going to run out and snap a final product one while these load. When we brought it home: After we removed all of the damaged veneer: The final product!
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bear
Full Member
Posts: 104
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Post by bear on May 1, 2009 21:08:58 GMT -5
Wow!
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Post by MsAriel on May 2, 2009 11:36:48 GMT -5
That's beautiful, E!! I'd add special childhood stuff in there as well, even if she was older when she came to you. Perhaps some family photos as well, would be nice to go in there.
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Post by E on May 2, 2009 13:37:33 GMT -5
Great idea! I could perhaps add in Shawn's family tree we've put together!
Oh I love it. Thank you!
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Post by Denethor on May 2, 2009 14:51:57 GMT -5
You really did a great job refinishing that chest! No idea what I'd put into one though.
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qira
New Member
Posts: 40
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Post by qira on May 3, 2009 13:29:31 GMT -5
I always wanted a hope chest, but my parents were very clear that it had ZERO to do wit their sense of feminism and gender dynamics. I'll be interested to hear what you decide to put in it. You did a great job with it!!!
Qira
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Post by Shannon on May 4, 2009 9:49:17 GMT -5
WOW is right. It looks a thousand times better than before, and a thousand times better on my tv than on my cellphone.
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simplykali
New Member
Mid-Coast Maine REPRESENT!
Posts: 47
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Post by simplykali on Jun 9, 2009 12:35:57 GMT -5
As someone who has been collecting things for my future apartment, I can tell you a couple of items that have been very useful or special to me, even with living at my boyfriend's mother's house:
Spice jars and perhaps a spice rack. It is so much cheaper to fill up jars but they can be expensive to buy, especially if you are like me and want glass jars for spices and not plastic.
My baby blanket. Someday I will be passing that on to one of my own children (when I get around to having them!)
Family photos in frames. They are one of the first things to go up whenever I move.
An address book with all family contact information filled in (good to add right before she gets married or leaves the house with her hope chest)
Useful kitchen items that you don't realize you need until you need them like a pastry cutter, lemon zester, egg separator, wire whisks, rubber spatulas and wooden spoons. If these items have been passed down then it becomes even more special. I have a metal flour sifter that belonged to my great grandmother and I use it all the time.
Glass or ceramic mixing bowls of all sizes. Glass or ceramic mixing bowls can double as serving bowls and they look nice.
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Post by Denethor on Jun 10, 2009 14:21:08 GMT -5
Spice jars and perhaps a spice rack. It is so much cheaper to fill up jars but they can be expensive to buy, especially if you are like me and want glass jars for spices and not plastic. Find a style you like and buy 'em in bulk. Build a wooden rack to suit the style you pick. Labels are fun...remember, no need to use the Latin alphabet when labeling, either, unless you expect a lot of guest cooks who'd have trouble reading whatever you do choose. Myself, I'm not sure I ever had one of these. Surprised much? Thought not... That would indeed be very handy. I spent months tracking down all of mine and getting them into one spot when I went away. Of course, this was before everyone had the whole world's contact information in a candy-bar sized machine kept in the pocket, and of course, I was never in line for a Hope Chest in the first place. (I think my sister would have had one, if Mom hadn't died before she moved out. Oh well.)
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Post by E on Jun 10, 2009 18:02:58 GMT -5
I like some of those Kal, thank you.
I would love to think that Aut will cook but I tend to think she will be more a ready made pre packaged girl. It really makes me sad because I want her to enjoy cooking. That aside, I like the mixing bowl idea, I also like the odds and ends like plastic spatula's.
It definitely gives me a guide. So far I have begun a book of recipe's that have been in the family, everything from Kielbasa and Noodles to Country Fried Pork Chops. I was able to get my Mil's wedding dress from '75, a decorative sun catcher and a small glass dish from her.
I really like the family contact info, that will prove very useful.
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Post by radiance on Feb 25, 2010 10:42:19 GMT -5
One of my most treasured thing that my mother saved for me is a collection of my favorite childhood story books.
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