Curating Treasures & Making A Home

I think I’m my own juxtaposition.  I don’t like to keep a lot of things but I have always been a collector.  When I was young, I collected Precious Moments figurines, Boyd’s Bears (remember those?!), Eeyore everything….  Most of those collections are long gone these days, but over the past year or so I’ve started collecting vintage treasures.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m older and maybe appreciate items from the past more than I did when I was younger….or maybe I’m influenced by things I’ve seen on all these DIY shows that feature rustic and vintage pieces…

Whatever the reason, I’m in love with things that have stories, things that have a past, things that show some wear and have been previously loved by someone before me.

One of my favorite finds is definitely my old Royal typewriter.  I can only imagine the letters and stories that were typed on this clunky machine.  The sound of the keys slapping the paper, the manual slide to return the paper to the left margin…it’s beautiful.  I’d like to think that, whomever owned this typewriter before me would be happy to know it’s still being loved, even if it’s just for a decorative piece in my home.

In the process of discovering vintage treasures, I’m learning to love my home and all the possibilities to use these beautiful pieces.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was not the #1 fan of our current home.  It wasn’t everything I wanted, but after looking at somewhere around 17 houses before finding this one, I finally conceded, and here we are.

And I love where we live.  I can’t imagine living anywhere else, to be honest.

There are things I would change, and we’re working on those – like making my tiny kitchen bigger and finishing the basement stairs, among other things.  The rooms in our home are a bit smaller than I would have preferred, but now I love it.  Our home is cozy, and warm, and we’re close together no matter where we are.

I love the hunt for vintage treasures that might be perfect for my home.  I love the thought of bringing pieces with a bit of history into my own decor, and giving them a new history…our history.

We all have a story to tell, and the things in our home help to tell that story.  I’d like to think, when people visit our home, they can tell a lot about our family and the things we value by the way our home is decorated.

It’s not magazine-worthy, it’s lived-in.  The rooms aren’t Pinterest-perfect, they’re welcoming.  The vignettes may not be perfectly arranged, but they show off things we love.

We do the best we can with what we have, and that’s good enough for me.  This is home.  This is where my heart is.

I don’t think my collection of vintage treasures will ever be complete, nor will my decorating projects.  We’ll continue to add to our family’s history, and one day, maybe someone will collect items that were part of our past.

And they’ll be loved once again.