October 2000
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NEWSLETTER |
Hi Everyone,
I hope this month’s newsletter finds you enjoying the coming fall weather! It has started to cool off a little in Florida, but we are still in the upper 80’s. I’m very excited about a new addition coming to our family this week. A puppy is being shipped from Nebraska, and the weather temperatures in Florida have been too hot to ship him sooner. I was expecting him Tuesday only to find out he has to be delayed another day for cooler temperatures. I’m sure it’s difficult for many of you to identify with this, but it is reality in Florida. I’m getting a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel from “Sheeba Cavaliers” in Nebraska. I’m so excited and can hardly wait for my new “baby” to get here!
I’m also very excited about this month’s newsletter feature: “Decorating with Heirlooms and Antiques.” We visited the home of Mark and Cheryl Gant in Sarasota, Florida. Mark is my uncle on my mother’s side who has always lived in the north. They have moved to Florida and built a beautiful new home. My mother has always bragged about Cheryl’s decorating; two theme rooms in particular. A guest room she calls “The World War II” room (which features heirlooms that belonged to my grandfather) and another guest room that Cheryl calls “The Wedding Room,” which displays family treasures and family wedding pictures. I quickly arranged for a visit and an opportunity to picture these rooms for you. I was blown away!! It was a thrill to see for the first time treasures and heirlooms that belonged to my grandfather, along with how beautifully Cheryl displays them. I hope you will enjoy this feature. It is filled with a wealth of ideas and clever opportunities to display your family treasures.
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DECORATING WITH HEIRLOOMS AND ANTIQUES |
Thank you to Mark and Cheryl Gant for allowing us to picture and feature their beautiful home this month. As I mentioned in the intro, Mark is my (very young) uncle who has a very talented and clever wife- Cheryl. They recently built a fabulous home in Sarasota, Florida, which Cheryl has decorated beautifully. My mother reminded me of how Cheryl has for many years’ maintained two theme rooms in her homes, both decorated with family heirlooms. So we scheduled a visit and an opportunity to photograph these rooms for you. We enjoyed a wonderful visit this week with Mark and Cheryl and took pictures of Cheryl’s clever use of family treasures in her decorating. I’m confident you will get some wonderful ideas from these terrific rooms.
World War II Room
This bedroom is decorated with heirlooms and memorabilia from the World War II era. My grandfather (on mother’s side) was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Air Corp during this time period. After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother gave most of his memorabilia to Mark and Cheryl to treasure. Cheryl has proudly displayed and decorated with these treasures ever since.
First, the guest bedroom that she calls the “World War II Room” is painted a soft sage green. The photos do not do justice to the lovely shade (Sherwin Williams paint color SW1163 Pale Artichoke). It made a soft and handsome background for the decorating. The bedding ensemble is a ready-made ivory set that that did not take away from the importance of the heirlooms she wanted to feature. A simple, but good-looking wood framed mirror hangs over the bed, which is flanked by nightstands with an old camera and telephone along with a dish containing the buttons from Grandpa’s military uniforms.
The focal point in the room is a display cabinet that holds all of my grandfather’s military medals and memorabilia. A picture of him, a telegram addressed to Lieutenant Colonel Gant informing him of the death of a friend and his aviator glasses tops the cabinet. Below the cabinet, sitting on the floor is a basket filled with volumes of World War II books. I was thrilled to see these items for the first time.
The opposite wall holds a dark pine desk, cabinet and bookcase unit that provides plenty of shelf space to house some additional family treasures. Pictures of my mother with her sisters, a picture of my grandmother, more pictures of grandpa, his military cap and an old Underwood typewriter are used to continue the decorating theme. Two pictures of military airplanes, top the units. The remaining two pictures in the set (that were owned by my grandparents) are used in the bedroom on other walls not pictured.
The wall space above the desk is cleverly decorated with a picture of a “Varga Girl” (a popular calendar which featured “Varga girls” during the forties.) This particular picture has a couple of autographs on it. My mother recently realized a boy she dated when she was 18 years old had signed it. (She got a chuckle out of that!) Above the picture is a fraternity hazing paddle that was my grandfather’s while attending college. It is carved with the date Mar. 20, ‘24 front and back. I loved this wall display! To the left of the wall unit is a framed picture of my very handsome grandfather.
The Wedding Room
Cheryl’s inspiration for this room is a treasure of beautiful family wedding pictures and memorabilia. She begins the room by painting the walls a warm golden yellow-(Sherwin Williams 2199 August Moon). There was no real reason that yellow walls were the choice other than Cheryl liked the color and it flowed very well with the home’s décor. The focal point to the room is a gorgeous white iron bed, which is dressed in white Battenburg lace, and the crowing touch is a quilt made by my great-grandmother.
The quilt has a white background with lovely pink and lavender flowers on it. I remember this quilt on my grandmother’s bed in her last years. It looks stunning on this beautiful bed and provided a spark of color in the room.
The iron bed is flanked by two night stands that house some additional treasures: a teacup and saucer which belonged to my grandmother, wedding pictures of family members, a dish that contains wedding rings of loved ones, flowers, and a charming lamp with a fancy hat for a shade.
The main display in the room is on the wall above the dresser. Two large prints that contain beautiful wedding photos of Cheryl’s parents and grandparents are featured. You will see that above the pictures, is a carved wall shelf that holds three tatting doilies made by her mother and grandmother. They came from a different family, but they look like they were made to match the quilt, as the colors coordinated beautifully. The dresser top holds a couple more wedding pictures, one of Cheryl and Mark and one of their “son and daughter in-law”. This wall was loaded with charm, personality and family history. It was simply beautiful!!
The remaining wall space was home for an antique dry sink. Cheryl used this space to display wedding invitations, pictures and the gloves she wore when she married Mark.
Cheryl’s use of these priceless family treasures was clever and beautifully done. One of the greatest functions of decorating with heirlooms is that they are free. There were just a few items in the rooms that Cheryl purchased, the rest were things she owned, were given or inherited. Cheryl’s tip is to look in closets, attics, trunks, and picture boxes for these special family heirlooms. It’s amazing what can be done with a little imagination and desire. After seeing these rooms, my husband mentioned he would like to have a room done like this using the boxes of memorabilia he has from a thirty year career as a policeman. We have badges, guns, newspaper clippings, letters, pictures and so on… I’m inspired, how about you? Hopefully, you will see how having a few family keepsakes can inspire a theme room and provide a history/heritage lesson at the same time.
HAPPY DECORATING
