Monday, March 29, 2010

Home Decorating - by a Genealogist

Well you are probably scratching your head wondering, "How does someone obsessed with family history decorate?"  OK, probably not but I figured I would show you anyway. 

Lets start with the dining room.  Some people might think it a bit strange to have pictures of tombstones hanging up near a dining table.  I believe tombstones are "art" in a way and a lasting memorial to all the ones we love.  The small collection of gravestone pictures are from both my family and my husbands.  The heart shaped stone in the middle is for my father-in-law who only lived to be 26 years old before he was taken away from his family to be with our heavenly father. You will see him in the top left picture playing with his train set.  That is one thing my husband remembers about him.  His love of trains. He shares the stone with his father who passed away eleven years later. The young man in the picture below my father-in-law was his older brother Michael Reilly.  Mike passed away at a young age also.  He was only 19 years old when he died.  I just couldn't imagine being their parents watching their two young sons die before they really had a chance at life.  I pray all the time that I will never have to deal with that heartache.


The next spot is my "reading area"  it is in the room next to the dining room.  I picked up this wonderful "FAMILY" picture at Boscovs for only $17 and thought it would be a perfect addition to my reading room.  Yes, on the floor next to my chair is the doggie bed.  They just have to be by me at all times so they get their own little spot.  You say, "What does a genealogist read?"  Well, reference books on genealogy, of course.    also have a good amount of history books to help place my ancestor in certain time periods.  My imagination sometimes runs wild thinking about how gg-grandpa or ggg-grandma fit in to certain eras.  That side table is also a file cabinet.  I keep all the "Ancestors" I am researching at the moment in that drawer so I can pull them out and look over the notes and sources I have on them.







The rest of the wall displays are throughout my house.  On top of the piano you will see pictures of my son and nephew along with pictures of me and hubby when we were little.  Oh yeah, can't forget "Hamburger" the fish.  Johnny named him, what a silly name for a fish.  I am not very artistic so I use decals on the wall to imitate painting or stenciling.
My "Family marriage" wall ends with present generation with hubby and I in the middle.  Our parents are next up, grandparents and then great grandparents.  I didn't have wedding photos for everyone but dug up the couples pictures I was looking for to include on my wall.  I do have a few more I would like to add.  I am afraid it would overcrowd the wall so I might start another collection of the older generations. 


We have been in this house for 3 years now.  I am still not finished with all the rooms.  It takes me a while to decide on furniture, carpeting, etc.  Every room will be decorated with personal meaning and family.  I plan to decorate my husbands office with a large "Antique" world map.  He travels a lot with business and this way he can mark all the countries and states he has been.  He is also a marathon runner and I plan make a few shadow boxes to display his medals, certifcates, finish line pictures, runners bibs, etc.    We just picked out the furniture we were getting just have to find a truck to borrow to pick it up.  I also have the area rug picked out just need to have it delivered as well.

That is my home decorating for now.  I do have a few other "family" walls and such but I didn't want to completely put you to sleep. 

Thanks for reading.

6 comments:

  1. Something is wrong with my computer! I could only see the first picture but I haven't been able to see any of the pictures on any other blog either. I'll try again later. I really wanted to see the pictures to what you were describing, and I really want to see your decals. Make sure you post pictures of Matt's office. I want to see the antique map and your shadow boxes when they are done.

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  2. Computer is behaving today, and I got to see all of the pictures! How neat! I think it is wonderful that you have family photos of not just your family but of the ones who have come before. our decals are neat too. Where did you get them?

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  3. Decals were found at Walmart. They were in the same isle as picture frames are kept. I know Michaels craft store and AC Moore also have them. They were cheaper at Walmart.

    I made my nephew 2 heritage quilts that had pictures of both sides of the family on them. I made one of baby pictures and the other "wedding"/couple pictures. I did not take a picture of them before I gave them. I am spending Easter at Tommy's I will take a picture then if I remember.

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  4. If you wonder how the ceramic frog and haunted house fit in. Well, here is the story... When Matt and I first got married we moved to NC. I didn't know anyone and he didn't know a good place besides a bar to hang out and meet people at night. So we came across a ceramic store not to far from our apartment that had evening classes. It was a lot of fun. With all our moves in the last 13 years these were the only 2 projects that survived. I made the frog and he made the house. That is the story about that.

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  5. Thanks for sharing your decorating! I would love to see the quilts you made too if you ever get pictures of them! It is always fun to see what others do.

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  6. I can understand your decorating too. Mine is such a indecision right now. but in any case it always centers around somethig written. books,magazines clippings,etc.Scrapbooking, ideas for future quilts like yours or pillows.

    I'd love to know how you did your quilt too.No one does them the same.

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