Family Treasures

I spent the entire day yesterday decorating the new book shelves. I tried to find things that meant something to us as a family or that I just truly love. I seemed to spend way to much time moving things around - looks good here but it might look GREAT over there... That's the perfectionist in me, I'm afraid. But here's the end result. (Still not sure about the art work over the fireplace. I'm "auditioning" this one, but it doesn't quite seem bold enough. I may frame an old American flag we have. Still a work in progress.)

Details:

Set of 1909 Harvard classics, picture of my granddaughter, framed needlework from my step-mother behind that, framed "grandparents" needlework on next shelf from friend Karen, "I hope you dance" from friend Tricia.

The print of babies was over my crib as a child, and was over both cribs of my two kids. The beautiful piece of pottery on the left was an auction find, the monkeys on the right are a very rare Frankoma pottery piece.

Letters and postcards from the 1940's, many written or received by my grandmother or other family members. To the right, a pice of Mica from New Hampshire. Old perpetual calendar and pen set.

The box is a very old election ballot box from California, the shells were a collection of my mother-in-law, the NH license plate was on my car in 1975, the two stacked rocks to the left were fossil "finds" by my grandson.

Another shell from my mother-in-law's collection. The wicker head is a yard sale find. The wooden box belonged to my husband's favorite cousin, Jo. I won't tell you what she kept in it.

The monkey is an early 1900's cast iron monkey bank picked up at the flea market, a pair of Dutch wooden shoes, which is an ongoing fairly new collection.

Photos of both our parents, a model T metal car that has been in my family and played with for generations, and, in the tiny silver frame, my family's patron saint, "Fortune". I'll blog about that story in the near future.

I found this great metal magazine rack at a  yard sale, and love it to hold fireplace logs. The lantern is a treasure of my husband's, as it belonged to his mother.

I'm happy with the way it all came out. I wanted it to feel as if it'd been there for ages, and we just added things we loved over the years. I want to add at least one plant to give it some life.

What do you think?