Greetings lovely friends & readers
This post is written mainly as a record for myself, my sons & grandsons ... & I acknowledge it may be of no interest to anyone else. But I wanted to keep a record of clearing out my family home, as I have a tendency to forget ๐
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Winter Pansies planted in my old trike just yesterday ๐ค |
I was down at Mum's house for 2 weeks emptying it out & cleaning it ready for settlement on March 10th. The new Owner was purchasing it as a rental property & I wanted it presented as "move in ready". I first came to live at No 44 when I was aged 1 so I had 61 years of memories tied up in the house & large section. I expected to feel all sorts of emotions the day I drove away for the final time but I did not feel one iota of sadness whatsoever. Which surprised me to be honest. I felt incredible sadness for my Mum who was lying in bed in a Resthome, just 6 doors away from the house she had lived in for the bulk of her 93 years of life. The morning of settlement I had walked up to visit Mum as I did twice daily, & she had been very frail & incoherant. So I felt a deep sadness over my Mum but certainly not over leaving the property.
My brother had sold quite a bit of Mum's furniture on Facebook Marketplace prior to my arrival so this was my little set-up in Mum's lounge, where I sat for my meals & to do a bit of knitting or reading in the evenings. A cane chair borrowed from my sister in law & a banana box for a side-table. There was nothing else left in the lounge room but this worked just fine.
My brother & I had to be ruthless when it came to Mum's furniture & possessions. We both have small homes & each have houses full of furniture already. So many, many loads went to the 2 Charity Shops that Mum liked - SPCA & Hospice. I kept some things that had sentimental value but even then I was ruthless. Some things I bought home were simply because I could not bear the thought of them going to an Op-shop. Like Mums wedding dress for example - like I would ever fit into it in a zillion years !!! But I kept it.
I certainly do Not need more sewing supplies but I kept Mum's sewing basket (which she made herself) & needlecase, which my Dad sewed himself when he went into the armed services & they all had to make one.
This mohair bear was made by myself a year after Dad died - the pattern is "Old Boy" & that's what Mum used to call Dad. The Granny bear I made for Mum after she fell in love with the pattern - I did not knit the cabled twinset - this was knitted by Mum in very fine wool. Before her eyesight deteriorated Mum was an exquisite knitter.
I have been working on a few revamps of some things I bought home & you can expect to see more over the coming months as I slowly sort my way through things. This table above was "donated to a mate" by my brother, & I promptly undonated it & hid it in my car. It was made from an offcut of formica many years ago & used as a bedside table in Mum's spare bedroom.
I chalk-painted it with cream & then used a lovely green on the top called "Pale Sage". Just to take the plain-ness off a bit, I added a stencil in the same colour as the legs. I gave it a light distress & a wax & it is just THE perfect size.
This concrete statue had sat in Mum's laundry for many years. She had a broken neck as you can see above (cracked right through). She was also a dirty pale lemon in colour.
I filled the cracked neck with some strong adhesive, left it to harden & then chalk painted her in cream. I love how she has come out & you would never know she'd had a broken neck!
The two silver trays above had Australian maps etched into them. Mum used to feed her neighbors cat whenever she went to Australia & these were bought back as thank-you gifts. The larger one had rust spots on it which I sanded off. I cleaned them well & then chalk painted them in cream - I really loved the floral edging on them both.
Then I applied a couple of the left-over transfers from Juno's rabbit suitcase in my last post. I added hangers to the backs & these are now part of my Easter displays.
This cutting board had seen alot of use but I loved the shape of it. Once again painted in cream & then transfers applied. I really like how this turned out too.
I hope to share some of my Easter decorating in my next post. ๐ฐ๐
Last week I dug an entire tray of worm castings into my raised veggie gardens along with lawn clippings & some compost. I dug them over well & then planted 6 punnets of winter veggies - silverbeet, spinach, broccoli x 2, cauliflower & baby cabbage. I saw cauli's in my supermarket last week for nearly $10 each !!!
While I was outdoors working I picked my gourd harvest. These are one of my most favourite things to grow as it's always a lucky dip what shapes & colours you get. I decided to do some autumn decorating on my deck table as I'd given it a good clean out there.
I washed my gourds & displayed them in my vintage scales .. I am not usually an orange-&-yellow-fan but I just loved these rich warm colours for autumn. ๐๐งก
While at the Garden Centre buying my veggie punnets I noticed these celosia plants in autumnal colours so a punnet of those went in my trolley & the Kalanchloe plants were on special so I grabbed one of those too.
Love, love my new display .... & not a cat in sight (Yet!!) ๐๐ฑ
Thank you as always dear friends, for your visits here today,
I am all caught-up now & hope to continue blogging more regularly.
Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week - be kind to yourselves & to each other,
Sending much love & friendship to you all,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x
Lots of lovely memories for you at your old house. I've been thinking of you and your mum. It's good you've kept some special things. I would love to see your mum's wedding dress one day. I have a wedding dress (the outer dress) that is 101 years old! It belonged to Noel's second cousin's mother. I also have photos of her in her dress. One day I will have to do a post about it. Sending you a big hug. Christine xx
ReplyDeletePS I love the little trike!
You have worked your magic again, Julie. I think my favourite is the sweet girl. She fits in perfectly at her new home with you. I too, am not a fan of yellows and oranges but these are the burnished hues of autumn. Somehow they are always beautiful at this time of year. I hope you have recovered from the herculean effort of getting your mum's house ready for the new owners.
ReplyDeleteAs usual your eye has picked out some interesting things to revamp - love how the paint really brings to life the edges on those silver plates. A difficult job over and hopefully the new owners will make more happy memories, but after all it is only bricks and mortar, it's what happened there that is important. xx
ReplyDeleteOh Julie I know it is so hard clearing out parents loving homes, we did my parents a few years ago now .
ReplyDeleteI wanted to keep every thing but I knew we could not , so had to let it go. one of my GSs helped .
What you kept and made your own is beautiful , I love the the sweet little girl too.
I did take some blue bells that were passed down to my dad from my grandfather and before .
They are happy growing in my garden now and will be in flower soon.
Have a lovely week hugs June.
Goodness! Me! Julie..! Goodness! Me! :).
ReplyDeleteI've lived in my home now for 45yrs...In fact it was the
April 1st 1978 we moved in, my daughter was two years
old...so this Saturday l'll have to open a bottle of vino
to celebrate...Always call it my home, never my house..
Cos it's 'NOT' my house, it's a home, my home...They
could write a book, make a film of my living here, and
all the adventures l've had here....
It's 'chock~a~block' with items full of memories, and my
daughter insists, l don't dispose of anything, actually l
surprise myself sometimes, on the value of things, that
have increased over the years, and my daughter always
nags me..."Leave that Dad" "Keep that Dad" "Don't throw
that away Dad"...HeHe! Bless her...! :O).
And l like my memories round me...So l can enjoy them
when l'm home, in and around the place...There's an old
shoe box at the bottom of the stairs, full of old Black and
White photos, sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, watching
the football, l pick it up, put it on my knee, and have a look
through...! :).
Well..it's nearly 8.45..time for another lemon and honey tea..
It's raining out there, still, plenty to get on with in and around
my home...God Bless...!x
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PS..Love the trike up top there...! :O).
I'm sure you're relieved to have finished the house clearing. It's tough.
ReplyDeleteLots of lovely craft work to admire. I like the statue with the eggs - very sweet.
Beautiful post. So much to absorb here. Wonderful reworking those pretty items too. You keep busy!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your sweet kind comment xx
DeleteI never even thought that your Mum's home was your childhood home. Small tokens like the paint brush and your Dad's sewing kit make it easy to keep and remember them instead of the large things. I see your brother left you with very nice creature comforts while you still needed to house clean and sell! I like the trike with flowers in the yard. I did see a forsythia with yellow buds yesterday, so the old wive's tale of 3 snows after the forsythia blooms is actually not accurate. I've seen 6 snows some years! We had 3 1/2 inches of rain this past weekend, and now the nights are cold enough to freeze the bird baths. No leaves on any trees for another month or so. I enjoy seeing your Easter decorations come together. Lynn and Precious XX
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Lynn & Precious. Yes it was my childhood home - my parents had it built when I was just a baby & have lived there ever since. Our nights & mornings are cold here too .. I am tempted to light the fire but I am trying to hold off a bit longer. I have pulled some warmer clothes out of the back of the wardrobe. xx
DeleteYou've done your Mum proud. The little laundry girl is so sweet, I expect she wil be gracing your home now for some years to come.
ReplyDeleteYou have worked so hard. I am proud of you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Kim. I am pleased it is all done & dusted now. xx
DeleteHi Julie what a big job cleaning out your mums house ,bet it stirred up memeries. I am amazed at how you recycle giving something anew lease of life. I also love your gourd decorating looks great and good luck with your plant8ng,take care my friend ๐น๐ค๐น
ReplyDeleteLove how you gave everything a new look. The Easter decorations are gorgeous. Your deck looks very inviting. After clearing out my parent's things i was glad to shut the door & walk away. I wish i could walk away from the town as well but need to go back at times to tend their grave. I don't miss the house or the town.
ReplyDeleteGreat choice of things you kept, I think I would not have been able to let them go either. As always I just love what you have restored and given new life to... such pretty pieces...
ReplyDeleteHugz
It is hard to know which treasures to keep and which to let go. We had cleaned out most of my Mom's home by the time it sold in 2022--but since my sister bought it as a rental, and my brother was the first renter, while his new home was being built, we left part of the basement and all of the attic to do later. My parents moved into this home the year before I was born, so there are a lifetime of memories for us all. But you can't keep everything that sparks a memory, can you, so you have to be brutally selective at times. But I can see why you chose thee last few treasures. And I am glad it was not painful for you to walk away from the home.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, you have given new life to such a variety of things. The little statue from your Mom's laundry seems especially sweet to me.
Great job Julie. How odd of your brother to just leave you the minimal while you went it alone on the cleaning duties. I was chuckling at the story of the 'undonated' table! Good for you Julie.xxx
ReplyDeleteJackie has left a new comment on your post "Catching up Post (Part 3) .... Clearing out No 44":
ReplyDeleteI did not have to clean out our family home when Dad passed (he moved into a seniors apartment), but still I managed to bring lots home with me. Memories abounded, so I can understand how hard it would be to be ruthless.
Great job in getting things ready for the new owners.
God bless.
Lovely post Julie. So hard to have to be so ruthless but I love how you have honoured what you have brought home from your mum's. I sure she would have appreciated it, even if she doesn't realise it. We drove past our family home at Tokoroa recently. I wasn't sure how I would feel. First glimpse showed me that it wasn't as tidy as Dad (and the manager in later years) would have kept it. So I just looked ahead and held onto my memories from the past. An odd feeling.
ReplyDeleteIt was great you didn't feel sad driving to the old family home, the memories will always be with you, the three old railway houses we lived in have all been demolished, when I look on google maps, but will always remember them. You did a great job on the things you brought back with you, have to say the statue is my fav.
ReplyDelete