About a month ago we got a letter in the mail from Hubby’s Uncle John and his wife Nancy. Â Uncle John had inherited Grandpa Henke’s old trunk that Grandpa brought with him when he immigrated to America in 1914. Â John was wondering if we would like it. Â WHAT?? Â Of course we would!! Â Hubby quickly called them back and said we wanted it offering to come and get it. Â They said no-they’d like to come for a visit. Â Well that was great with us.
Hubby and I love antiques but we truly treasure antiques that came from our own families. Â We love visits from family too.
You sure can see that John and Hubby are related. Â Hubby was in John and Nancy’s wedding back in 1965 when he was four years old.
John and Nancy hadn’t been here before so they got the grand tour. Â The guys checked out the farm while Nancy and I chatted. Â That side of the family doesn’t get together very often so we don’t get a chance to visit much. Â It sure was nice to catch up.
Hubby insisted that I make them an “Iowa” dinner (whatever that means) so we had smoked pork chops, cucumber salad, smashed potatoes, watermelon and banana bread. Â It was nice to cook for guests. Â That’s another thing that has fallen to the wayside since we’ve been working on the house.
Hubby is so excited about the trunk. Â We know someone that does trunk restoration. Â Once things slow down with the house he plans to contact him and get some restoration tips. Â New handles and new straps are part of the plans. Â I think it is going to be a coffee table for the basement family room of the new house. Â We want to have an air mattress down there so the trunk would be a perfect place to store the mattress along with bedding for it.
I can’t wait to see it all looking good. Â I still can’t imagine what I would pack if that’s all the space I had and was immigrating….
A HUGE thanks goes out to Uncle John and Aunt Nancy for thinking of us and gifting us the trunk. Â We are honored to be a part of it’s history. Â More importantly thanks for coming a visit. Â That means so much to both of us.
Today we’re hooking up with Colorado Lady’s Vintage Thursday.
We were using an old family trunk as a coffee table until people started SITTING on it! Then we were using an old blanket chest. We used it until a man who came to look at our clocks said the blanket chest dated from the late 1700s and we shouldn’t be putting our feet on it. I keep looking for an old kitchen table to cut down and make a sturdy coffee table.
My dad found an old trunk on the side of the road when my parents were newly married. They folded a quilt over it and then put a large piece of plexiglass over that to protect the quilt.
My dad still has it – in the garage now that he has downsized. None of us kids have room for it, but we don’t want to just give it to goodwill. Just guessing I would say it is probably lower than yours, but longer.
Anyone in the North Florida area looking for a trunk? Seriously.
Looks like it’s in really good shape! I’ve got a similar one that was my great-grandmother’s. We used it as a coffee table for quite a few years. And Alex has a nearly identical one that she bought at an estate sale for ten bucks because she can’t have mine until I’m dead and gone and on that particular afternoon that he agreed to buy it for her, Hubby apparently didn’t realize we already had one. :-)
I love the idea of a folded quilt under glass. If mine ever goes back to coffee table duty, I’ll have to remember that!
You just can’t put a price on family antiques!! BTW, your husband’s shirt has seen better days, eh? My husband wears the “same ones” I swear – little rips, holes and plenty of grease spots. It’s endearing though, isn’t it?