Incorporating some of my husband's childhood.

When my husband moved in with me, I was happy to make room for this huntboard that was part of his household growing up. It sits along the wall in the dining room and holds napkins, placemats, candles and the like. Also games in the bottom drawer. It used to hold all our liquor, as well.

After my MIL's funeral, we brought home with us the one item my husband had really wanted from the house. It was this very cool bar. The top flips open and there are places for glasses inside.

Originally we put it on the sunporch but it partially obstructed the window. So we moved a glass-fronted attorney's bookcase to the opposite side of the living room and moved the bar in here (the walls aren't that bright - I added a little fill light so you could see the pattern in the wood more clearly.).

We were encouraged to consider whether we wanted any of the other furniture that had not been claimed. Interestingly, the other sibs mostly liked the more formal and newer pieces. But we decided to bring home this beautiful old icebox and put it on the sunporch where a book shelf used to be.

The book shelf contents of vases and candles and so on are inside. The main compartment had been painted a garish yellow, so my husband got some enamel paint and painted it white to match the other side.

On the inside of the door we hung the old sign that came with it.

As I helped clear things out at my MIL's house, I nudged my husband one day and said, "You know, there's a really cool old trunk in your mom's room that would make a great coffee table..." We already had a coffee table, of course, but it was bought for my much larger previous house and was just awkwardly big. We ordered some short hairpin legs to match the ones on our dining room table and my husband made a base for the trunk from a piece of wood we had. I painted the whole thing a metallic bronze.

Et voilà, our new coffee table. I plan to store our Christmas ornaments in it.

We had to do a little shuffling to make the new pieces work. The bookshelf that used to be by the television is now next to the front door. We shifted the couch down a bit to fit in the bar.

And the old attorney's bookcase is where the shelf used to be. My older son laughs at my love of earthy colors and says it's very '70's. In the past he's described my style as "obnoxious modern hippie." But it's warm and comforting to my husband and me. And I like having more of his past included in the house. Personally, I think we got the best pieces in his childhood home.