Families often pass on a lot more than their DNA

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Published Date 3/21/2023

Brown furniture. Gilded frames. Blanket “hope” chests. Curlycue lamps only a great-grandmother would love. And, above all, a slew of tchotchkes that once meant something to someone who came before you. Heirlooms are gifts to the next generation, whether that generation considers them beautiful, useful, or even sentimental. But are you obligated to use or display any or all of them? Probably not. In most cases, those who left them to you collected all these items, arts, and pieces of furniture because they loved them, finding it difficult to believe you wouldn’t love them too. Some were earned at great sacrifice. Others simply represent a memory of a time long past. But now? They’re but one thing. Yours.

So how do you honor the material legacies left to you by parents or grandparents without making your house into a hot 1950s mess? — asks Realtor.com’s Jennifer Kelly Geddes. “Sure, you’d like to acknowledge their thoughtful gifts. But clinging to a family heirloom in your decor just because your grandmother wanted a rustic blanket chest can sink a look you’re trying to create,” she says. “So take a breath, and realize it’s perfectly OK to donate items you don’t actually like.”

If, however, you want to somehow incorporate the spirit of some of these items into your decor, there are innovative ways of updating them without making your house into a musty museum.

The first is using paint. Are you into color? That Beauty and the Beast sleepy wardrobe can wake up with a few coats of hot pink or emerald green paint. Sideboards can become colorful home bars, small chests can become bathroom linen pieces, and pantry cabinets can get built into a nook or a corner. Refinish them to bring out their original beauty or simply paint them and add new hardware to give them new life.

As for collections, instead of jamming them into your china cabinet, pick out a few from the two dozen antique teapots or 30-piece dinnerware sets to take the place of books on a shelf, backlit to bring out their personalities. Other pieces can be stored, donated, or bestowed on your grown children to deal with.

“Juxtaposing old and new looks together is surprising and modern, say the pros, so consider the pieces you have and then make a couple of outside-the-box matches,” says Geddes. “For example, you might pair a small dresser with scroll work and curved legs with a bright blue woven seat or a stylish mid-century Eames wire chair.” She goes on to pair a 1960s peacock chair, with a contemporary glass coffee table. As for beddings and other linens, fresh graphic designs on a spread or pillows can quickly revamp an antique four-poster bed. Smaller, hand-crafted pieces can be framed and hung with pride.

An old bookcase can be transformed into a display case for beautiful plates with a groove cut into the shelves. A funky cabinet becomes a perfect vanity in a half-bath with a vessel sink added to the top. Want to really add some beauty? Consider adding stone tops to some pieces to make them instantly appear more modern and fresh.

Another idea is to actually take the initiative to create a few nooks and cutouts to display some of the finer pieces that have now become yours. Vintage pieces of Murano glass can now take the place of the Home Goods items you bought on impulse, placed into a new set of shelves that now exist in an angled cabinet beneath your stairwell. Floating shelves on a landing can showcase small pieces of glass pieces, art, and pottery, offering a heartwarming view as you ascend your staircase.

And remember that framing doesn’t simply apply to art and photographs. You can frame everything from your dad’s favorite cartoons from the New Yorker to a set of prints you’ve removed from an old art book to brooches, vintage matchboxes, and stamps — either set behind glass with a special mat or placed in tiny cubbies in a wall cabinet.

No one says you have to keep them all or display any of them. But tastefully mixing old with new while preserving your family’s legacy is a way of showing younger generations that all those lives that came before them mattered as well.

Realtor, TBWS

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