all the fun things you find

We recently finished stripping the wallpaper in our living room and our dining room (you can read about it here and here). Although its a lot of work, it is always fun to peel back the layers and find the little and the larger pieces of our home's history.

For example, I often come across notes:

remnants of a past life

Remnants, that's what we had a lot of when we moved in.

John and Joyce lived in their our house for 48 years. They were the original owners. They raised their 3 children here, and they clearly had some serious house love. They sold their home to move into an assisted living place within town. Thus, leaving behind many remnants of their long lived life to us.

Some of the remnants were & are great. We basically inherited some fully furnished rooms. We also inherited lots of random decor and objects.

Here's a small sample that got photographed before they get kicked to the curb (recycled, donated, or sold).

(this stayed!)

  

Number 1

Faux Metal Tulips

Some faux metal tulips enclosed by a miniature plastic white picket fence -at least they were in bloom all year? I've got no other explanation. They were plucked pretty fast and sent to metal flower heaven.

Number 2

Rooster Weather Vane

The rooster weather vane, sitting so proud and tall on my garage cupola. He's actually still there. I'm guessing he won't last too long after we replace the roof next year. Or maybe he will -if I decide he's charming. Thoughts?

Number 3
Mass Tassel
Just in case you couldn't tell, this is a tiny metal tassel in the shape of Massachusetts. It was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the sun room. I actually kept this. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but for some reason it just spoke to me.

Number 4
Welcome Wreath
This pretty little wooden welcome wreath. I tried to give it to my mother-in-law, but she declined, so I gave it to Goodwill instead. I couldn't really think of a cool hip way to re-purpose or modernize it. Can you? Hopefully, it is happily welcoming others somewhere else.

Other remnants:
A Complete Set of Bedroom Furniture

• 2 twin beds
• chest of drawers
• dresser & mirror
• student desk & chair
• nightstand
• curtain valances
• bedding
• bedside lamp
• a drawer full of matchbox cars (discovered by my little one)

I sold all the furniture on Craig's List for a great price. It was solid wood and in great shape. That was a tough decision. I kept seeing lots of transformed thrift store pieces, and I knew I was sitting on a gold mine with this set. But in the end, we just didn't need it. No matter how cool and pinterest-worthy I could make it. And most times, less is best.

Sun Room Furniture
Pretty much everything you see here. It's still waiting to be made over -something a little spray paint and fabric can fix, I just have gotten to it yet.

Washer & Dryer Set
Yep, they left us a full, working not-too-old washer and dryer set. We just purchased a brand new set we really liked, so off to Craig's List it went. (I seriously love Craig's List!)

There were lots of other things left behind, like garden statues, silk flower arrangements, Christmas decorations, less-well built furniture, a kitchen table set and chairs, and somethings we are still discovering. It's been fun.

Just so ya know, the owners started offering their belongings to us prior to closing. We told them to just leave behind whatever they wanted. So finding the treasures was not surprising, just the amount and types of things left behind. And the owners paid to have the home professionally cleaned after they moved out, so it wasn't a case of abuse or neglect, just sharing the love.

Anyone else have a similar experience?