"Hope is Not a Dream But a Way of Making Dreams Become Reality" - Suenens

When I was a child my mother gave me a "hope chest"...  we're talking kindergarten age ~ probably 5 years old... she spent every birthday and Christmas adding items to that hope chest.  When you're 7 years old you look at these items and say "ooh nice" and think "where's the book/doll/bicycle" - the items you'll use THEN.  As I got in to my late teens I added things I purchased while traveling... china, crystal etc...  In my early 20's I started calling it the "hopeless chest"... as I was the last of my friends to get married...  Yet I remember pulling out the items when I purchased my first home... and I still use many of these items 25 years later...  they were and are thoughtful little blessings given to me throughout my life...  my mother has my chest in her home today... it's been painted and covered with a cushion and she uses it as a window seat in her spare bedroom - which is yet another historical use of these beautiful chests.

Cedar chests have long been used for storing special items for brides to be.  The cedar repels bugs and mold... with the added benefit of making linens smell fabulous.  Many women use these chests long after their "hopes" became reality... and store blankets and other linens in these year round.  The chest I currently own keeps my larger pieces of fine china (turkey plates, et al) safe year round.  They are practical as well as beautiful...  thus you can imagine why my heart strings pulled when I saw this poor baby abused and needing love.  I sent this picture to my husband and said as I always do... "I found a new project for you..." 

"Heather the garage is filled with a lot of old projects for me..."

"But this one should be quick and easy and she's got so much potential..."

Famous last words from me... those are the projects I image that one day his head will explode and he'll be found running down the highway mumbling "she said it would be easy" over and over again...

He tried to save the veneer because I asked... and then we finally agreed to bring life back into the top and paint the bottom.  The perfectionist in him probably fell to sleep nightly dreaming of smothering me with a pillow...  because he kept finding one more little thing that he wanted to tweak...  in the end it was all worth it.  she's beautiful again... for storage for your home... or for a young girl in your life that needs to start her trousseau... 

As with everything we are blogging about... this beauty will be in our booth at the Queen of Hearts in Alpharetta March 1st.  Come check her out.