Heirloom Chest
By villageanne
@villageanne (8553)
United States
January 24, 2007 6:02pm CST
Since I was a little girl,I have wanted a heirloom hope chest. They are just beautiful and so traditional. In pioneer days, Many young women would have a chest filled with homemade quilts, aprons, dishtowels, etc. They make the things that they would one day need when they were married.
Today, these chests have so many uses. I have seen them used as coffee tables, sitting benches in entry ways and at the foot of beds. They have so much room to store things in.
I just checked my email and received a newsletter from Lowes creative Ideas. It contains the link to the directions for a Homemade Heirloom Chest. My husband could so easily make me one of these for my birthday. I am going to print off the directions and tape it to the mirror in our bathroom. Do you think he will get the hint? LOL
The link that they sent has my email address as part of it so I will have to work on the link. This is what I came up with. I hope this link works.
http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/0107/ci_heirloomchest_0107.asp?
Do you have a heirloom chest or have you ever wanted one?
12 people like this
27 responses
@shywolf (4514)
• United States
25 Jan 07
Yay, your link works for me! So it looks like you fixed it up properly. Cool! ^_^ The heirloom chest pictured on that site is absolutely beautiful. I hope that your husband will get the hint and make you one for your birthday. That would be wonderful! ^_^ My family has a dresser around here that reminds me somewhat of the chest on this site, and she thinks that it might be an antique. But I don't have a personal heirloom chest. I would certainly love to have one that looks like the one on the site that you posted, though! ^_^
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
25 Jan 07
I did print it off and put it on the mirror. I then took a sticky note and put "HINT:Connie Birthday" Do you think he will get the hint? LOL
2 people like this
@chaygylmommy (2470)
• United States
25 Jan 07
WOW! How pretty! I, also, have wanted one of these for a long time. I looked at the link and emailed it to my husband. LOL He is in Florida...we are moving after my son gets out of school, but he is already there. I told him this would be a beautiful WELCOME TO FLORIDA gift! LOL
3 people like this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
25 Jan 07
That was pretty sneaky! Bet you get one. Be sure and let us know if you do. LOL
3 people like this
@ElusiveButterfly (45939)
• United States
25 Jan 07
When I gradated from high school, a local vendor gave a small box that was a smaller version of their hope chest. They would give this gift to you to entice you into comeing into the store and maybe sell you one of the beautiful chests. I just took my gift. But.....I really wanted a hope chest.
3 people like this
@Island_Geko (3759)
• Canada
25 Jan 07
I have had a trunk since I was an infant it was a neighbor lady's and it was hand made for her and she gave it to me. It has 2 layers and has eveything I have collected since I was a child, basically many brain in a trunk.
1 person likes this
@dhouston (417)
• United States
25 Jan 07
I've always called it a hope chest. I understand it is very important they be made of or at least lined with cedar to protect the things inside. My mother's is beautifully carved. I never had one, but interestingly, my husband had a cedar chest which he used for general storage before we were married, and we used as a coffee table.
Spanish girls of my generation still all had them, and as recently as the 1970s Spanish girls, especially in Andalucia, had them and filled them with linens they embroidered and trimmed with white lace crochet for when they married. Some of my friends spent part of every paycheck on something for their future homes, a set of stainless flatware, a teapot, hot pads, whatever they planned and went about collecting, together with the sheets, towels and tablecloth and napkin sets they embroidered and crocheted.
2 people like this
@Kaldonya (277)
• United States
25 Jan 07
When I was little, I always used to dream of having a hope chest. My mother (Mrs. Sensible-stick-in-the-mud) said that they are useless and of no value. So basically I knew that if I were ever to get one, I would have to buy it for myself as an adult. I hope your husband gets the hint, and better yet, that you get your hope chest!
3 people like this
@cwgrlsarefun (1581)
• United States
4 Feb 07
I do not have one of these chests but have dreamed of having one since I was just a little girl. My grandmother had one and I used to love to just open it and look at all of her beautiful things that she had stored away in there. I also enjoy looking at them in the stores as when you open them up they smell so good. I think that taping this to the mirror is a great idea. Plant the seed and watch it grow, this is what I always say with my husband.
@Bee1955 (3882)
• United States
25 Jan 07
THANK YOU!!! This is just what I want my brother to build me for my birthday! It wont have the fancy exterior routing, but I just love this! I had my mother's chest, which is similar, but it dryrotted in storage. :-(
@lifeiseasy (2292)
• United States
25 Jan 07
Yes I do have one. I was given for my graduation present from my parents. I still have it today and is full of pictures and photo albums. I should use it to store some old quilts I have since it is cedar lined inside.
BTW mine has a cushion across the top to use as seating as well, works great
1 person likes this
@independent_inAK (274)
• United States
5 Feb 07
My dad made a hope chest for me and I love it. I have a few special things in in but I need to sort through it. I'd like to put more "special" items in it such as some blankets etc. I have so many family keepsakes that I probably need two or three chests. :)
@gypsylady28 (945)
• United States
25 Jan 07
My hope chest is now sitting in our kitchen. It was given to my mother when I was a small child as a toy chest. When I got older my mother sanded it down and refinished it for me. When I first started working at sixteen, I bought dishes, kitchen towels, pots and pans, silverware, etc. and placed in it. When I got my first apartment, I hauled it with me and was ready for almost anything I needed. When I moved back home when my father was sick, I hauled it back. When I met my husband, I hauled it from Ohio to Tennessee. I have since refinished it again, and now it is a storage chest or seat in my kitchen. I think a hope chest is something that any mother could give their daughter when they hit their teen years.
@lisamaria (8)
• United States
25 Jan 07
why just a chest full 0f dreams dream bigger and fill every corner of your house with items you would like to carry on to your own home good luck and dream big
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
25 Jan 07
I had such a chest as a teenager. Don't know what ever happened to it. It is such a good idea and plan on one such for my daughter. Might need a bit bigger thing than a chest in this day and age. Thanks for this link, for art I will have my son build this according to the directions. We homeschool so this will help the process and serve a purpose! Thanks my friend.
@nelltx (277)
• United States
25 Jan 07
My mother has a hope chest that her father built for her. Your right, they are great things. I have started chests for my 3 children, but since I couldn't build them a chest, it is a plastic storage box. I am hoping that they think the items that I have put inside are special & forget about the box.
@thewolf777 (581)
• United States
25 Jan 07
when i was 13, my mom bought me one. it is very handsome looking and i love to open it because of the smell of wood it gives off everytime it opens. (the kind of wood slips my mind at the moment) anyways, every christmas after she buys me something to put in it. measuring cups, plates, skillet and mesuring spoons. all from williams and soma (sp i know) i love it.
@iamiramadnama (421)
• Canada
25 Jan 07
When I was born, my mother was given a Hope Chest as a baby shower gift. I didn't know I had one, and as I grew up, my mother would fill it with things that I would need when I went out into the world on my own. When I turned 18, and went off to college, she gave it to me.. and it was full of things that she had bought over the past 18 years. A set of cookware, kitchen items, picture frames, blankets, all that stuff. I was so happy to have gotten it, and I'm waiting for the day that my 1st daughter is born so that I can get one for her, and do the same thing. I think it's lovely.
