What piece makes your heart sing?

8 years ago

Can you name just one item from in your house that makes your heart sing? And why? Is there a nice story behind it or was it just love at first sight? Can you post a picture?

For me, it's our hutch. It took forever to find and it was love at first site.

Featured Answer

User

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I love reading these stories and seeing pictures. Great thread. :)

Mine is my zebra chair. It means more to me than anything in this house.

My first husband was diagnosed with Leukemia, and was in the hospital for 7 months from having complications after a bone marrow transplant. He was in the hospital, very ill, the day of my birthday. I was up early, getting ready to go to the hospital, when I got a knock at my door. It was my former coworker at our local furniture store/design center, and she was bringing me my present from him. Even in his very weak state, he managed (with a nurse's help) to call my coworker, and arrange to get me the chair for my birthday. He remembered how excited I was when it first came to the store. That's what kind of amazing man he was. I couldn't wait to get to the hospital, and hold him.

He passed away five months later, and I couldn't bear to sit in the chair, or let anyone else sit in it. It was his last gift to me. It was and is so precious.

Fast forward .... I found a widow/er support board. Talking to other widows was the only comfort I could find. I was ravaged by grief. One day, I needed to share the chair story and what kind of man he was. I also shared a picture of him and I and our daughter. It felt good to hear others praise him. A widower on the board messaged me, to praise my husband more, and commiserate, as both our spouses went through similar cancer experiences, and died four days apart. We struck up a friendship, we had so much in common, besides being widowed. As time went by, we realized our friendship was turning into more, which was a bit shocking ... neither of us was looking for that. He came to visit me, from NY, and we fell in love. We married a few years later (my profile pic was taken on our honeymoon in Negril last year). It all started because he saw my post about my husband and the chair.

This chair represents the love of two great men. I feel as though my late husband knew what he was doing, and guided things. He was always so loving and protective of me. We were married 21 years.

The story involves so much more, but it's difficult to talk about. I will keep this chair forever and I love to see my husband sitting in it now, playing guitar.

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Comments (67)

Star Jeep
8 years ago
MizGG, your beautiful love story (x2) has me in tears!
toojenny
8 years ago
Gave me goosebumps...beautiful story.
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arcy_gw
8 years ago
I wish I had a piece. I have knick knacks that would fit the request, but no furniture. The closest I could come is a couple of bombay design pieces..both are inexpensive knock offs and do not FIT in my home, but I HAD TO have them. Something about the graceful curves.....
Annie Deighnaugh
8 years ago
I fell in love with this sculpture and had to have it. He now resides happily in my foyer on a pedestal...this man who flies by Andrew DeVries.
Sueb20
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
MizzGG, I love that story.

There are quite a few things in my house that make my heart sing, and most are artwork, not furniture. My favorite pieces of furniture are not the pricey items -- I love the $40 church pew I got on CL, and the little old school desk that I use as an end table:

Another furniture item that I love because I'm into Stickley Mission style but also because it contains lots of souvenirs from our travels.

And I love these paintings.

Ignore the mantel, I am "in transition" for fall. DH and I bought this painting in Charleston, SC, when we were there celebrating our 25th anniversary a few months ago.

This painting looks better IRL. Colors are vibrant.

Got this little painting from an Etsy artist (I have bought a few others from her as well). I have a thing for paintings of chairs.

It's funny, I have been thinking about the "most loved" items in my house recently because I think we will downsize in 4-5 years, and I have started looking at everything and wondering "would I take that?" -- my hope is that by the time we move, I will have pared down all our stuff to the "love it, must keep it" level.

ETA: Recently the photos I post have appeared oddly cropped on my computer (after I hit "submit"). Not sure if they look that way to everyone else but the original photo files are not cropped this way.
IdaClaire
8 years ago
MizGG, I would "LIKE" your post 1,000 times if I could. How absolutely beautiful.
anele_gw
8 years ago
I have shared my little tables before. I got the pair for $100.
anele_gw
8 years ago
MizGG, I have tears. What a beautiful, beautiful story. What a special man your husband was.
IdaClaire
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
One thing that is probably most unusual to this forum - and unfortunately, something I don't have a photo of - is the little Hopi mudhead kachina that I bought from the carver out of the back of his pickup in the ancient village of Walpi on First Mesa in Arizona. (These are all hand-carved from cottonwood root.) My dad and I were touring the village when we came upon this gentleman selling the ONE thing from the back of his truck. I gladly paid his asking price of $65 and I treasure that little mudhead more than I can possibly express, because not only is it one of the best small carvings I've ever laid eyes on, but also because each time I see it, special memories of that day and of that very special place come flooding back. I can't even find a photo of a piece that's carved as well as mine, as most mudhead carvings tend towards the primitive. This, done by a different carver, is similar in style (and the mudheads are the little figures in this piece who are holding on to the eagle's tethers).

Another piece that makes my heart sing is this frame that my dad made. I've shared it here before, but I think it's good enough to share again. :-)
cawaps
8 years ago
MizGG, such a touching story. I was also crying.

I have this sculpture that I bought from an acquaintance. Love the beads--one of Tina's hallmarks.

And this cat tree that my brother made. I drove a 1400 mile round trip to get this from my mom's house when she had to downsize and give up her cat. The cats love it.
anele_gw
8 years ago
I am not sure which I am enjoying more-- these beautiful pieces or the heartwarming stories that go with them.
outsideplaying_gw
8 years ago
I'll have to post a pic later of the pie safe, but MizGG, your chair story is wonderful. And am enjoying all the stories actually.

Tibbrix, I have been meaning to ask about your Dad. I know he was in the hospital this summer and I lost track when we went on vacation.
tibbrix
8 years ago
Oh, my, aren't you all so sweet and kind and thoughtful. LynnNM sent me a private email today as well. Poor Linen is going through the same, and worse actually, as she is not only knowingly facing her parents' passing, they have Hospice involved, but is doing so with both of her parents!

Thank you so much for asking after my father, outsideplaying. It's delicate and hard right now. We're kind of in a holding pattern. He's very sick and has been in and out of the hospital with one flare up of something after another. We're waiting for him to finish his second, and last, round of chemo to see if the cancer responded to it. if it didn't, we'll call in hospice and do what we can to make his last time on earth comfortable and happy. If it did, we'll proceed with cyber knife radiation, which is supposed to have a high rate of success. It's not a cure, but it can extend his life. He's hoping it does and he gets another three year. That's what he told me yesterday. But he's very thin and weak and having trouble keeping food down -hopefully the chemo, had a near-fatal reaction to the Cipro given him for the biopsy, which is really what took his body out and is making fighting the cancer harder. He's in a great place, though, living with my sister and her husband in Boston, so near his home and the hospitals, very comfortable place, there friends visit him all the time, which he loves. I remind myself that, we can't pick our parents, and boy, did I get lucky when I got paired with this man as my father.

Thank you again, outside.
IdaClaire
8 years ago
Tibb ... (((((Hugs)))))
tibbrix
8 years ago
Ty, auntjen. Much appreciated. I share my hugs with Linen.
anele_gw
8 years ago
I didn't know, Tibb, about your dear father. When do you find out the outcome of this next round of chemo? I am so glad he is settled in nicely with your sister. What a shame about the Cipro-- such a delicate battle in fighting cancer. There is nothing easy about it, but your dad sounds like he in a really good place emotionally.
tibbrix
8 years ago
The Cipro was just for his biopsy! Two more weeks of chemo, and then he'll undergo the tests to see what's up.

I appreciate all of this and apologize to lukkiirish for the taking over of her thread! Let's keep looking at and showing off our prized pieces.
awm03
8 years ago
The piece that is making my heart sing is my old sofa with its new upholstery:
annac54
8 years ago

I love my sideboard. I bought it off Craigslist. The lady I got it from said it belonged to her mother. She had moved to California from the east coast. They had redecorated and felt it didn't belong anymore. Around here, good furniture like this is being repainted in ghastly colors and re-sold as "shabby chic". (Really, the paint jobs are horrendous). This one talked to me and said it needed to be saved from a bad paint job. It is heavy and sturdy. It has deliciate inlays on the doors and beautiful flame maghogany wood that glows. Not everyone's style, but it fits in well enough with the rest of our things.
Sochi
8 years ago
Delilah66, thank you. The artist is from Montreal, name is Pascale Pratte. Recently she goes by the name "Stone."
User
Original Author
8 years ago
Oh Tib! No worries!!! I love when a thread turns into a true conversation between friends and morphs the way this one has. All the pics and stories are simply wonderful. MizGG I'm so sorry for your loss (((hugs))). Your chair is indeed special. Thank you for sharing your story so beautifully.

Tib, I didn't know your dad was ill. I'll keep him and your family in my thoughts and I hope he finds success with the chemo.
tibbrix
8 years ago
Thank you, lukki. Indeed, shortly after I read, and responded to, all these wonderful and kind thoughts here, my sister called to say that the nurse called and told her his cancer marker has dropped dramatically and all of his numbers are "headed in the right direction" so to be optimistic. First good news we've had in a very rough and bumpy three months. He is terminal, but if the chemo is working, then he can have the cyber knife radiation, which will extend his life. He told me yesterday he's hoping for three more years. This has been an up close and personal example of just how fragile life can be. We were talking about bringing Hospice in just last week, being warned he could be gone by Christmas...still could happen, but we were all thrilled with this news today. I hope it has real meaning. We should know if @ three weeks.

I just loved MizGG's story too. Amazing the twists and turns, good and bad, life can take, isn't it?
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Thank you, lukkiirish, and everyone, for your kind words and hugs. I appreciate them more than I can say! :)

Tibbrix, my heart goes out to you and your family. I'm so glad you got good news today! I hope so much it continues to be hopeful and that you're able to share the holidays with your sweet dad, plus many more years.

I've so enjoyed reading about and seeing the beautiful things shared here. :)
Houseofsticks
8 years ago
Thank you all for sharing a piece of yourselves, good tears. I was once a collector of stuff, all things that made my heart sing. After my Mom's passing I have found I no longer have the attachments to things that I once did. I find no real passion for items but instead the people that remain and the memories that seem to be more clear as time goes by.
outsideplaying_gw
8 years ago
Tibb, so happy to hear of your good news today. Will continue to wish you and your family comfort and hope. I hate to hijack any thread, but you had been on my mind, and when you mentioned your Dad made your sideboard, it triggered my thoughts.

I know LynnNM is also in need of all our supportive thoughts. It is especially hard when you are not close by to your family.
tibbrix
8 years ago
Ty all. outside playing, it is never wrong, IMO, to interject to wish someone well, ask how someone is doing, etc. In fact, it's profoundly kind, and I was stunned that you even knew/remembered and did so here. (Sure beats interjecting on a thread to beat the heck out of someone!).

I just didn't want my current circumstances to completely take over Lukki's thread!
Bunny
8 years ago
Tibbrix, I wish your dad and family comfort and hope.

Since this thread was posted, I've been looking at things in my house and pondering if it's "the one." Like Houseofsticks, my attachment to things greatly diminished after the death of my husband. They are just things and I'm not taking any of them with me.

On a lighter note, my heart most definitely sings when I hang a picture in exactly the right spot. You don't have to ask if it's the right spot, because you know it in your bones. My heart sings when I buy an affordable set of cotton panels and hang them myself. My new yellow kettle makes my heart sing, even though I don't really use it. My heart sings when my house is clean (for 5 minutes). My heart sings when I'm making pot roast and the house smells like coming home and opening the front door when I was a kid.

May all your hearts sing, esp. when you least expect it.
User
Original Author
8 years ago
Tib, please don't worry about it. I don't think like that, it's not my thread, it's everyone's so no worries. I'm thrilled to see you got good news. Yes, be optimistic it can be the best medicine. My mother survived colon cancer back when most people didn't and the doctors attributed a huge part of her success to her optimism and family support. Her blood counts would literally go up when she knew my sister was going to be visiting. The mind is a powerful thing!
User
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Linelle!!! I feel the same way especially when it comes to Pot roast!!! I make it every year at the first sign of the cold weather, yum!!!

So what happened with your door? Has it been installed? Does it make your heart sing too? Can we see a pic?
Bunny
8 years ago
lukkiirish!!! Yes yes yes!!!!! If I'm in the house all day with the pot roast, I don't get its full effect. I need to walk out, get the mail, pause at the front door, close my eyes and open it. I'm in 4th grade all over again, having just ridden my bike home from school. It's Monday night and my grandparents will be coming for dinner.

So, my door. Would you believe it's finally being painted as we speak. Literally, this minute. Be careful when you tell a door guy that you're not in any rush. Both my entry door and screen door have been sitting (standing) in the garage for too long. So primer coat this morning, first finish coat this afternoon. Final coat tomorrow. I am slowly crawling to the finish line. Hopefully with a song in my heart. :)
User
Original Author
8 years ago
Oh yes, I totally agree. Well, you will have to post a reveal thread when it's done so we can celebrate, wow....it's been sshhhh "months" shhhhh
Painted Peggies (zone 6a)
8 years ago
Well darn it! I clicked on this hoping to see some pretty furniture and I'm sitting here bawling! I wish I knew you ladies in real life...
User
Original Author
8 years ago
Ha Ha! Painted, post a pic! Tell us your story!
cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
As with Tibb and others, my piece has a family connection(Tibb thanks for the update on your dad. Sending good thoughts. I hope your dad gets his wish).

This corner cupboard was built by my great great great grandfather (maybe only two greats-can't remember) around 1850. I have his shaving cup, his fraktur birth certificate in German and his wife's in English-both born in Pennsylvania, his funeral announcement, and the poster advertising the sale of his tools after he died. I am so fond of this piece not only because I think it is beautiful, but because he crafted it. I also have a dough trough he made. Little sis has the bed and desk with a hidden compartment. So much fun.
Bonnie
8 years ago
What a fun thread. The exception being Tibb's sad news about her dad. Tibb, my heart goes out to you and your family. I will keep your dad in my prayers.

My heart sings with several pieces of furniture that belonged to my late parents and resided in our weekend home near North Conway, NH. Here are a few of my favorite things:
Oak hall tree. One of the only pieces that my father never restored, but I love it because of the memories.

Oak desk that my father restored. This is in our living room.

Probably my favorite pieces, which is in my home office. This was in the upstairs of our barn at the weekend house in NH. To the right you can catch a glimpse of a chair, which is one of 3 that my father restored and recaned: one for each of our daughters. These are treasures beyond measure.
jlsch
8 years ago
Sueb20, I love your paintings. Who is the Etsy artist that did the chair? I can't quite make it out and I'd love to look her up.
patty_cakes42
8 years ago
I purchased this piece from a shop that was going out of business. It's in the foyer, so is the first thing you see when you come in the door. A little banged up, but hey, that's what happens when you get to a certain age. I love her!
Sueb20
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Jlsch, the artist is Patricia Cottrill. Last time I checked, she didn't have anything listed on etsy...hopefully she was just taking a short break! I also have these 2 paintings from her:
patty_cakes42
8 years ago
But I do also love my artwork since I love animals! They're oils, painted by a friend who was moving and 'wanted to get rid of it'. The pictures above the fireplace I happened to find at Marshall 's. I *had* to buy them since they went so well with the oils. Sorry you can't see the 'lady' picture to the left of the cabinet. It's a German Shepard in a lace cap. The top picture of the cat in red is just a photo. I had to get at least one cat in there! lol

Now that I see a picture, I think I have too much greenery on the mantle....yikes!
User
8 years ago
Wow, patty cakes, gorgeous room! I love how you've hung your pictures! I've been looking for a brass FP screen like yours.
deegw
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago

This sculpture is not unique and this photo is from an online listing. I bought it years ago and it still makes me smile.
tibbrix
8 years ago
Wow Cyn, what a treasure. You're great grandfather was talented!
tinam61
8 years ago
Tib, very sorry to hear your father is ill, but I am happy to hear that you all got some good news! Cipro! Nasty stuff. At least for some. I had a terrible reaction to it several years ago (neuro/muscular) and it really scared me. I feel for you and what you are going through. Very strange coincidence, but today is the 5th anniversary of my mom's death. I have been an emotional mess this week. I miss her every single day. But I am thankful for the years I had her. I am very thankful too for the care she/we received from hospice. I say that in case you do end up using them. If so, I pray you have as good an experience as we did. For now, I hope you have many more days, weeks, months - years with your dad.
User
8 years ago
Very nice pieces and stories to go along with them. (Patty, that's an amazing arrangement of your art.)

I have this ivy plant in my home office. I have recurring depression and just got over a difficult episode. One of the telltale signs is I stop taking care of things. Before it came on, I had bought the plant from the grocery store because I wanted to experiment with topiaries. When my depression started, I stopped watering it. I walked by it every day half wondering how it was still alive but not caring if it were. I got over the depression and I noticed a few weeks ago it was still hanging in there, barely. So I gave it a good cleaning up, watered, transplanted. It amazes me because I didn't even water it for more than 6 months. Sort of a visual metaphor to hang in there when times are tough... you can pull through.
rob333 (zone 7b)
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
You helped me find mine lisad82! Seven years ago, my now ex left me and took the antiques with him. A year and half later, the house we still owned together, flooded. His current house at the time, burned down the month before. So nothing was left. I still haven't rebuilt furniture yet, but bought a house recently. I looked at the porch and decided I needed to have hanging ferns just like my grandmother had every year. Seeing her ferns always made my heart sing. Now, I can picture having my own, and it's singing all over again, ready for my own ferns.
tibbrix
8 years ago
Ty, Tina. What a nice comment. I'm so sorry for you about the loss of your mother and this being a difficult week for you. It's all in the course of life, isn't it? I keep telling myself that. As I've mentioned before, I have friends who've lost children, very young spouses, parents when THEY were children...perspective helps me with this. Besides the suffering that Cipro put my father (and my sister, his primary caretaker) through, I think it's responsible for rendering him too frail to survive the surgery they wanted to do for the cancer, which would have actually cured him. Now we're hoping for an extension of his life for a couple of years. That's hard to take.

It really is true when people say prayers and kind words are so helpful. I never knew how true it was to receive these kinds of thoughts (No idea why, as I, and I'm sure everyone here have always been sincere when GIVING them! lol), but boy, they really do make a difference!
User
8 years ago
Congratulations on your new home, Rob! Enjoy the ferns and the many memories they'll bring.
User
8 years ago
Tibbrix I believe when we're experiencing intense pain and sorrow we become hypersensitive to the goodness in life to help us cope. I'm glad you're finding some comfort (and everyone else here who needs it).
OutsidePlaying
8 years ago
I love this pie safe that belonged to my husband's parents. It is in our breakfast room and holds cookbooks, placemats, napkins, and some junk in the drawers. Yes the drawer is lopsided, but I don't care.
tibbrix
8 years ago
I love antique pie safes.