Raiding My Childhood Garage

Two weeks ago I visited my sister and we dropped by our childhood home which is now inhabited by my niece.

I wanted to look through the garage in the hope of finding an old ladder, a few old folding chairs, film reels and anything rusty.

No ladder, no folding chairs, but I did find some fun items and there are 5 vintage trunks full of stuff just waiting for a day when Marcia and I have the time to dig into them.

I cleaned up the blue Pepsi crate for storage in my "creative space" to hold odd bits.

Growing up in the orange groves of southern California, orange crates were ubiquitous.

I remember my dad painting this one green for my sister and me for playing - it served as a grocery store some days, a library on others and most frequently it was used to play school.

I cleaned it up and installed it on a shelf in the garage to hold fabric and other sewing supplies.

The only rusty bit I found was an old lantern.

I cleaned it up the best I could and added it to a little vignette on the patio.

I didn't need it . . . I would not have purchased it . . . but finding it in the garage was a bonus and I am sure it will be featured in a variety of vignettes around the garden.

There was a bounty of boxes in the garage that day, but I won't be using these two for anything.

JP wanted the metal box because it had been his grandfather's.

BATES

SF -LA 

is stenciled on each side.

Marcia and I vaguely remember the box and think our father must have used it for his supplies when he worked as a railway mail clerk on the San Francisco to Los Angeles line.

Steve grabbed up the old fishing box to store some of his supplies when he does plein air painting.

Inside the fishing box was a fishing reel given a new life on the hallway cabinet.

I love the texture and the color of the fishing line and might use it to crochet a little bag.

When the fishing line is gone, I think the reel would look good with ribbon or jute.

The reel sits next to my grandfather's bottle capper from his beer making days.

The webbing will come in handy for these flatware pockets I pinned from Pandora's Box.

I cleaned up the green wooden box and put it into the living room, but there was just too much green together.

This morning I got out my can of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White.

I wanted to retain a little memory of the vintage green shade so I taped off a stripe down the center before painting.

I love the green popping through after a good sanding.

It doesn't look like much, but the visit evoked some great memories like the time I threatened to run away, but actually only made it as far as the garage - boy did I get in trouble after they searched the neighborhood for me!

And, those 5 trunks are just waiting for us to return.

What will we find?

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