Roll top desk.
My grandparents used to have a furniture refinishing business. They'd pick up pieces at auction, strip and refinish them, then sell them. If they liked a piece particularly well, they might keep it for a while before selling it and passing it along. As a result, my family is flooded with antique furniture - not heirloom pieces but old all the same. The day my grandfather died, he was working on a roll top desk. It is a married piece - the roll top and the desk itself are different ages. The top is much older - the desk was an old military desk. They are both a honey-colored oak, though, so they go together really well. After my Papaw died, my dad & Uncle Bill worked on completing the restoration and my Mamaw used it for years. When she passed away, we divided up what furniture the family wanted and auctioned the rest. Uncle Mike kept the desk. Recently, he asked the family if anyone wanted the desk. He was culling furniture and if no one wanted it, it was headed to auction. Everyone wanted to keep it in the family, but no one had the space for such a large piece of furniture.
I asked to take it. Mick & I drove across the river yesterday to Indiana to get it out of his garage. Mike gave us a lawnmower as well - he married a mower base with a power washer motor to create a little Franken-mower that lacks a safety cut-off. Still, after this rainy season we've had, I'm grateful to have an alternative to the reel mower. Mick & Mike loaded the mower and the desk, and my Aunt Charlotte joined us behind the garage to talk and catch up for a while before he headed home.
I asked for the desk with Mick in mind. I wanted to create a space here for him, somewhere he can work and write and leave papers spread without worrying about needing to use the space for something else. He has been working at the dining room table, but I tend to use that space as well. We moved the desk into the basement with great effort and little conflict - I think this should count as a relationship milestone! We set it up near a small window in the dry part of the basement. That window lets in a little light, but is too high to easily look out so it cuts down on distractions.
I love the idea of this substantial, storied piece of furniture from my family history joining in my life now, in this new chapter I'm writing with Mick. I don't care if I seem overly sentimental about it - this desk is one of the few pieces of furniture my family has swapped around over the years that feels like an actual heirloom. It feels like a piece of Hay family history, and I am proud to be its caretaker. I get to share it with Mick and include him in this history as well.
I asked to take it. Mick & I drove across the river yesterday to Indiana to get it out of his garage. Mike gave us a lawnmower as well - he married a mower base with a power washer motor to create a little Franken-mower that lacks a safety cut-off. Still, after this rainy season we've had, I'm grateful to have an alternative to the reel mower. Mick & Mike loaded the mower and the desk, and my Aunt Charlotte joined us behind the garage to talk and catch up for a while before he headed home.
I asked for the desk with Mick in mind. I wanted to create a space here for him, somewhere he can work and write and leave papers spread without worrying about needing to use the space for something else. He has been working at the dining room table, but I tend to use that space as well. We moved the desk into the basement with great effort and little conflict - I think this should count as a relationship milestone! We set it up near a small window in the dry part of the basement. That window lets in a little light, but is too high to easily look out so it cuts down on distractions.
I love the idea of this substantial, storied piece of furniture from my family history joining in my life now, in this new chapter I'm writing with Mick. I don't care if I seem overly sentimental about it - this desk is one of the few pieces of furniture my family has swapped around over the years that feels like an actual heirloom. It feels like a piece of Hay family history, and I am proud to be its caretaker. I get to share it with Mick and include him in this history as well.