Decorating in Memory of Someone, in Your Own Style.
I am sentimental. It makes me feel good to honor someone or something important to me in my home. The only problem is that I have a specific style and I don’t like to stray away from it, which makes collecting items from someone else with a different style difficult. If you come to my house and see something that doesn’t go with everything else, it’s most likely on my list to get rid of or makeover.
My grandma, or Memaw, probably held the title of being my favorite person for the majority of my life and I wanted to honor her memory in some way in my house. Because we had very different styles, I wasn’t jumping to the front of the line to get a lot of her things when she passed away. I didn’t want to store anything and I didn’t really want to display it either. So here’s what I did..
Luckily, I thought ahead. Years ago when I started making the custom handwriting signs, I asked her to write down the fudge recipe she used. It was just the Hershey’s fudge recipe on their can of cocoa, but because I loved when she made it for me, I wanted it in her handwriting. I know it’s often too late to think ahead about things like this and I would have been ok with using any random recipe she had written had I not asked her to do this.
At Christmas, I received the most beautiful cutting board (like the photo below) and knew I wanted to use it to make a little decorative display in my kitchen…but display what? This was the perfect opportunity to display Memaw’s memory in my home, especially since her kitchen table is where most of our time together was spent having dinner, playing cards, drawing, doing crosswords, or just talking.
Image from walmart.com
I like to keep things pretty plain and simple. I figured I would just put a few things on there. Obviously I would be making a sign for it! Then I thought about just grabbing a candle and a plant I liked and going with that. But it had to be more personal with reminders of her! I decided to make a custom candle label and to choose a plant in remembrance of her and my grandpa. The options were basically unlimited since they were known for their huge garden full of different types of plants and flowers! My favorites from their garden, Evening Primrose (they bloom at night, so cool!) and Petunias aren’t really indoorsy plants so I had to really think about it.
Evening Primrose
Since her kitchen was such a special place, that’s what I put on the candle. I designed the label in my style. Plain. Simple. Clean lines. To bring more of her kitchen to the label, I found an image of the same floor tiles she had and color matched for the dark green background. I used gold as a reference to her decor style as well. Lastly, I found a candle I liked at the store, printed the label, and just put it on the back. The original candle label is actually still on the other side. lol.
I wanted to make the sign a certain shape and size, but that’s not how the recipe was written. So, I reconfigured it all on my computer and ended up with what you see in the photo! It’s pretty much exactly how I envisioned I wanted it, so if you think it looks chaotic, yes, I made it look like that on purpose. 😄 Most of my signs are framed, but I didn’t want that look for my kitchen.
Since the sign would be a recipe and the candle mentioned the kitchen, I thought the plant should reflect her kitchen too. Her backsplash was wallpaper with Ivy all over it, so I decided on an Ivy plant! I couldn’t find any, especially with it being winter when I did this, but also couldn’t find a very pretty faux Ivy plant either. One day, I was in Rural King and right there on a clearance rack was ONE potted Ivy plant in great shape! I put it in the cute little basket I got from Walmart’s new dollar (or $5) section similar to Target’s and it was just perfect! Let’s just hope I can keep it alive!
The devotional book randomly ended up there when I was wiping down the counters and I thought it was a nice touch so now that’s where we keep that!
I am obsessed with this whole display. Not only do I think it’s pretty because it’s my style, but it means so much to me to display Memaw’s memory. The kitchen is truly the heart of the home, even if you hate cooking like me 😉
If you are interested in honoring someone’s memory in your home, but are struggling with how to keep it your style, let’s chat!