The Weight of Memories

The newest addition of furniture in the yellow house is my Grandfather's old desk. When my brother brought it in it seemed much smaller than I remembered. Perhaps because Grandpa's den was tiny, it was flanked by two tall (exceedingly well-organized) file cabinets on the right and a book case to the left. Or it may be that simple memories of childhood maintain the proportions of a child's perspective.

The delicate hardware makes a wind chime-like tinny sound when I pull on the drawers. While in search of something in the yet organized drawer a bright 'ting-ting-ting' brings a spontaneous smile to my face. It was in the center draw of this  dark, wooden desk he kept his annual small, black book full of mileage, oil changes, and other tidbits deemed worthy of documentation. Within the pages of the book circa 1995, we found the details of the obituary he had written for himself. Amongst Grandpa's things on top of the desk were papers you knew better than to touch, an antique glass ink well, and a black rotary dial phone weighing in at about 20 pounds. The phone was really cool - until you had to use it. There was also a smallish round paperweight backed with a picture of me as a toddler. In the high chair my grandfather and every generous through my own children have eaten their meals. I am wearing a blue dress made by my mother and was covered in cottage cheese. That paper weight had been there for as long as I could remember.

When a friend offered me a paper weight backed with a mass produced print sharing a pithy saying, I was immediately drawn to its potential. Glass paper weights are fascinating to me.

I've been doing some redecorating on the cheap, adding new colors, a clearance pillow and moving pictures. I also re-covered a stool with a remnant previously wrapping a bottle of wine brought to a party. With just a small scrap left I thought it might be a fun way to update the paper weight.

I traced the original insert with pencil, darkened the lines, folded the piece in half before hoping for the best cut. Almost perfect in size and shape, I painted the fabric circle and the paperweight with Mod-Podge and smoothed it in place. I glued the original fuzzy black paper backing into place and.....it became a co-coordinating paper weight.

It was a simple project more reminiscent of someone special than being super inspired.

 

It's a nice accessory to tie the dining room and living room spaces together - for free.

And just think of the potential it will have when I become a grandparent, my grandchild sits in that same chair and becomes a mess of cottage cheese.