Decorating With Heirlooms: Photos

I love to explore my genealogy and when my father passed on some family photos to me that were stored in the garage, I was as giddy as a school girl. I’ve always wanted to add heirloom photos to our decor and have history living among us in our home.

When I was talking to my father about our family history, he remembered he had rescued an old suitcase that was going to be thrown away from my Great Great Uncle’s estate. We started looking through these old photos and I thought I had found gold!

Some of the photos were from my Gr. Gr. Uncle’s brother and different photos from times with he and his friends. We dated these photos to be circa 1908 – 1910.

This was a photo of workers on the streets of Cincinnati, but we couldn’t find any family member. It was such a unique photo, I asked if I could take it, knowing how cool it would look framed.

In another photo, there is a Cincinnati Factory, Durrell Bros., which were manufacturers of rubber boots and harnesses. Again, no familial connection, but wicked awesome nonetheless!

Then there was this!!

This is my family, taken around the early 1900s. I was so excited to find this, but I surely thought that my father wouldn’t relinquish this treasure, but to my surprise, he said he knew I’d display it and take much better care of it than storing it in an old suitcase.

Look how handsome my Great Great Grandfather was!

To round out the vintage feel, I added a seat I found at a garage sale years ago. It had a worn cross stitch cover that was in poor shape. I covered it with fabric from a toile valance I found in a clearance bin at Tuesday Morning.