New Year Hope Chest

Flashback Summer:  New Year Hope Chest
1940s Lane advertisement, from here

With the start of the new year, I've thought about one of the gifts I received for my 21st birthday this past December: a 1940s waterfall hope chest!

I. LOVE. THIS. GIFT.

I've wanted a hope chest for....... forever, it seems, and my parents tracked one down for me (with the aid of my grandma) and presented it to me on my birthday.  It's GORGEOUS.  As you can see in the pictures below, it's in GREAT shape, and I love the decorative details.  The shelf inside was a bit beat up, so my grandpa reassembled the parts properly and put in new gray felt on the bottom.  The inside is cedar, so no moths will get at my stuff!  I've already put a couple items in, including some cute mugs I'll highlight later!

Flashback Summer:  New Year Hope Chest

Flashback Summer:  New Year Hope Chest

The idea of a hope chest morphed from the tradition of a woman having a wedding trousseau, or, basically, all the items she wanted to take to her new home after her marriage.  (A hope chest is like a little trousseau, all in a box!)  She worked all her life on household items like beautifully embroidered linens, pillowcases and sheets, clothing, quilts, heirlooms, and decorative items, and she would tuck them away in this chest in hopes that one day she would be married and have a chance to use all the wonderful items in her own home.

Flashback Summer:  New Year Hope Chest
from here
I adore this idea.  Such loving care put into household items makes them a million times more special, and it's wonderful to save items in a safe spot, knowing that I'll use them soon after graduation in my own home!

Just like a hope chest, the new year is full of hope and expectation for the future.  Granted, I know it's not always going to be peachy and I don't know what the year will entail, but I know that I can make it through anything with Jesus!  In the spirit of this hope and expectation, here are some items I want to add to my hope chest this year:

-12 napkins and a tablecloth I embroider myself
- 2-3 pretty pajama items (I might make them... we'll see how it goes)
- a set of pillowcases
- finish my sort-of-crazy quilt and put it in (it's an ambitious wish)
Flashback Summer:  New Year Hope Chest
from here
Do any of you have a hope chest, or something like it?  What items have you included?  What would you like to add to it?

2 comments

  1. Ahhhh! How I'd love a hope chest of my own!!! I love this one. So precious Em. I already told my mom to start searching for one for my next years christmas gift!! haha :] See you soon missy

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    1. I know, right?! I've wanted one too, but I wasn't expecting one at all! I suppose you can still have hope until you get your hope chest, though, haha!

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