From Their Hands to Mine: Giving Family Treasures New Purpose

How shopping my own home helped me create a craft room filled with memories.

I actually had a craft room once, when our oldest two children were babies, about 25 years ago. But as our family grew, the spare bedrooms—and any extra space I might have used for crafting—stopped being spare. They filled with children, beds, clothes, toys, and all the everyday things that come with raising a family.

Now most of our five children are grown and have homes of their own. We still have two children living at home, but for the first time in many years, I have a spare bedroom again. Little by little, I’m turning it into a craft room.

Having that room is exciting and a little bittersweet. I’m thankful to finally have a place where I can leave my sewing machines set up, organize my supplies, and create. At the same time, I know the room became available because my children are no longer filling all the bedrooms.

But an emptier room doesn’t mean the love and memories that once filled it are gone. Now I can use that space to create things for my children—and someday, Lord willing, for their children too. ☺️♥️

A Room of His Own

As I began putting the craft room together, I needed somewhere to store fabric, ribbon, thread, and the other supplies I’ve gathered over the years. I could have gone shopping for shelves, bins, or a new storage cabinet, but I wanted to look around my own home first and see whether I already had something that would work. My Papa’s old dresser was the natural solution.

By the time I came along, Mimi and Papa’s two children (my mom and my uncle) already had families of their own. Mimi and Papa shared their bedroom, and there was still a spare bedroom in the house, but Papa also had a room of his own.

It wasn’t anything fancy. It was simply his space—the room where he kept the things that were important to him. The rest of the house carried so much of Mimi’s personality through her decorations and all the things she loved, but that room was unmistakably Papa’s. It held his dresser and his collection of things that mattered.

I’m sure the dresser held clothing at one time, but by the time I remember it, its drawers held much more than clothes. Papa kept books, pamphlets, papers, and other things he valued and wanted to save inside it.

The Dresser That Still Smelled Like Papa

After Papa passed away—and then Mimi just three weeks later—my mother began the difficult process of sorting through their belongings and settling their affairs. If I remember correctly, I asked for the dresser. It wasn’t only that it had become a family heirloom. We had a growing family, and we needed furniture we could actually use. Still, it was one of those familiar things I’d always seen in Papa’s room, and keeping it felt important.

For a very long time afterward, the dresser still carried his scent. Whenever I opened the drawers, memories of him would come flooding back. I missed him, but those moments helped me feel connected to him.

He smelled clean, like aftershave, with a faint newspaper kind of smell from the books and papers he kept. I don’t know the name of the aftershave or cologne he wore. He simply smelled like Papa, and no one else smelled quite like him. His scent carried kindness, patience, and love. He smelled like a warm hug. 🤗

Good Furniture Keeps Serving

Although the dresser held precious memories, it didn’t sit untouched as a memorial. Over the years, it continued doing what good, sturdy furniture is supposed to do—it served our family.

Our boys took turns using it, depending on who needed it at the time. With four rough-and-tumble boys, furniture didn’t always survive their growing-up years, but Papa’s dresser did. 🤣

After the boys no longer needed it, the dresser moved upstairs into my Our Families Attic workspace, where it held shipping and business supplies. Now that I’m creating a craft room, it’s ready to serve our family in another way. Instead of purchasing a new storage cabinet, I can use something sturdy and useful that I already own.

Its drawers will soon hold fabric, ribbon, thread, sewing notions, and other craft supplies. But some of the things going inside make this new purpose even more meaningful.

Papa’s Dresser and Mimi’s Fabric

Mimi worked in swimwear design for Rose Marie Reid when she was younger. She helped create and develop designs, and I inherited some of her original sketches, handwritten notes, fabric swatches, and articles. Fashion and design weren’t simply interests she enjoyed—they were part of her creative work and a meaningful chapter of her life.

Because we didn’t live close to Mimi and Papa, she wasn’t able to teach me very much about sewing herself, but she still found a way to encourage my growing interest.

My love of sewing began in junior-high home economics, where I learned the basic skills and made my first project—a pair of elastic-waist shorts. As that interest grew into something I truly enjoyed, Mimi gave me my first sewing machine. I think it was her way of supporting something she understood and had loved herself.

I still have that sewing machine today. It’s a basic Kenmore—nothing fancy—but it works like a champ. That probably isn’t surprising, because Mimi loved Sears, Roebuck and Co. 😂 Later, as a young adult, I learned much more from my mother-in-law, who also loves to sew, especially quilting. Years later, she gave my daughter a Singer sewing machine to encourage her interest too. My daughter uses it occasionally, and both machines will have a permanent place in the new craft room.

I love that the machines were given for the same reason: one woman saw a younger woman beginning to create and wanted to encourage her.

Along with the sewing machine Mimi gave me, I inherited some of her patterns and a large collection of her fabric. Some of it has remained sealed in bags, and I swear that when I open them, I can still smell her. Soon, some of her fabric, patterns, and notions will be tucked safely inside Papa’s dresser—a piece from his room holding pieces of her creative life in a room that’s now becoming my own. ♥️

Making Something New from What We Already Have

Once the room is ready, I already have two big projects in mind. The first will be a set of patchwork curtains for my Our Families Attic workspace. I want to make them from clothing that isn’t in good enough condition to sell or give away, along with other fabric and materials I already have. Those pieces may no longer work for their original purpose, but that doesn’t mean they’ve reached the end of their usefulness.

The curtains will also give me plenty of practice piecing different fabrics together and completing a large project before I cut into anything irreplaceable.

After that, I hope to make each of our children a keepsake blanket using shirts that hold memories from their lives—athletic teams, clubs, church youth camps, special events, family vacations, and other moments worth remembering. I’ve been holding on to some of those shirts since our first child was born with this purpose in mind.

These projects are part of why the room means so much to me. It will give me a place to take pieces of our family’s past and lovingly turn them into something our children can carry into their futures.

Look Around Before You Buy

The same idea that led me back to Papa’s dresser can work throughout our homes. Shopping your own home first doesn’t mean you should never buy anything new. Sometimes purchasing something really is the most practical choice. It simply means pausing before you shop and looking at what you already have with fresh eyes.

An old dresser may become craft storage. A basket from one room may solve an organizing problem in another. A jar may hold buttons or ribbon. Clothing that can no longer be worn may become a curtain, quilt, or keepsake.

Before buying something new, ask yourself:

• Do I already own something that could meet this need?
• Could something from another room be moved and used here?
• Can an item be repaired, repainted, rearranged, or given a different purpose?
• Do I have materials stored away that I could use first?

You won’t always find the answer inside your own home, but sometimes the perfect solution has been there all along, quietly waiting for its next purpose.

Carrying the Best Parts Forward

This craft room represents a new season of life for me. I’m excited about it, but there’s some sadness too. The bedrooms that were once filled with children are becoming available for something new because those children grew up—just as they were supposed to do. But the love and memories that filled those rooms haven’t disappeared.

Papa’s dresser will hold Mimi’s fabric, patterns, and notions. The sewing machine she gave me will be nearby, and the machine my mother-in-law gave my daughter will have a place there too. I’ll use the room to turn worn clothing into curtains, memory-filled shirts into blankets, and ideas I’ve carried for years into things I can finally create.

Maybe that’s what this room is really about—not leaving the past behind but carrying its best parts forward. An old dresser, a once-busy bedroom, and clothes no longer being worn can all find new purpose in this new season of my life. What once held the things that mattered to Papa will now hold the tools and materials I use to make things for the people who matter most to me.

The people we love leave pieces of themselves behind—in the things they used, the skills they encouraged, and the memories we carry. I’m grateful for the chance to bring some of those pieces together in one room, make something new with them, and someday, Lord willing, pass that love along again.

Do you have something in your home that’s waiting for a new purpose? I’d love to hear its story in the comments below.