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Posted on May 17, 2012

It is really hard for me to write this post. So bare with me please.

My grandma is 93 years old and she is the only grandparent that I’ve ever known. The others all past away before I was born or when I was really little.  She is the only grandparent that I can remember having in my life.

Here is a picture of her with our whole family back in December.

She has been living on her own since my grandpa died back in 1994.

But she has been really ill the last couple of months and so she has decided to move into an old age home where someone can take care of her 24/7.

My parents had to pack up her whole house and then she distributed her furniture amongst the grand kids. aka. me, my brother and sister.

The stuff had to be transported from George to us here in Cape Town. When that truck arrived in front of our house and they started unpacking, my heart just broke. Life is so strange… she has been collecting stuff for 93 years and now… she has nothing. A suitcase filled with clothes.

It was a really sad moment for me, but I felt proud as I started putting her stuff in my house. Things that have so much memories attached to it. It now feels like she lives here with us in Raybelle.. through her furniture.

That’s why I always say, I’d rather have furniture in my house that tell a story, than to have things around that have been bought at the local furniture store. I cherish these things like gold.

You will remember this pic from this post. My grandma gave Viv and me this really old persian carpet, it still has it’s original certificate. It is perfect for the hallway. I can remember playing with my dolls on it, like it was yesterday.  Then that old cupboard at the end of the hall used to sit in my grandma’s entrance and it hosted all of our artwork from when we were little. Well, most of it was my brother’s art, he is the only one amongst the 3 of us that can draw anything worth displaying. I love having it in my house now. It still smells like my grandma’s house and it has such font memories attached to it. When I opened the drawers I even found pens and other trinkets that I can remember playing with when I was little.

She also gave me her couch and 2 chairs that used to live in her tv room. I broke up the set and the 2 seater now lives in our living room.

While the 1 chair is now in the master bedroom and the other one in the guest bedroom.

I am going to upholster them all and maybe even change the shapes a little. I am thinking of doing some chesterfield shape for the 2 seater. See that throw on the chair in our master bedroom? I am thinking of covering it in that colour, to match the colour of the scatter pillows on our bed.

I also got this coffee table. Her brother made it years ago. I am planning on painting it…

I will keep you updated on the transformation that will take place with all the pieces.

Take care and remember to cherish every second you have with your loved ones. You can never say I love you too much! It will never get old.

Love you grandma!

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