INHEIRITANCE !!!

Inheritance...
Now there is a loaded word.  Like a shotgun sighted and ready to explode at any family funeral.  Perhaps even before that event..
    Ever taken down a painting from the wall to change things around a bit and found a little coloured sticker on the back with the name of a loved one or other family member?   How did that get there ?... When was it put there?   How long has that particular piece been coveted by that family member?   How many other little coloured stickers are you going to find ?  You start going over your rooms like a politician looking for bugs...      Who else has thought to get in early?
   Would you,  put dibs on some coveted piece before the old relative  is cold or would you wait and see what comes your way,  fight it out with the living, or throw a guilt ridden bone to the old loved one in the hope it comes your way with out a fight.  How much do you want that "thing" ..What are you prepared to barter for the spoils...

The biggest problem with finding an heir.   By heir I just mean the person who gets to be the custodian of the odd bits of china and the old Turkish rug thats fraying in the back room.  The one that you were left with by the previous custodian, who was left it by the one before that ....
These things have been around all your life, you grew up with them.  Lightning would strike you if you threw them out ..
So its important to choose wisely.  Who is more likely to feel sentimental?.. and... who is the one that will hock it before your cold?   Important stuff !  Your not just passing on an old rug, a pair of earrings or bits of old china.  Your passing on the memory of your parents and your grandparents.  They put their trust in you. This is the rug that your mum played on as a child.  The one her grandfather gave her grandmother as a wedding gift.  These things are the ones to keep!..to be continued ..passed down...
I really don't care who gets the house ..I will have probably have spent that before I leave ..but if its left ,..They can fight over it until the second coming, I don't care! ..What keeps me up is, who gets the china and the turkish rug and who thinks they won because they did!..............

The chairs you see in these photos are part of a suite, a two seater, two tubs and four single chairs they are hand carved victorian ebonized mahogany.( I'm not certain about the wood as the ebonizing hides the grain)  To find a complete suite is rare, near impossible these days and this one was offered in a house contents sale with discarded bits of mismatched china and old rugs.  Left to the wrong relative, I think and hocked.  In its day this would have been a prohibitive purchase.  A well thought out buy to pass the test of time and last the distance

there are four of these 

I hope I've done justice to these chairs I found a piece of the original green silk and I've tried to match it as close as possible ..while still making them fit todays tastes..

I had to strip the upholstery right back .
it was worth it !

These victorian sofas make great bedroom chairs 

With all the chairs I find thrown out or discarded in garage sales that I restore, I write what I know of their history.  Where I found them, and the condition I found them in.  If I have a piece of the original fabric I put that and a gift to the future in, a few coins or a silver charm I put all this in a small plastic zip lock bag and staple it to the interior of the chair ..so one day,  the next person to restore the chair will have a little bit of the past to go on and perhaps will continue the story and put his or her contribution in the bag and put it back in the chair for the next one to find ..a living history in furniture...