Sunday, February 19, 2012

Tobacco Basket

I'm aware that not all of my readers are Southern, bless your yankee hearts.  ;)  Kidding.  You know I love y'all.  So first, a quick Vocabulary Lesson.

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Tobacco Basket-   once the tobacco leaves were dried out, they were bunched and bound together then loaded onto a tobacco basket so that they could be displayed and sold at the market

Pack House-  a barn where the tobacco leaves were hung to dry

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About two months ago, I came into possession of an antique tobacco basket.  This particular tobacco basket came out of my great grandmother's pack house.  They had a lot of tobacco baskets, but there is a really good chance that my grandma, my great aunts, and even my dad have used my tobacco basket.  It even has the name of our town spray painted onto the side.   


How beautiful is she?!  

You might think that tobacco baskets are boys...but they're actually girls.  :)  Or at least this one is.  Because she is gorgeous.  

My great aunt and uncle found this in December and gave it to me, knowing my love for all things vintage and historical.  I have a particularly strong love affair with anything considered a family heirloom or sentimental.  I jumped up and down with excitement when I first saw this tobacco basket.  It is old.  It is quirky.  It is not a typical home decoration.  It is big and chunky.  It is heavy.  It's magnificent.  It represents how far my family has come - from shuckin' tobacco to owning a factory.  After almost two months exactly, I finally found a place for the basket.  I've moved it all around.  It's hung on one wall, leaned against two, and finally...


I hung her up yesterday!  She's hanging in the kitchen, which I love because I get to look at her all the time.


When we moved into this house, the house I grew up in, it was still full of stuff.  All of the walls have nails and hooks and hangers already...the tricky part is finding the right hanger for your project.  I finally found TWO heavy duty hooks that were already in the walls!  They were hiding behind a picture of us that my parents put on the wall while we were on our honeymoon, so we didn't know that what the picture was hung on.  The two heavy duty hooks are perfect for a tobacco basket, which is quite heavy.

Another thing...when I lived here with my parents, they never used their front door.  We always came inside through the mudroom because the garage is connected to it.  They always had their friends come up that way, too.  When Mr. Robinson and I moved in, we decided to put the pretty front door & foyer space to good use.  People rarely come over at all, but when they do we condition them to use the front door.  Sometimes, people still come up to the side door and enter through the mudroom - which I always hated.  BUT... now I won't be hating it as much because when they walk through the door, this is what they'll see: 
  


So, that's how I added a little bit of flair to our home this weekend.  What's your idea of a good, unique way to decorate your home or let your sense of style shine through?  

Thanks for reading! 
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8 comments:

Chrissy Thomas said...

That is really cool! I love that you live in the house you grew up in. We live in my grandmothers house and of course when we moved in it was to help take care of her so a lifetime full of her things that I inherited by being the one to take care of her and remain in the house after she passed.

Meg @ Mr.C and Me said...

love it! so cool and what a fun story to go along with it. p.s. great new blog layout :)

Brooke @ Silver Lining said...

Fun! Tobacco baskets are always a great decorating choice.

♥ ♥ Just a Girl in Love w/ a Soldier ♥ ♥ said...

This is cute, I've never seem these kind of baskets before or even heard of them.

Truly His said...

Just found your blog and think that is such a neat idea! I have never seen or heard of them before! Wow, interesting! Thanks for the new idea!! Hope you visit my blog as well. :)

lo @ crazy ever after said...

The basket is super cool. This Yankee learned something. And I love the floors in the kitchen.

Unknown said...

Love your tobacco basket. I just recently acquired one and don't know how to hang it without damaging it. How did you hang your basket? Suggestions appreciated. Thanks, Marsha433@gmail.com

Unknown said...

I'd love to hear how you hung your basket! :)