Great-Nana's House

I had a very surprising Easter with mum and dad - we drove to Victoria to visit our family. No no that's not the surprising part!! ....on the way I begged (it’s true) to stop in at Stawell, a little country town where my mum was born and raised, so I could take some photos of mum’s childhood stomping ground. We weren't in a rush so we did exactly that!
Our last stop was my Great-Nana's place, which was once a beautiful tiny house, brimming with jars of lollies (my only memory of her), vintage ceramic statues, multiple sets of canisters, too many pouffy lounge chairs, different rugs or lyno in each room and waaaay too much furniture for the amount of space. We soon realised that the house was sadly now a derelict shamble of smashed windows, where tall dried out wheaty weeds now surrounded all four exterior walls, and ripped curtains whipped in the wind outside the house.

We were sure no-one lived there anymore, so mum told me I could go inside and take a look. Since my Great-Nana passed away 18 years ago an elderly man rented the little house furnished (all bric-a-brac included). My heart jumped, I think I may even have squealed and clapped excitedly at the prospect of being explained where my Great-Nana's furniture used to be, where and what meals she once cooked and what she was like as a grandma etc. I never tire of hearing my parents childhood stories.Well…. we never expected furniture to still remain in the house, nor did we expect to find letters from 1959, or her crockery still in the kitchen cabinet (!), and we especially didn't imagine the most wonderful collection of 1950s-60’s pictures in frames piled up against the wall of the ‘spare room’... can you imagine it. Our eyes must have boggled at the sight before us in each and every room.Squatters had lived there for quite some time, so most of the crockery was chipped; so many sets of teacups were smashed into millions of little pieces. But to our amazement - among all the broken bits were lots of un-chipped, un-smashed but incredibly dusty bits and pieces which once belonged to my Great-Nana! Sadly none of her furniture would fit in the car – we tried. We really did.
Just look at her old stereo cabinet... *sigh*I am upset that her belongings weren't cared for properly all those years ago. I really feel quite ill knowing that random people have rummaged through her belongings and even spray painted disgusting words all over her once beautiful mint green lounge room walls. Among the sadness of what could have been and what has been lost..... is the fortunate fact that we stopped by there this past weekend not knowing that my uncle has planned for the house and all of it's contents to be bulldozed within the next 2 months. Yes. That is extra super lucky don't you think? Mum remembers that little green and red stool above from when she was a little girl. We have so many beautiful memories of her now (a whole dining-room table piled high to be exact), all which would have been lost if I didn't have this sudden desire to take photos of where mum was born and raised. I believe that sometimes things happen for a reason. This was one of those moments.

Look there. That is just one of many boxes of Great-Nana's beloved items which are now sitting on my dining table waiting for a scrub!!!! I cannot wait to give each and every item the TLC it deserves. More photos soon x

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I know these items were not thrifted but they have been found and will now be loved so am popping them into Sophie's Flea Market Finds meme. It's bending the rules a smidge ey :)