My hubby and I bought a century-old Victorian home just over 2 years ago. It’s big and quirky and historic and wonderful. (It also has leaky windows, worn floors and until this summer was home to several dozen bats. But I like to accentuate the positive.) As we tackle the projects one by one, it’s such fun to uncover new things. A house that’s twice the combined age of its occupants is bound to have a few tricks up its metaphorical sleeves.
Case in point: this weekend, Jon came up from the basement and said, “Honey, do you want a metal Band-Aid box full of old keys?”
Why, yes. Yes I do want a metal Band-Aid box full of old keys. (The boy sure does know what I like.) Whatever I was doing at the time, it doesn’t matter. I dropped whatever it was and turned all attention to the awesome new (old) keys.
This is particularly exciting, because this is not the first set of keys we’ve found in the basement. I already knew about the old mason jar full of skeleton keys that actually work in our doors. Well, some of them. Some of the keys work on our doors, others go with the box of old doorknobs in the basement. So now I have two sets of old keys…one set of old keys in a metal box, and one set of really old keys in a dusty mason jar.
I feel like a little kid playing with Legos. Dumping them out, sorting, picking my favorites, arranging them in a row and deciding what to do with them.
What does a girl do with so many beautiful keys? I already have some ideas saved from brainstorming what to do with the skeleton keys. I’ll definitely have to slip one or two on my keychain and just pretend that’s how I do. I like this idea of putting them in a frame with a pretty fabric background and no glass. Or this one where the keys are painted white and hung with pretty ribbons among other frames on the wall. I’ve always wanted a skeleton key necklace! Do I leave them rusty and antique, or paint some a fabulous color? Oh, dear! So many ideas. I better go dump them out again.
Do you have any ideas for me? Leave them in the comments!
