Tag: 1950’s

A Play Cupboard

I’ve mentioned before my father was a carpenter by trade. In addition to his work projects he built a lot of miscellaneous items including (but not limited to): a wooden camping trailer, a corner cupboard for my mom for their 25th wedding anniversary, a cedar chest, a cradle for my dolls, a canopy frame for my twin bed…(I sure wish I had a picture of that canopy bed. He made it out of wood and it had flair to it.)

Rough sketch of my canopy bed.

He also made a small cupboard for me in the 1950’s, which I played with when I was a little girl, and then acquired it again after many years and basically used it for garden tools and supplies.

The play cupboard from the 1950’s, before the remodel.

Recently I decided it would be fun to clean it up and let my grandchildren play with it. There were two linoleum surfaces with spills, stains and ground-in dirt so I wanted to have the linoleum removed and replaced with vinyl or something fresh and clean. I asked a friend, who is a wonderful woodworker and has a wonderful woodworking shop, if he would fix it.

The old grubby linoleum.

He said yes. He took off the old linoleum and replaced both surfaces with plywood and applied three coats of polyurethane to them… it looks beautiful!

Eldy, the woodworker, and the cupboard.

Next, my husband and I sanded the doors and sides and added a coat of polyurethane so the whole cupboard looks bright and shiny and ready for playtime…

Restored play cupboard.

I know my dad would be thrilled knowing his great-grandchildren will play with the cupboard he made for his daughter so many years ago.

Back to the 50’s

I’ve had a few flashbacks recently, that took me back to the 50’s and 60’s.

First I was in an antique store in northern Minnesota and immediately inside the door was a furniture set like my aunt had in her basement when I was a little girl.

And it’s still in the family, in my aunt’s house. It is a Naugahyde three piece set…a sofa that folded out into a bed, a rocking chair and a stationary chair with a coffee table and two end tables. It has a western theme with a saddle embroidered on the sofa and horse heads on the chairs. The end tables have wagon wheels for the legs. It’s unique, and I’ve never seen it any other place other than my aunt’s basement where we had wonderful family gatherings over the years. My aunt’s set is in pristine condition and it seemed the set in the furniture store was also. Seeing the furniture brought me back to the 50’s.

McKinley Street: our mail dropped into the front closet, my room was the one between the front door and garage door,  you can’t see the brick chimney on the left side of the house.

Next, as we were biking around the city lakes in Minneapolis with our son, daughter-in-love, and granddaughter, we rode through neighborhoods with interesting and unique homes. We passed by one house and the facade was like that of the house my dad built in 1953, the house I grew up in. It had a tuck under garage, the front door leading into the living room with a big picture window, and a brick chimney on the side for the “real” fireplace. The house, like the furniture set, was also a unique design that I haven’t seen often. It was fun to notice it. That glimpse brought me back to my happy, childhood days.

Also on that same ride I noticed a city bus that was flashing the street names for its route. Silver Lake and Johnson Street caught my attention and then I noticed the bus number 4B. I remember waiting for the 4B many, many times.  The bus traveled on Johnson Street and Silver Lake Road to service northeast Minneapolis where I grew up. It was interesting that I noticed the bus and how it brought back good memories.

I recently attended a session on prompting memories so I wonder if I’m more in tune to noticing things from days gone by?