Let's face it: few of us want to live in a museum. Fewer still could afford to. Most of us want to live with our antiques and that means they have to have some purpose for us.

91-1/2 inches long, 30-1/4 inches tall, and 21-1/2 inches wide, this four-section pine grain bin was built on a farm here in Massachusetts in the late 19th or very early 20th century. The boards were machine-milled, and the nails are not the old rose-headed nails in use earlier. On the farm it was intended to be used to store feed grains, and it's safe to say that for the first fifty or sixty or seventy years, until it was moved to a more genteel setting, that's just what it did. The wear on that old red wash surface bears testimony to its use.

In the 1950s, the bin was purchased from a local farmer by cityfolks who had just bought the neighboring place. It was the lady of the house who then directed her husband to remove the two center lids and build two copper-lined trays to set in their place so they would have a spot in the back shed to leave their muddy boots to dry, and once dry to store them out of sight.

Some thirty years later, when the daughter of the folks who bought it took over the property, she moved the bin from the shed into the house and used those copper-lined boxes to display flowers. It worked well for that, too, so you see, even an object with humble beginnings a hundred or more years ago, in the hands of a thoughtful and imaginative new owner can find a new use-- both decorative and utilitarian.

Let's see, maybe in your family room, or in the garden room, or...
 

This piece will be offered at the Literacy League's 3rd Annual Antiques Show & Sale at Governors Hall, Sailwinds Park, Cambridge, MD, April 18, 19, and 20, 2008, by Charles Gardiner, Antiques ~ Ashburnham, MA.
www.CharlesGardinerAntiques.com