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I love my navy and white Staffordshire dogs. They tell part of our story! People often wonder what it means to have a home that tells a story. Do walls talk? Do decorative objects tell stories? In a way they do. While an old home might have many stories to tell of the families who lived there before you, whether your home is old or new, or has had many owners or only you, what matters most is that when you walk in your door, the things in it tell YOUR story (and the stories you want it to tell!).
Can you tell a story about any of the items in your home? The more stories you can tell, the more meaningful your home can be. A home with unique vintage pieces, one that features any well-loved collections or items gathered over time will always feel so much more meaningful, warmer and cozier to me than a home where everything is bare, or new. Not everything in a home will inevitably tell a story, but why not make it a priority that more of your things be meaningful and special?
Your personal collections help tell your stories. What you decorate with can infuse more depth and meaning to your surroundings as well as add to the personality to your home.
You don’t have to have a lot of stuff, a big budget, degrees, qualifications or special skill to be a collector of meaningful items. Sure, there might be some patience involved, or tips and tricks to learn. Design experimentation will help you love what you have and pull it all together, but any home filled with meaningful pieces will always be far more beautiful to me than one that is perfectly curated with meaningless decorative objects.
I’ve shared many pieces in our home that tell a story and that are meaningful to us. We collect original artwork we find on life’s adventures, and have been handed down some special things we love, too, like our brass dinner bells we had in our last kitchen! It really doesn’t matter what you collect, whether they all match or go together, or even if they have any value to anyone but you.
Create a home that tells fun stories so when you are in your home you feel surrounded by love and wonderful memories.
It’s been a long time since I’ve mentioned our Staffordshire dogs, but someone asked about them the other day so I thought you might enjoy seeing them again and hearing more about them!
These Staffordshire dogs have been with us most of our married life! My mom found our blue and white Staffordshire dogs second hand many years ago for her home and then passed them onto me at some point. Lucky me, because I have adored them ever since. I’ve carried this precious pair from house to house, packing them up every time we move. I can picture right where they sat in every single home we’ve lived in! They tell wonderful stories and fill us with happy memories because they’ve been with us through many transitions, homes and seasons of life.
Since someone asked me about these beautiful Staffordshire dogs, I looked them up. Oh boy! I hope I never break them. With how many homes they’ve been moved to, that’s a miracle! Knock on wood, they’ll stay with me for many more years. The vintage ones like I have are not easy to find and seem to cost a pretty penny these days, too.
My Staffordshire dogs seem to be the real deal. Now that I know that I’ll probably accidentally knock them over. SIGH. Let’s not even consider that as a possibility, but even if the worst happened, it would still have been worth it to me to have kept them and had them a part of our lives all these years.
You can read about Staffordshire dogs, their history and how to identify them here.
Make the hunt for things you love be part of their story. Maybe you don’t have any special hand-me-downs or things that tell a story, but you can begin that tradition now! Whether you have vintage originals or adorable dupes, any items you fall in love with can be a charming addition to your home decor and will become a part of your story.
When you travel or head out on a lazy weekend with coffee in hand to wander second hand shops, see what catches your eye or speaks to your heart. If these Staffordshire dogs speak to you (perhaps you have a love of quirky animals like I do), go scour local shops, Etsy, Ebay, Facebook marketplace, your mother’s attic and see what you find. Even if it takes years of digging to find them, oh the stories you can tell about how they came to live with you.
I’ll share a few below in the scrolling bar that might help you as you start your search—some look authentic but I can’t make any claims since I have no idea! But they have a similar look and all are adorable. 🙂
