When my mother passed away in 2015, we had an entire house full of items to sort, catalogue and turn into keepsake memories. A whole house. Furniture, knick knacks, bed sheets, kitchen gadgets – every floor packed with items that could be the “our dear mother, we miss her so” things to show future generations.
We ended up with….a robe.
Now, to be honest, there are plenty of unique treasures in our home that remind me of my mom. She collected rocks while traveling, a bathroom with multicolored and vibrant towels, a shaker she mixed cinnamon and sugar for toast. But the thing that represented my mom, to my sister and I, was a particular robe.
Terry cloth and featuring a very distinct image. A couple in bathing suits with some interesting color bars. Nothing fancy. No silk or gold thread. Just a good robe that spent time in her house, her RV, her lake cabin and on her travels.
My wife and I decided that we should do something with the robe. It had seen better days, so we didn’t think it would be right for charity. We certainly didn’t want to throw it out and it definitely wasn’t meant to hang in a closet until future generations tossed it.
So we came up with a plan…let’s frame it!
And that’s just what we did. We brought it into a local framer who suggested we have the edges surged before framing and then picked a white washed wooden frame.
The original now hangs in my sister’s bathroom above the tub. It’s rather large (I mean, it was the backside of a robe!) and it looks great. We also made a canvas version from a high definition scan we made. That hangs in our bathroom, on a purple wall that my mother painted years ago.
It’s a great way to remember her and a heck of a conversation piece!
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