The Story Behind my Straw Hats

I have been decorating our home with these Straw Hats for over a decade now. If you have been following this blog for a while, then you may already know the story behind these straw hats but it you are new or missed any of my mentions about them then read along to hear more.

As I tell you the story, I’m going to share some of the pictures I have taken in our home with these straw hats, and can I just say, There’s a lot! I’ll be sharing about 16 pictures today, but there are still plenty more pictures of these hats on this blog, because Like I said, I’ve been decorating with them for over a decade now. I’ll add a link to the original blog post under each picture just in case you want to see more of any of them.

I started this blog in 2010. In 2011 my Grandma Nora passed away. These hats belonged to her. Well most of them at least, I think I’ve added 2 or 3 straw hats to the collection since, but otherwise they were all worn and loved by her. Here is a picture of my grandma Nora wearing one of the straw hats while sitting on my dads leg, who’s sitting on a bucket. She is also wearing jeans, a flannel shirt, and has an apple in her hand. I adore this picture! This picture is the picture I will always have in my mind of my Grandma Nora. 💙

My Grandma Nora passed away at the age of 99, and Just a month shy of her 100th birthday. I remember visiting my grandma Nora about a year previous, and she had asked me to walk around her home and tell her if there was anything I wanted. I remember wanting lots, but just didn’t feel right telling her so, but I did mention to her that I would love to have her straw hats.

Grandma Nora was a farm girl! You could always find her out in her garden or feeding the chickens and she always wore a straw hat to keep the sun out of her eyes. So I knew by asking for the straw hats that I’d be able to hold on to this image of her in my home after she’d passed.

Here it is 12 years later, and I am so thankful to have these straw hats on display in our home. They are really special to me. So the reason why I am writing this post, or the reason I felt inspired to, is because Grandma Nora has been on my mind lately. I don’t get on Facebook very often anymore, but I had seen that my mom had posted on our Family page and so I got on to check it out. Below is the picture that my mom had posted as she noted that my uncle is going to sell Grandma Nora’s home after it’s been rented out all of these years. My mom just wanted to give the family a heads up just in case anyone was interested. We are in no desire to move or to move to anywhere but the coast for that matter, but these image taken on her property made me tear up a bit. So many wonderful memories of growing up and playing at Grandma Noras with cousins.

Looking at these pictures of her property brings the image of my grandma Nora to me, in her garden and wearing a straw hat.

This next picture makes me smile. This picture was taken years ago in our old home but this would have been soon after I brought the hats home with me after the funeral. I hung them above my bed from an old piece of wood.

It makes me smile because I realize how much I love these hats and that to this day, I still want to have them hanging up in our home.

There was a time I felt pretty guilty about taking ALL of grandma Nora’s hats. Perhaps someone else in the family would have wanted one as a memory too. But no one has ever said anything to me, so I hope there was never any hard feelings. I do cherish these hats and feel blessed to have them.

Look at this next picture, see how worn these hats are? My grandma was so humble. She didn’t believe in shopping or buying anything new, she used everything she had and made due. I think some of these hats were even my Grandpas. He too always wore a straw hat. After he passed, I think Grandma Nora just kept wearing his out. If you look closely, you will see that there is a shoelace tied around the hat with safety pins holding it on.

I’m guessing these two hats here were probably her favorites, so they are also my favorites.

To decorate with these hats, I either hang them up in our entry way or stack them on top of each other on a shelf. I always love how much texture and interest they bring to a space.

The straw hats also make me think of Wicker. You know I love Wicker. In fact, I bet I could call these Wicker Hats. Wicker really just means Woven and these hats are woven just like wicker.

These hats also make me think of Summer. I think they fit in great with my Beach-House style, but they also bring a cottage farmhouse vibe too. These hats definitely have a Vibe don’t they?

I thought this next picture was a fun look. I hung the hats on top of our bookshelves. It reminded me of India Hicks’ Home. If you are familiar, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

And here is how I currently have the hats displayed, on the two walls by our front door in our entryway.

They just make for really pretty art pieces. If you have any straw hats, try hanging them up on the wall. You may find you really love the look too.

Here I have the hats hanging up along with a couple of straw bags for an even more coastal beach house look, especially next to the tropical curtains and small palm fronds mixed in. This look is still up in our home right now. I don’t know that I’ll change it anytime soon because I really like it.

So that is the story behind my straw hats. They belonged to my beloved Grandma Nora, (and grandpa too) and they make me think of her and her humble, loving, sweet self. I also love to display the hats in our home because I think they look and feel like summer.

Do you have anything in your home that has a special meaning to it? I think we all do, Right?

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Thanks for stopping by today,

Emily