hope chest

I’ve been fortunate to have been given a beloved hope chest and dining room pieces used by my great-grandparents, and I love them more every year.

My mother was thrilled and began filling a series of plastic bins with cookware and china as a sort of modern-day hope chest.

The dowry was replaced with a marriage chest, also known as a trousseau or hope chest.

When I was a teenager and Seventeen magazine still came in the mail, I used to marvel at the ads for hope chests.

Mom stored Ivy’s great-grandmother’s hope chest up here in the attic, which became Ivy’s room a few months ago so the twins could have their own space.