Homes are intensely personal spaces that expose our most intimate facets – color schemes can show our temperaments, decor reveals our taste, organization methods unveil our varying neuroses, our junk drawers display the parts of ourselves we would rather keep hidden.
As much as we follow the latest decor trends or fill our homes with Ikea furniture or the latest West Elm pieces, it will always be those few prized possessions that make the house a home.
Such items rarely come from a catalog – or at least not one from this century. The treasures that mean the most to us aren’t purchased new at all, but are instead vintage pieces imbued with decades of character and meaning that are unique to us and our families. These are the pieces an outsider may look at and think, “Oh, neat,” but communicate warmth, familiarity and historical significance to their owners. They may or may not be worth a lot of money, but they are certainly priceless.
Meaningful musical memories
Longtime Los Altos resident Vicki Reeder’s prized possession is the Krakauer Brothers baby grand piano in her living room. While the piano has only been in Reeder’s home for a year or so after she inherited it from her late uncle, the instrument inspires some of her earliest memories.The piano once belonged to her grandfather, James McEllin Reilly, who bought it in Seattle in 1937, though the circumstances surrounding its purchase are a bit hazy. Reilly, who was very poor at the time, worked on and off as a bandleader in addition to other work he did to make ends meet, but he was never considered a professional musician by trade.
“He was known for making rash purchases, and I’m not sure his children always had shoes,” Reeder laughed. “They probably did have shoes, but I think things were rough and he did make some inappropriate decisions, and that piano may have been one of them.”
Reeder was first introduced to the piano when she would visit her grandparents’ house but became closer to it when her grandfather moved into her family home after his wife died.
“We loved sitting around here while he played the piano – that seemed to be his way of relating to his kids and grandkids,” she recalled.
One of her household duties growing up was to dust the piano, but Reeder often would get distracted by what was inside the piano bench.
“I was taking band in school, so I could read music enough that I could play the melody line and plunk out songs on the keys,” she said. “The Rodgers and Hart music is what really caught my ear. I’ve always loved the song ‘Manhattan’ — it always makes me think of him.”
In the mid-50s, Grandpa Reilly and the piano moved down to her uncle Dean Reilly’s apartment in San Francisco, where it would remain until her uncle’s death last year. The piano sat comfortably among a stack of music paraphernalia Dean held onto as a career music collector. When not covered in records, the piano bench was the only place to sit in his living room for nearly 50 years.
Dean left the piano to Reeder both because she had always expressed appreciation and sentimentality for it and because she and her family have the space for it in their home. It currently sits in the corner of their living room and serves as a daily reminder of her family history.
“When you’re a child, you don’t really appreciate the grown-ups in your life. They’re just there. Not only was my grandfather this talented, brilliant man and musician, but his wife, my grandmother, had a sister who was this really excellent artist,” Reeder said. “And I feel like somehow these genetics have benefited me, and I don’t think we realize that they’re kind of a gift that you get from your ancestors.”
Reeder’s family history and heritage are evident her life – she is the first in her family to graduate from college. She earned a degree in fine art, an education she now uses as president of the Los Altos Stage Company Board of Directors and a producer, director and writer of the long-running “Follies” fundraiser. She is also a trained singer, continuing the musical legacy in her family.
Having the piano in her home reminds her of her family history and the people who made her who she is, and how that history fits into her life now.
A vintage Victrola accompanies the baby grand piano in Reeder’s living room, an heirloom passed down by husband David’s family. Also acquired in the 1930s by his grandparents, he too associates the Victrola with good times with his family and a rich history of music appreciation.
Together, the two vintage musical items tell stories of decades past, but in their current context, they tell the story of two families coming together and making one.
