Here is a chance to maybe see one of your ideas in print. I am looking for ideas as to items that one might find in the home of the wife of a seafaring merchant or pirate.
Descriptions such items are welcome too, if you like.

I kind of went on a big rant, so I edited myself out of this topic.

Kind of missed the point I guess. Oops

Well, he's gone a lot.. :lol:

If you want to go romantic with it, drawings/paintings of the husband, items left in the wife's keeping (pocket watch, favorite bandana,...), a farewell letter (we're assuming the merchant/pirate isn't at home, right?). This might also affect the look of the house...it could either be A) more rundown because no big strong man is around to fix stuff, or B) in fine repair showing that a sea captain's wife is no frail thing and can take care of it on her own.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply Tindell.
The husband has been away a _very_ long time. So I like the idea: " items left in the wife's keeping (pocket watch, favorite bandana,...), a farewell letter." That's a great idea-- I think I will make a box of keepsakes with those items in it.

The husband has been away for many years, so I'm going with a well kept house, that is sprinkled with hints of better times, richer times.

Mementos are personal not standard.

Imho, it could be anything from a stone gathered on a beach many years ago to a favorite piece of cloth.

Another man..

*laugh*

1. Another man/woman, lover of that wife. Not an item, I know.
2. A child, either the seafearer's or the aforementioned lover's. Not an item, I know.
3. A crib left empty, since they were constructing it and were planning to have a child. The man couldn't have children and left to the sea with a true intention of never to return. There is a hidden stash of valuables he scrambled up to leave his wife with a good life, the key (physical or metaphorically) could be under/in it. That's an item (or many. I know :D )!

reading Moby dick ... wish I could <exa>
On one side stood a long, low, shelf-like table covered with cracked glass cases, filled with dusty rarities gathered from this wide world's remotest nooks.

a faded picture of the Virgin Mary, Stella Maris,Our Lady, Star of the Sea, guide and protector of seafarers

knitting needles and heavy wood yarn, a half-finished mariners sweater for the husband

misshapen tallow candles in carefully-polished but dented pewter holders

a heavy wooden chest, warped from age and countless trips to far-off lands sits in a shadowy corner. In faded white paint on the lid, in painstaking script, reads (John Seafarer). Though free from dust and cobwebs - (Mrs Seafarer) keeps the house spotlessly clean - the chest hasn't been opened in years. Sleeping undisturbed within the chest is a collection of curious fish-hooks, a rusty marlinspike, bits of stale tobacco, ill-fitting oilskins, and a threadbare sailcloth sack.