Somewhere in many families there is a wooden box at the foot of a grandmother's bed, still smelling faintly of cedar and holding a christening gown, a stack of quilts and a bundle of letters. Ask what is a hope chest and most people describe exactly that: a sturdy lidded chest where a young person gathered linens and household goods for a future home, and which later became the family's keeper of things too precious for a closet.
The tradition has changed shape over the years, but the piece itself has barely changed at all. It is still a simple box with a hinged lid, and a good one is still built to outlast the people who first fill it. Below you will find where the custom came from, how a hope chest relates to a blanket chest, the ways people use one now, and what to look for if you want a chest that your grandchildren will argue over.
The Tradition Started With a Dowry and a Long Wait
For centuries, a young woman in many parts of Europe and early America spent her girlhood preparing for marriage by sewing, embroidering and collecting the things a new household would need: bed linens, towels, tablecloths, quilts, sometimes a little silver or a family Bible. All of it needed somewhere safe to live, often for years. The answer was a dedicated chest, called a dower chest, dowry chest, or in later American usage a hope chest, after the hopes it held for the life ahead. In Britain the same idea was called the bottom drawer, and in Australia a glory box.
These chests were often the most decorated piece of furniture a family owned. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds a Pennsylvania German dower chest from 1786, made of poplar in Lebanon County with painted panels and applied balusters. The museum compares it with a 1742 chest from Franken, Germany, decorated the same way, which points to where the ornament came from. It measures about 27 inches tall and 50 inches long, very close to the size of a blanket chest made today.
In the twentieth century the hope chest became a common gift for a girl's teenage years or a high school graduation, and cedar-lined versions became especially popular. The custom faded as marriage customs changed, but the chests stayed in use and picked up new jobs.
Hope Chest, Blanket Chest and Cedar Chest Are Close Cousins
You will see these three names used almost interchangeably, and in construction they are nearly the same piece: a rectangular case with a hinged top, usually at a height you can sit on. The difference is mostly in purpose and tradition.
A hope chest is defined by what goes in it and why. It is gathered for a future, given as a gift, or passed down with its contents. A blanket chest is defined by function: it stores bedding, usually at the foot of the bed, and may include one or two drawers in the base for smaller items. A cedar hope chest is either built from aromatic cedar or, more often, made of a show wood like oak or cherry with a cedar lining inside.
So any well-made blanket chest can become a hope chest the moment someone decides to fill it with meaning. That is why the pieces in our blanket chest collection serve both roles equally well.
Modern Uses for a Hope Chest Go Well Beyond Linens
Most people who buy a chest today want it to work hard in a room every day, and the form is flexible enough to do that.
At the foot of the bed, it holds spare blankets, extra pillows and seasonal bedding, and gives you a place to sit while you put on shoes. It also visually finishes a bed, especially one with a low footboard. Our guide to Arts and Crafts bedroom design ideas shows how a chest anchors the end of a Mission bed without adding visual weight.
In a living room, a chest makes a sturdy coffee table with hidden storage for throws and board games. Under a window, it becomes a seat. In an entry or hallway, it catches hats, gloves and the dog's leash. And in a child's or teen's room, it can still serve the original purpose: a place to collect keepsakes, school artwork, a first quilt, the things that will matter later.
For keepsakes, wrap textiles in clean, undyed cotton or acid-free tissue rather than plastic, and keep photographs and papers in archival boxes inside the chest instead of loose. Wash or clean woolens before storing them, and refold quilts now and then so the same creases are not pressed in for years. A short handwritten note tucked in with each heirloom, saying whose it was and when it was used, will mean a great deal to whoever opens the lid next. The University of Maryland Extension notes that clean, properly stored woolens are not attractive to fabric pests, and that cedar chests, blocks or closets also provide protection. Clean storage does most of the work, and cedar adds a layer on top of it.
Planning a bedroom around a new chest is easier with someone who has measured a lot of them. At The Mission Motif's 747 Miami Circle NE showroom you can lay real wood and stain samples side by side against a photo of your bed, or phone 404-370-1505 to work through length, height and finish from home. Help from our design team is free either way.
Lid Safety Comes First With Any Chest
A heavy lid and an enclosed box need a few precautions, especially in a home with children or grandchildren who like to hide. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has warned that lids on storage chests and trunks can latch shut automatically and trap children inside, and that the risk includes cedar chests, hope chests and blanket chests, many of which are passed down or resold.
The agency's advice is practical. If an older chest has an automatic latch, disable or remove the lock, and check with the manufacturer about replacement hardware. If the lid support does not hold the lid open in any position, replace it with a spring-loaded support that does. Never buy or sell a recalled chest that has not been repaired.
When you shop for a new chest, open and close the lid several times. It should stay where you leave it partway open, lower slowly rather than slam, and close without any self-locking catch. A lid that drops on its own is a pinched-finger problem waiting to happen even for adults. If you are inheriting a family chest, those same checks are worth doing before you put it in a grandchild's room.
What Makes a Chest Last for Generations
A hope chest is meant to be inherited, so construction matters more here than with almost any other piece. A few details separate an heirloom from a box that will rack and split.
Solid hardwood throughout. The case, lid and base should be solid wood, not a veneer over particleboard that swells at the first spill. Solid wood can be refinished decades from now; particleboard cannot.
Real joinery at the corners. Look for dovetailed or mortise-and-tenon corners, or a frame-and-panel case where the panels can expand and contract inside their frames. That last point matters in a humid Atlanta summer, when a wide solid lid can move noticeably across its width. A good maker allows for that movement instead of fighting it.
A lid built to stay flat. Wide lids are prone to cupping. Breadboard ends, battens underneath or a frame-and-panel top all help the lid stay flat and close evenly for years.
Finally, check the hinges. A full-length piano hinge or heavy, well-set butt hinges spread the weight of the lid; small hinges with short screws tend to pull out of the wood over time.
Choosing the Right Wood for Your Chest
The wood you pick sets the character of the chest for its whole life. Quartersawn white oak, with its flecked grain so closely tied to the Mission look, is also very stable, which helps a wide lid stay true. Cherry starts pale and deepens to a rich red-brown over the years, so it is a lovely choice for a piece meant to age with a family. Maple is dense, smooth and takes stain evenly, and red oak has a bolder, more open grain. Our article on wood species for furniture explains how each one looks and wears.
Two Amish-made chests in our collection show the range. The Versailles Blanket Chest and the Bordeaux Blanket Chest are both handcrafted from solid hardwood in brown maple, red oak, cherry or quartersawn white oak and finished in the stain you choose, and like our other custom pieces they typically ship in 8 to 12 weeks. If neither is quite right, we can also have a custom blanket chest built to suit your needs, and it is worth asking about a cedar lining at the same time.
For a bedroom that already has a bed, dresser and nightstands, a chest is often the piece that makes the room feel complete. Our list of essential furniture pieces for any adult bedroom covers how it fits with the rest.
Pick the Chest Your Family Will Keep
A hope chest began as a place to store a future and has become a place to store a family's past. Choose one in solid hardwood with honest joinery and a lid that stays where you put it, and it will keep doing both jobs for a very long time.
When the time comes to pick a wood, a stain and a size, we would be glad to help you choose a chest that fits your home and your family's story. You will find us in Buckhead on Miami Circle from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon, Tuesday to Saturday, or you can ring 404-370-1505 and talk it over with someone who knows these pieces well.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is traditionally put in a hope chest?
Traditionally, a hope chest held household linens, quilts, embroidered pieces, tableware and other items a young woman would need when she set up her own home. Today people also store family keepsakes, such as baby clothes, letters, photographs and heirloom textiles. Some families add one meaningful item each year as a child grows.
Is a blanket chest the same as a hope chest?
They are built almost the same way, as a hinged-lid box at seating height. The name usually reflects the purpose: blanket chests hold bedding, while a hope chest is gathered for the future or passed down with its contents. Any well-made blanket chest can serve as a hope chest.
Does a cedar lining really protect clothes?
Cedar adds some protection, but it works best alongside good storage habits. Clean textiles before you put them away, since soil and body oils are what attract fabric pests, and check stored woolens once or twice a year. A cedar lining that has lost its scent can be refreshed by lightly sanding the surface.
How big should a hope chest be for the foot of a bed?
A chest noticeably narrower than the bed usually looks best, often somewhere between two thirds and three quarters of its width, which for a queen means roughly 40 to 45 inches long. Keep the top at or slightly below the height of the mattress so it does not crowd the bed. Leave enough walkway beside it to move around the room easily.
When is a hope chest usually given?
There is no fixed rule. Families commonly give one for a milestone birthday, a graduation, an engagement or a first home. Some parents buy a chest when a child is small and fill it slowly over the years, which makes the eventual handover more meaningful.