Finding really old newspapers in the attic of a former house was pretty interesting. Nothing too exciting in this house, built in the late 80's, although we did uncover a message from the GC to his framer when we removed the tub to reno our guest bath. (My apologies for the language!)

Oh what a great idea!! Pictures of your family, a favorite recipe, your pets (their pics, not the actual pets!), a few different local and national newspapers from the day you close it in, a couple of current kitchen design mags.

I'd recommend printing out your key pictures, not just putting them on a thumb drive. Who knows what technology will be around when the time capsule is discovered years and years from now. Imagine finding a 25 or 40-year old time capsule today and trying to find a reel projector or slide projector to see them with.

Good luck with the project, it sounds like fun!

I posted about this a few years back...I googled and found the post. I just love this idea, and we have already been talking about what we will include Erin a time capsule here in our reno. I'm also excited to see what, if anything, we find when we take apart our current set-up.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen time capsule

We did a facelift in our kitchen 6 years ago now. It was when I first found this forum. We removed bulkheads, put up crown, rearranged some cabinets, got new counters and flooring. Behind one of the cabinets I included a letter and pictures of the original 1990 kitchen. Hopefully someone will find these and enjoy them.

It could be me though. I was the one that said the h*** with priming these walls before papering. Let the next sucker deal with it! That next sucker was me! : (

We put a small box behind the kitchen wall with photos, a letter, and some stuff thatmay or may not still exist in however many years....an old cell phone, VHS tape, an old mp3 player, and a paperback book, some coins, and even our email addresses in case it gets discovered while we, and the net, are still around. We had fun putting it together.

Oh cool idea! I may have to slide something in behind my lower cabs before I tile the backsplash.

That's great. We found some old newspaper when we demo'd our old cabinets. They weren't there as a time capsule -- they were stuffed in a crack to block a draft, but still interesting to see...apparently East and West Germany were discussing sending a joint delegation to the 1956ish (don't remember the exact year) Winter Olympics.

We wrote a nice note to the future on a lead-painted wall that we covered with 1/4" sheetrock: "Sorry we didn't demo all that lead paint - it's expensive!". We also put some newspapers and magazines in a blind corner before we sealed it up. We have stainless countertops, and removing them will be a pretty significant undertaking, so I'm guessing it won't happen until the kitchen is really out of date...at least a couple of decades before anyone finds our time capsule.

I agree with the other advice above that printed photos will be much easier for people in the future to enjoy than thumb drives.

Any printed material should probably be put in a metal box or possibly a good quality plastic file box. Otherwise, something like mice might gnaw their way in and chew it up for nesting material. It could also protect your capsule from water damage in case of plumbing issues.

We have access to our blind corner but there is a couple of inch filler space behind and on one side to prevent doors and handles interfering in the corner. I thought about making a hidden compartment where one could access part of that space through the wall of the drawer cabinet next to it - something that one could get to by taking out some of the drawers.

I really like all the suggestions and stories. I want something that represents this kitchen forum, too. Any ideas on what that could be?

It still seems to me that putting information on a thumb drive is a good thing. Paper is good, too. The space is about 2 feet by 2 feet. So I have a lot of room. Maybe I'll put some white elephant gifts in there. There must be something in my attic that would qualify.

How about printouts of the different threads where you asked GW advice ... like this thread, your layout thread, and all the other ones you may have. Would be interesting for the new people to read why on earth 'they' decided to do xyz.

I found a box for VHS porno with a used condom inside it in a plumbing access panel in a house built in the '20s. It was probably more recent. Cool time capsule--not.

How about printouts of the different threads where you asked GW advice ... like this thread, your layout thread, and all the other ones you may have. Would be interesting for the new people to read why on earth 'they' decided to do xyz.

Oooh, that is such a great idea.

I'd def pass on the porno and used condom though! Lol fori, and eeeeeeewwwww, grosssss!

We put a small box behind the kitchen wall with photos, a letter, and some stuff thatmay or may not still exist in however many years....an old cell phone, VHS tape, an old mp3 player, and a paperback book, some coins, and even our email addresses in case it gets discovered while we, and the net, are still around. We had fun putting it together.

About 7-8 years after we moved here, the original owner from 1977 dropped by. She was great. She gave me color photocopies of her polaroids of the house as it was in her time. I could tell she was legit and we did a walk through of the house and she told me why she chose what she did when she bought the house.

It was so much fun!

So along that line, I would suggest a plastic air-tight tub for whatever you put in there. And I would do a notebook with before photos of the kitchen and any other older ones of the rest of the house too. I'd write a journal or print out some of thee GW threads and I would even put a copy of the expenses in remodeling the kitchen. If it's there enough years, that would be fun to see.

I don't think plastic is a good idea unless it is archival. It off-gasses. Paper is often better than anything digital. I scanned a million photos in 2000 that I saved on a ZIP drive. On a PC. Not helpful. I did put all the .TIFF files onto the Macs I have used ever since, but they were all byte-swapped. Not helpful.

There is such a thing as "benign neglect" for paper, for digital it is just the opposite unless you "migrate" the data over and over and over.

I think the notebook is a great idea! It gives it all personality.

bean, would-be archivist (I have the MLS but not a job, or I WOULD be an archivist!)

I think you all make good points about paper versus my little zip drive. I will do some paper but I am also doing a zip drive because it is the way of today, at least today.

I will use a big storage box. I already picked out a few of my favorite GW threads. I picked Karin's Super White thread, Beekeepers saran wrap the counters, my Why do we need bigger kitchens today.

Still, I don't think those threads begin to touch the wealth of information available on this forum. It is just amazing how active this forum is and how much good information there is.