One Home Depot trip and approximately 20-some-odd hours of work later, Mom had transformed this:
into this:
But then came The Dilemma. There wasn't room in Mom's kitchen for this piece of furniture she had dreamed of one-day owning without displacing another already placed, filled, and loved antique.
Sure, she could sell it and make a handsome profit, but after all that work (and having always kinda wanted a Hoosier anyway), I really don't think she wanted to part with it.
Sure, she could sell it and make a handsome profit, but after all that work (and having always kinda wanted a Hoosier anyway), I really don't think she wanted to part with it.
Besides.... almost as soon as she spied the thing, and all the time doing all that sanding and painting, Mom kept thinking of this pooooor homeschool mama she knows.
A pooooor homeschool mama whose school supplies were haphazardly (and rather unattractively) piled on a cart in a corner. And stuffed into closets and various other nooks and crannies.
And then Mom had a glorious idea. What if that homeschool mama might be interested in storing that good-as-new-but-better-because-it's-an-antique Hoosier cabinet for her?
And that my friends, is how the Hoosier ended up at my house.
Oh what a day! Supplies started coming out of the woodworks! I found things I didn't know I had! And better than Mary Poppins' carpet bag, our school supplies started lining up in that cabinet with room to spare!
So truly, one man's trash was another man's treasure. And one woman's treasure has been generously loaned to another woman to treasure indefinitely for herself!
Click the picture below to see how we (Mom and I) filled "our" cabinet:
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Do you have any antiques? Are they heirlooms, bought, or found treasures like this one?
12 comments:
That looks great! I know you will
truly enjoy having the cabinet. Isn't it great what a little elbow grease and sandpaper can do! Way to go!!
Wow, that is so awesome! I bet you guys had so much fun filling and organizing together!
Oh my how wonderful! I love it:) I treasure antiques...I grew up in a home full of them and a grandmothers home full of them. Right now my most treasured antique is my grandmother's buffet. It isn't nearly as old as most of the stuff she had, but it was a piece I inherited when none of the siblings wanted it!!
The only antiques I have are jewelry. What a wonderful, modern application for a piece of furniture from a different age.
That's awesome!!
Oh this is totally excellent! I hope you enjoy using it!!! And kudos to Aunt Lisa--it's beautiful!
Ooh, I love it! Have I ever mentioned that I've always wanted a Hoosier cab for my retro kitchen? I hope I find one some day, now that I know they're out there! ;)
That last comment was me, by the way. Forgot to sign out of Philip's account. Oops! :)
WOW - the cabinet looks terrific...and what a super sweet mama you have!! :)
Great looking cabinet and works wonderfully for what you are using it for. However, it's not a true Hoosier Cabinet. you can identify the Hoosiers by the knobs on the cabinet. They have a huge H in the middle. You still have a nice antique cabinet though.
Thanks for the tip, Anonymous, but not necessary. We are aware this cabinet is more likely to be a Sellers, Wilson, or other brand, but for general understanding prefer to use "Hoosier" in the generic sense (much like "Coke" and "Kleenex") as can be see in this article.
Oh, a chance to share MY story! How fun! I have a beautiful oak antique dresser that our tv sits on in our front room. The 3 very roomy drawers hold all sorts of kids stuff ... it started out holding socks, onsies, and diapers in the top drawer, and toys in the other two. It's now moved on to holding crafty stuff in the top drawer, "just get the room cleaned up" toys, puzzles, etc in the other two. This dresser came to me by way of my mother. Being Catholic, and having spent most of her teaching years teaching at a Catholic high school, she has a close acquaintance with the priests there. It seems they needed some housework or something done in the rectory (where they live). They also had 2 of these dressers that were ready to leave the building. Mom agreed to do the work in exchange for one of them (the prettier one) ... she then gave it to me as a gift. I can't tell you how beautiful this dresser is, how it has blessed my life, and how much I appreciate this gift! (I'd love to use it in my bedroom to hold my clothes, but it's too pretty to hide!)
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