Time for a little cottage get together over at Etsy Cottage Style
I'm not sure if I'm the only one whose kitchen table is usually covered with whatever project the kids are currently working om...especially these days, now that the are grown. When they were little it was cute...now not so much.
It's currently covered with tattoo equipment and parts to a game controller...
No, the two don't go together. 2 boys, two different interests.....
So needless to say ~ tables capes don't happen in this home :(
For that reason I will be sharing one of my fave pieces of furniture with a few of my Mom's dishes displayed on it.
Even when I was little, I always had my eye on a corner hutch we had. I thought is was so neat, maybe because of the shape, as I had never seen one like it before. Both my Mom's and my Aunts and Uncles up at the Ranch had built in hutches. I never thought about where it came from (we always had a little but of everything, Dad didn't toss anything away and people were always giving him stuff they no longer wanted or he would bring home things from the junk pile at work. Hmm sound familiar?
Anyway Dad kept some of his tools in it. Didn't really pay attention to what type for tools, I was just interested in this wonderment ~ the corner hutch. Every time I would feed the Ducks I would stand there and just stare at it. It's home was outside under the chicken house roof that extended beyond the building it self.
Years passed.
The time came to clean out our farm.
The first thing I thought of was that hutch. That hutch that was out in the weather, the one full of tools! By now I was much, much, much a little older and couldn't imagine how he could have left that beautiful (in my eyes) hutch out in the weather to be ruined! Much less store tools in it!!
I headed down the lane to the old Duck pen and there it was. leaning against one of our 3 chicken houses in the same place it had always been. I took out all the tools and pulled it away from the building.
It could still stand by itself...UPRIGHT! I was so surprised. It had been years since I had been down there and had expected to find a wood heap. But it was in pretty good shape for being out in the weather for 50 yrs so long! So I hauled it home in my most favorite car ever, my van. ;)
When I got it home I took it out in the backyard and gave it a bath, a real good bath. Sure it needed a paint job, was a tad wobbly and "someone" thought I was crazy for bringing that "hunk of junk" home.
At least my kids believe in me ♥
B was still living at home at the time and helped me to re-glue and reinforce it in the back. Great idea to reinforce it in the back with new wood so that all the original wood could still be seen in front. Yes, on one side the wood is warped and wavy, but I liked it like that!
All the wonderment this piece had, Where did it start out? Who had owned it prior to us? As I scraped the old paint off it changed from one color to the next. Each owner putting their own "stamp'' on it before it moved on. Now it was my turn.
We have a small kitchen and no dining room.
We have a "farm" table in the kitchen with some inherited chairs from my great Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents along with a couple of benches.
There is only one corner where anything could be put,
all the others have cabinets and then the entrance.
B and I placed it in that one corner and it was a perfect fit....
it was meant to be.
Just the right size ~ wasn't too big or too small, just right.
So here it is with some of my favorite dishes that belonged to my Mother in it.
Isn't it sweet!
Nothing fancy, just as full of charm as one can be.
I painted it all white and added a lilac bouquet decal at the top.
That's my Grandma's long white apron hanging on the right side.
It's still hard for me to believe that I fell head over heals in love with a piece of furniture when I was about 5, and that it would eventually end up being mine.
One day I was visiting Dad at the Board and Care Home he was in and we started talking about it. He had gotten it from our neighbor when I was a child. Mrs Haynee was going to take it to the dumps. Dad snagged it before that could happen, of course.
Hmmmm, sound familiar? (yes, again)
Thanks Dad ♥
