China Cabinet

With the majority of the downstairs renovation complete (although there are some lingering touch ups that we're stalling on), it's a fine time to turn my attention to fun stuff like the china cabinet.

The china cabinet is a built-in number in the dining room, and just like everything else, it needed to be refreshed. Here is the oldest picture I could find, taken during our first tour of the house. Take a moment to appreciate the wallpaper and carpet. ;)

And here it is now:

We had the plasterers do a quick skim coat on the interior walls, and then we painted, painted, and painted some more.

Based on tip found in This Old House magazine, we boiled the door hardware to remove the bazillion layers of goopy paint that had accumulated over the decades. (Totally worked.)

Since we didn't really care for the original glass drawer pulls, we bought these antique bronze reproductions online. They are so much more substantial and I think they add a lot of visual interest.

Steven used serial layers of copper and oil-rubbed bronze spray paints and some steel wool to refinish the old door hardware to match the new drawer pulls.

We wanted to use an accent color inside the china cabinet that would both make it *pop* and create a flattering background for the items on display inside, particularly my grandmother's china, which she just recently handed down to me. (Thanks, Babi!) We settled on a dusty plum tone called "Victorian" and it really highlights the elegant silver and gray of the china.

So now I'm just puttering around with this project...slowly unpacking the various treasures that we've acquired over the past few years and arranging them in their final destination. It feels SO GOOD to be putting stuff where it belongs, and it's a lot of fun to envision how I might use all these lovelies in the future.

P.S.-Happy New Year!