China & Hutch

"China & Hutch"...sounds like a blog title straight off the 80's Prime Time huh? oh wait, that was "Starskey and Hutch"...I think. Anyway, this is my hutch that has been in storage for 4 years. It's handmade, solid golden oak and the first piece of furniture Carl/Todd bought me after we married. We lived in Virginia, just outside D.C., and we went to a craft show in Occoquan Virginia,  http://www.occoquan.com/ where a man had a booth set up selling his handmade furniture. I had a very "country" decor then..who didn't, it was 1992..so I fell in love with this hutch. It was the essence of country with it's curves and brass handles with pink & blue handles and drawer pulls. I loved it for a long time. Then, about 9 years ago, my taste started to change a bit...out with the pink and blue and out with the cows...about that same time, my hutch went to storage. i dreaded it coming out of storage because I didn't know how I was going to make it fit in this house...not size wise but style wise.

The first thing I did was change out the brass drawer pulls and handles with ORB

(oil rubbed bronze) ones. It cost $25 to do, but it made a huge difference. If I can find hiinges that line up with the current ones, I plan to replace those with ORB also, if not, I'll be using my ORB spray paint to change those later.

My cabinet maker/trim guy that did the work in our house, is going to get me the glass to replace the current glass. The current glass is slightly tinted..just barely and beveled. I'd liek to replace it with the crackled looking glass or the peppered glass like I have in my kitchen glass cabinet. I hope he can get me a good price. It will take 3 pieces.

Here are the ORB handles...

I would really, really like to distress it...and put a black glaze on it, but if I do, it will be when Carl/Todd is on deployment, because he will cringe at the thought. For now, I will pause at these small changes.

I'd also like to maybe pop off those Queen Anne style legs, and put something more straight & traditional on it.

Next, I unpacked the last box in the house. It held my Grandmother's china. It has also been in storage for 4 years, since I had nowhere to put it. When she died in 1999, our( the grandchildren's)  access to her personal belongings was denied by my parents. When the proverbial dust settled, I asked for her China & her Bible for myself and her Silver for my other sister. I love it. I treasure it. You'd have to know my grandmother. She loved stuff...linens especially and house stuff. I imgaine her picking out this China soon after she was married. I personally can't ever remember eating off of it, even at Christmas. It just stayed in her china cabinet in the Dining Room.

It makes me happy.