One of my many arguments for the continued lack of organisation of my belongings is storage space. Fellow crafters will know that hobbies generate an incredible volume of "stuff": tools, materials, part-finished projects... It all builds up. I'm also a relatively keen baker, so my kitchen in overflowing with all the accoutrements that go with that. So it was with a view to a slightly more organised future that I decided to buy a proper sideboard for our dining room, recently vacated by my working-from-home fiancé now we've finally turned one of the spare rooms into his office, which he can keep as immaculate as he'd dearly love the rest of the house to be!
There's a toss up when buying furniture as with when buying many things, shoes being the perfect example, between practicality and aesthetics. This being a 1930's house I wanted something era sympathetic and beautiful with display room for the things that want to be stored but still seen, but also spacious enough to pack away a great deal of the aforementioned "stuff". There are also budget concerns and the desire to re-use a pre loved piece rather than turning straight to brand new, so eBay seemed like as good a place as any to start.
So I looked and looked, was outbid of a few, discounted a few due to size and distance and had almost forgotten the idea and moved on when by chance one day I came across a brief listing with some sketchy photos and decided to take a punt as the starting price was so low. Hence this:
It was ready dismantled when we came to pick it up and the photos hadn't shown it too clearly but I was immediately taken by the beautiful grain and colour on the walnut veneer. It took two full car loads to get it home, lucky the fiancé drives a relatively large car as you can't fit two metre long panels in a saxo! Then came the curious task of fitting the beast together.
Let me tell you, they didn't exactly have the hang of flat pack in the 1930's! It was like a huge, very heavy 3D jigsaw and we had no more than the original grainy photo to go on, but with liberal application on common sense, a sprinkling of guesswork and just a little cursing and juggling of screws we finally got the top on without breaking a single glass shelf or door panel (luckily modern toughened glass, The original pieces have probably long since bit the dust, but we did have a couple of near catastrophes all the same)
The final piece of the puzzle was the drop down cocktail cabinet front, which the original listing had already warned was damaged. One side of the original hinge had completely torn itself apart. Trusty PVA and more jigsawing of the splintered off pieces fixed that and we added some modern but appropriate slide hinges for safety (more cursing and head-scratching accompanied these additions).
Finally it was my turn to add the finishing touches. I'm a bit of a vintage crockery fanatic as I've been collecting sets for our wedding, so filled the generous display section with a piece from (almost) all of the sets I've found so far. More of this in future posts as I've had some amazing finds in the crockery department but just look, isn't it pretty:
Then lace doilies are new but vintage syled, also an eBay bargain bought for the wedding. I keep catching glances of the display as I walk past and grinning like a loon! It's like a snapshot of my future wedding!
And the best part of all this? Even more than the enjoyment of the look of the thing, the ritzy feeling of having a proper cocktail cabinet and the added storage space? The whole thing, modern hinges included, cost me less than £30. I love you eBay!
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