A New Old Friend

I vended at Harvest At The Mill in Holly, Michigan in the beginning of September.  It was the first time for me and as my husband and I walked through the gym on "set-up" day, I knew I was in big trouble.  There were so many wonderful primitive antiques, all of them in the rustic farmhouse kind of style that I love!  It was really hard to contain myself and at the end of the day, I had supported my fellow vendors very well.  I came home with a honey colored old cubby shelf and a wonderful old painted cupboard.  For those of you who know me, I have a uncontrolled love affair with old cupboards.  I always say that I have no more room for them, but somehow they come home with me, just like a good old familiar friend and we manage to find a place to make it work.  I just can't say no!

We finally put the new cupboard in its spot, cleaned it up, and checked it out like a newborn baby.  

I had been originally looking at an old bucket bench but then this caught my eye.  Double doors and double drawers.  The hardware worked great and the doors were straight and strong. The side boards on the top are original (all one piece of wood on the sides) but someone has shaped and modified it.  It sort of looks like a bucket bench but it's not.  And the streaky gray blue paint, all chippy and half worn off.  It made my heart skip a beat!

 When my husband opened the left hand drawer, he said "looks like the mice were chewing in there." Sigh.  I love that.  It gives it more character.  It has a story.  Just as long as they're not in there now, I'm good with it.

The nice thing is that it looks like no one used it as a tool bin or stored greasy stuff in it.  All it needed was a nice brushing out and a little vacuuming.  I said to my husband "Smell this thing...doesn't it smell good?" and he said "just smells like old wood to me."  It's not musty, just a lovely old smell, like sweet warm wood.

Now, can you imagine us bringing this home along with all our other merchandise from our booth?  My van was filled literally to the roof (with some stuff stuck inside the cabinet to make room)!  But where there's a will, there's a way, especially for a fanatical cabinet collector!