Redecorating a Few China Cabinets

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As soon as I pulled up to the house, I could hear a loud skill saw being used in the backyard. There was some commotion going on back there and I knew why!  A wedding reception was going to be held at the bride’s home in just a few days and the father of the bride was busy building a deck addition off their beautiful back patio. But it was when I opened the door to go inside that the signs of “in just a few days” wedding was in the air! Such a happy home! Such a happy time…because the love story of the bride and groom is not only an answered prayer for mom and dad, but it is a lovely story of how God had His hands on these two young’s in such personal ways in preparing them for each other.

I was asked to get the dining halls china cabinet redecorated, as well as a couple of glass cabinets that are off the kitchen in a place where food is prepared and served. Now, I have to tell you … when I saw the china cabinet, I really needed to evaluate it for a bit because it was already a very stunning piece with beautiful china, silver and glassware peppered all through the shelving. But I stood there and realized … she asked me to do this and she knows I lean toward simpler, symmetrical, “orderly” decor. So, all I knew to do is what I was seeing.

This is the BEFORE photo. For me, I wasn’t wild about the silver pitchers next to the large beautifully painted urns. The first thing that caught my eye when I took the photo was that there was a salt & pepper pair right in front of the cabinet. More silver lining the sides all the way down, and large weighted pieces at the bottom, with 2 plates that I could hardly see. There were several crystal goblets standing alone and serving pieces placed here and there.

II MT china cabinet dining room

First, I removed everything off the shelves. Then I took a warm Norwex Envirocloth and wiped down the entire cabinet, coming right back over it all with a Norwex Window Polishing Cloth. (Ok…I have to admit…first, I used what the homeowner had and that was Windex. But it was leaving streaks and a hazy film over it and I was not real pleased with how it was NOT cleaning up well. But as soon as my friend got home, she told me that she’d gone online to my Norwex site and had already ordered and received exactly what I needed to do a superb job of clearing the glass!! She whipped out both the EnviroCloth and the Window Polishing Cloth and I was so happy, I think I jumped up and down a little bit!)

After cleaning, I started redecorating. For me, I saw the bottom shelf to be a place for very few displayed and delicate pieces. We tend to place large heavy pieces on the bottom, but that only creates an even more loaded down weighted look. I like to put the simplest and fewest pieces on the bottom of a cabinet that has glass to the floor. The top shelf was the best place for the twin urns to be showcased with a large glassware bowl in-between. Then the middle 3 shelves were perfect for lining up the gold plates along the back. Grouping certain pieces together, and staggering crystal goblets, and decorating with fewer pieces, actually gave me more to work with in decorating two other sideboards in the dining space.

This is the AFTER photo.

II MT china cabinet dining room 2

Less silver. More attention on unique and “stand alone” pieces. Fewer glassware. Delicate pieces at the bottom shelving (so you can actually see the floor of the cabinet. Two silver serving trays in the middle of the cabinet; one holding a complete tea set and one simply holding 2 goblets and a serving piece.

But it was in the food and serving prep area where it got fun! Time to take every piece off all the shelving, Norwex it all clean, and then Norwex clean every piece of crystal and glassware. Below  are 3 BEFORE photos showing all that I had to work with, but how it all simply needed some grouping and ordering.

II MT china cabinet 3

II MT kitchen cabinet before

II MT china cabinet in hallway

AFTER PHOTOS –

II MT china cabinet 4

II MT china cabinet AFTER 2

II MT kitchen cabinet AFTER 2

And here is how it flowed…

II MT china cabinet AFTER 3

No matter what you have – a hutch, sideboard, floating shelves, mounted cabinets, or inside of your kitchen cabinets – as your place to display or store your dishes, glassware, etc., it will always loos more inviting to use and much more beautiful to display when it is:

  1. clean
  2. grouped
  3. organized
  4. simplified

Have fun making your house a home. Enjoy cleaning and straightening and decorating your own nest because … it’s all part of living “Home Sweet Home.”

 

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lisa rippy

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