We bought our 1885 house…

We bought our 1885 house as a foreclosure in 2009, and then spent a year and a half doing a gut renovation. We ran out of money towards the end, as one does, and so we ended up putting one of the final elements on hold for years -- a built-in china cabinet. The niche it was designed for just sat there, with an old radiator as a placeholder. Finally, last year, we were able to afford to order the work done, and yesterday, the cabinet-maker came and installed it. Love it; he did a great job matching the design of the original trim work on the house.

Some elements I love -- an outlet on the main shelf for tea-maker and phone, and a powerstrip in the top drawer for charging electronic devices. The cabinet is entirely full already, and if you're wondering where all these things lived before, they were (often precariously) jammed into drawers and shelves here and there. I feared for my glassware. Now they're all happy and organized, and I am going to try very hard to rein in my weakness for pretty china / glassware -- if something new comes in, something else has to go out!

I like to think this old house is happy to finally have a built-in china cabinet; it seems like the sort of thing it would have wanted, back when it was built, a hundred and thirty years ago. :-)