Dining Room Storage

`A while back... yes a month ago almost while.. I wrote this post about the dining room china cabinet I purchased at a garage sale. After all of the travleing was over, this was one of our first projects to complete! I am using what is left of my summer to not only soak in some rays, take some naps, snuggle with my Ella bug... but also to get this house organized and ready for a new school year with me teaching on a new school calendar.

I started off by removing the drawers, handles, knobs and doors from the cabinet. I then got out my handy mouse sander and gave each piece a good sanding so my paint would adhere. After the sanding came the cleaning with Simple Green. Then.. the painting! I painted the piece black to match my dining room chairs.

I ended up doing 2 coats, with a light sanding on some areas after the first coat. I didn't do a clear coat or polyurethane though. I am scared that I will change my mind and decided to repaint the cabinet n the near future and it would be A LOT of work to sand through the clear coat.

As I was painting the cabinet I realized ALL of the wonderful items this cabinet can house. I grabbed the camera while the paint was drying and walked around the upstairs looking for items I have hiding through the living, dining room, and kitchen that really just don't have a home and now can be housed in this cabinet. Here is some of what I found:

Platters hiding behind pots and pans

A griddle sitting on top of the fridge and covered with junk that has nowhere to go!

The fridge holds a lot of stuff that can't fit anywhere else as you can see

Serving bowls hiding on top of games in the living room armoire

Appetizer plates and caddy hiding behind photos in the living room

more cute dishes hiding in the pantry

 Wow! Lots of things that need to find a new home! This doesn't even include the shelves of serving pieces hiding in the laundry area of our basement.

So, here it is.. all finished (almost) and full of platters, bowls, serving spoons, spreaders, ice tongs, ramekins, etc.

I am sure there will be a lot or rearranging of items on the shelves on top. This is how the shelves looked the first night after moving the cabinet inside.

The space before the cabinet was moved inside

Empty cabinet

Cabinet all moved in and filled!

Still missing doors.. need to find the new handles and also need new knobs for drawers

3 days later what the cabinet looks like

Closer view

 On the shelves:
Top Left: a monogrammed cheese platter with the letter "L" and a vase holding sea glass I have collected over the years (this is the one item I am not sure will stay)
Top Right: collection of old white pitchers my grandmother gave me as a wedding gift
Middle Shelf: a hand blown green glass pitcher, simple additions square bowls from pampered chef (they are used daily in our house), 3 ball jars; 1 containing sea shells and sharksteeth we have collected on the east coast the past 2 summers
Bottom Left: Salt and Pepper shakers, bamboo napkin holder (these are every day items we use)
Bottom Middle: Simple Additions rectangular platter and basket from Pampered Chef holding fresh fruit that we eat so it will change each day.
Bottom Right: Simple Additions appetizer plates with appetizer plate caddy from Pampered Chef
So.. you can see I have somewhat of a Pampered Chef addiction! I had a Pampered Chef wedding shower which helped me LOAD up on items.. and my best friend in VA used to sell pampered chef so that also just fed my addiction! I use a lot of it daily so I can justify it to myself :)

Loving it.. and yes still no doors on the bottom

So, there it is! The best new addition to our house! The storage is wonderful, the depth of the cabinet is perfect in our small dining area. You can still pull the bench out easily and sit to eat dinner.  I can't lie, I am just dreaming of the fall when I can break out the fall decor and change up the theme of the cabinet as well as during Christmas time. The possibilities are already running through my head!

 Let me know any suggestions of items to add/take away. As we make some changes in the living room I am sure I will do some more house shopping and change up the shelving a bit.

Enjoy!

                                                                    Tatertots and Jello