Old stuff...

Years and years ago my sister and I took our young daughters and went "junkin'." This is a time-honored family tradition, passed down from our mother and our paternal grandmother, as well. There is something in our blood that makes us love poking around in antique stores and flea markets, yard sales and rummage bins. My niece, Aimee, was only about 16 at the time. She saw a funky old baking cabinet and plunked down her baby sitting cash. I thought it was adorable and felt a little jealous that the piece was hers. Fast forward and it seems my niece no longer had a place for the cabinet in her life. We worked out a trade and I hauled the old thing home. My husband and daughter looked at me as if I'd lost my mind when they helped me unload it from my truck. The expressions on their faces clearly said, "What a mess!"

I sanded the top, trying to erase years of damage and water stains. Then I wiped a light coating of stain over the thirsty wood.

After the stain dried I rubbed the top with wax, buffed it off and repeated. I lined the drawers and the whole thing looked much improved. Then I placed the top piece on, gave it a swipe and a polish and neatly arranged all my baking supplies.

I could feel my mother with me as I worked. She loved little more than rearranging furniture and sprucing things up. It was from her that I learned the term, "rob Peter to pay Paul." She'd put her capable hands on her hips and tip her head to one side, going from room to room and swapping out furniture from one part of the house to place in another. We kids would be enlisted, shoving sofas, rolling up rugs and taking paintings off one wall to put on another. Much chaos was created in the process, but soon order would reign and everything would look fresh and bright and clean. She also taught me how to do rudimentary furniture refinishing... nothing fancy, but enough to make old and crummy look... old and wonderful. And that is my decorating style in a nutshell; old stuff and "junk," things with a past that fit just right in my present.