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Friday, March 8, 2013

Beautiful Built-ins

One of the things that I love most about antique houses is the built-in cabinetry. Always useful, and frequently beautiful, the cabinetry adds detail and interest to a space. My house (c.1923) has almost no built-in elements, which makes me a wee bit sad, but I know it's not the end of the world. There are all kinds of stunning authentic pieces of architectural salvage available online, at the flea markets, and at architectural salvage stores. In the fall I snagged a great antique built-in cabinet at Brimfield that dates to about the same period as my house. I'm going to integrate it into our upstairs bathroom. Whenever I see a great piece of built-in cabinetry on craigslist, I yearn for it, but I usually don't have an appropriate space. I imagine most people don't have a place to put an 8ft long bank of cabinets. One great way to get some built-in beauty into your home is with an antique corner cupboard. There are so many out there for sale, often for $100 or less, they don't take up much space, and add valuable storage to a generally unused corner. The top picture is the little built-in I'll be using in my bathroom. The rest are just pretty built-in examples. It's snowing up a storm here in Connecticut today. I guess Spring will never come.
Happy Friday!
I know, I know. It looks really rough right now, but trust me, under all that paint and grime is something beautiful. I'm going to probably put a new wood top on it, and then strip and paint the base. I want to strip the coved drawer pulls to get them back to their original splendor as well.

Amazingly, all the drawers and door still work perfectly. I can't wait to work on this piece and get it up into my bathroom!

A stunning corner cupboard example! What a fabulous shade of mint green.

This little built in sink in a butlers pantry is exquisite. Butler's pantries are my weakness. I would do just about anything to have one in my house. I have a boring old pantry- but it's not butler-y

I love the color of this corner cupboard too. Do you see how little space it takes up? Think of all that extra storage you'd gain! You'd have no choice but to start collecting beautiful antique plates or something.

A lovely little green built in, that would be perfect in an office or bathroom. Picture it wall mounted and filled  with  neat lines of pretty bathroom accessories.

Glamorous and high-style, this dining room has the most breathtaking Georgian built-in cupboards.

LOVE these. This is the look I'm hoping to get with my little cupboard. These built-ins are so big you could practically sleep in them!

A stunning antique corner cupboard with the sweetest green interior.

The home owner uses these gorgeous built-ins to display an extremely impressive ironstone collection.

Oh man. I wish I owned this. So pretty! It looks like it's barely a foot deep. You could put it anywhere!

A stunning Scandinavian style dining room includes a graceful curved front corner cupboard.

Fabulous farmhouse kitchen with a massive bit of built-in cabinetry.

A French country dining space gets some extra storage for an ironstone collection with a pretty faux-painted and scalloped corner cupboard.

All the kitchen storage you could ever hope for in this handsome space.

A clever little built in adds extra character and storage next to a fireplace.

I spotted this great c.1920 built in piece at Brimfield the same day I purchased mine. I've kept the picture because I wish I'd bought it too. 


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