My TV Cabinet, Re-purposed

There's been a bit of a furniture swap at my house.  With the updating of our den, we've done a switch-a-roo with some furniture.  One of our neighbors came over late one night and moved a lot of furniture with John.

The small TV cabinet to the room with the stencil.
The sideboard to the dining room.
The bottom of the hutch to the den.  

And finally, the big TV cabinet to the dining room.



I'm a big fan of using furniture in ways that it's not intended.  When we decided that the TV cabinet was not working in the den, I knew it's new life-purpose: to store my hoards and hoards of dishes.  

A friend gave me that little wooden angel.  Isn't she cute?  And all wood-sy?

Here are my dishes.  To be honest, this is only a portion of what I've gathered over the years.  These are my most frequently used things.  The rest of my stuff is in other pieces of furniture, in our attic, or sitting on the shelves at Goodwill.  I'm in serious danger of drowning in dishes.

Eventually, John is going to add another shelf in that big blank space, so I can store my table linens in there as well.  (Oh table linens, how I love thee.)  For now, I'm storing several other things.  I have some candle holders, "fancy silverware," silverware caddies, 

loads of serving pieces, (including this wooden salad bowl that was a wedding present from my mom.  It's pretty cool because it's made from one piece of wood)

(When we got married, I was working at a home decor place that had the cutest stuff for super cheap.  The owners were great and gave me a HUGE discount-and I developed a little addiction of platters.  Those teal platters below...I got both of them for less than $10.)

and lots and lots of dishes!  Besides the fun stuff, I have the practical stuff as well...the actual dishes to eat off of.  I think that I could feed 35-40 people at one time without running out of dishes.  Been there, done that, have the stories to prove it...like that one year we did a huge potluck Valentine's dinner...that was great!

There are two things that I don't use much in the TV cabinet, but I'm not ready to hide away yet.  When I got married, I didn't register for china.  However, my grandmother gave me one of her sets.  It's kept in the bottom half of the cabinet.  It's pretty with little pastel flowers around the edges.  I love seeing it and being reminded of being at my G.ma Polly's house.  Eventually, I want to get in the habit of using them.

The other thing that I keep in there that I don't use are these cute salt and pepper shakers.  I found them at an antique store in Ann Arbor and I love them!  They are just adorable.  Maybe one day I'll start using them as well...

For now, I'll just leave them be and I'll enjoy seeing them when I open the TV cabinet.  That's in my dining room.  That doesn't hold a TV anymore.  But instead is weighed down with dishes.  Lots and lots of dishes.