Why CUPBOARDS

Cupboards can be used for a variety of things.  There are many styles available at a variety of cost points.  Cupboards can be both decorative and functional.  Take a look at almost any home decorating magazine and you’ll be amazed at how many you’ll see.    

  

KITCHEN – Select a complimentary cupboard for your kitchen.  Remember that complimentary does not necessarily mean “same”.  An early American pine cupboard which has been stripped to expose the nice graining can fit well into a contemporary setting.  A country style cupboard is likewise always at home in an early American decorating theme.  A cupboard can easily translate into a “pantry” where canned goods are stored.  Or, it can hold appliances you wish to have out of sight, or pots and pans, or anything you wish.  My favorite is to use a cupboard to display collections of kitchen pottery, ironstone, wooden ware, etc.  

GARAGE – Why not consider cleaning up, organizing, and “decorating” your garage?    Buy a nice old country cupboard, perhaps one that has been painted, scrub it up a bit, and place it in a strategic, yet out-of-the-way place in your garage.  It will be invaluable in organizing such things as hand garden implements, flower pots, birdseed, hand tools, dog or cat food, etc.  I enjoy using old containers in my garage cupboard …. A low basket is great for hand garden tools; a large tin can with advertising (i.e. a 1940’s lard can) can make great pet food holders or bird seed containers.  You will be surprised at how much better you will feel when you pull a gardening tool out of a nice old basket in your country cupboard rather than digging through a pile on the floor to find it.

BATHROOM – Cupboards come in a wide range of shapes and sizes.  I have a small cupboard in my bath which holds extra toilet paper, toiletries, the necessary plunger, etc.  Because the cupboard is small and low, I placed a small lamp on it, and you would be amazed at how much it physically and psychologically dresses up an otherwise blah bathroom and makes it an integral part of the home.

LIVING ROOM – A cupboard can be right at home in most any living room.  If it is a wooden-door cupboard, leave the doors ajar or open, and fill the interior with nice books and favorite things you will enjoy seeing on a regular basis.  It can be a great accent piece;

it can set the tone for how the entire room feels; or it can serve as useful storage ….. board games, DVD player, television, extra vases, etc. 

BEDROOM – I have a nice old 19^th Century pie safe in my bedroom.  It has two pierced tin doors, and I use it to hold my wardrobe of sweaters and sweat pants and shirts.  These things take up so much room in dressers, but can easily be organized and stacked into an old cupboard.