Over 100 years ago, my grandmother and grandfather lived in a mining town. Theirs was a second marriage, and between them, they had 16 children. This china cabinet belonged to my grandmother. It was a prized possession that occupied a place of honor in her kitchen. After she passed away, my father brought home the china cabinet, with the promise that it would one day be mine. It followed us from one posting to another. Mom started to strip off the old finish, but got overwhelmed with the size of the job and just gave up on it. Then, my Dad left, and she stuck it in the basement. Every time I asked for it, she'd give me some excuse, but I'd never actually get to take it home.
Two Decembers ago, I finally got the china cabinet out of my Mom's house. It's been almost 40 years since my grandmother passed away, and for the last 25 of those years, it's been sitting in my Mom's basement. I thought it was beyond repair. The finish was a dark, dark black. Mom had started to strip it, but never finished the job. The back was covered in powdery mildew. The glass was gone. I don't know where it went, but all three sides were open. I thought for sure that the cabinet was beyond redemption, and that it would be relegated to the dump.
One of the glass doors had been broken, shattered in a fight between one of my aunts and uncles when they were younger. She got mad at her brother for something he said, she picked up a foot stool and threw it at him, he ducked, and the door shattered. Granny never replaced the glass in that particular door, but we all know the story of how that broke. I believe the other pieces of glass were lost over time and the many moves we made while Dad was still in the Air Force.
I had heard rumors though, of a restoration business in Maryland that could work wonders with anything that you thought was beyond hope. I called them, and the owner invited me to bring the piece over. He looked at it, told me the likely provenance of the piece, told me what wood it was made out of, told me he could fix it, and quoted me a price. He asked for $200 down.
Seven months later, I received a phone call from them letting me know the cabinet was done. They brought this over to our house. Can you believe it? I've never seen it look so beautiful. I remember it in my grandmother's kitchen when I was little. It was stained dark- I think it's called a walnut stain. And the glass had the coal dust sheen that she could never quite get rid of, no matter how much she tried.
We had moved the china cabinet out of the way in the hallway when we replaced the floor. (Old terra cotta floor is shown in the picture). Yesterday, we moved it back into it's place of honor. I packed away the china my Dad bought while he was serving in Vietnam in 1969. Everytime I look at that cabinet, I remember my Granny, my Dad, and his family, and I smile. It's a timeless piece of my family history.
If you're interested in finding out more about the Country Stripper (Furniture Restorations, but you've got to admit- the name sticks with you!), check out their web site. They are awesome! I believe they serve a large chunk of the Mid-Atlantic region.
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