From the beginning storage has been sought after. We accrue, amass, and accumulate. No matter how much space, we fill it, and need a place for more.
Dining room cabinet in the wall
Cabinets in walls, cubbies in stalls, cubicles in closets. Did you ever think of a cabinet inside a wall? It is done with medicine cabinets all the time. But how about a larger cabinet to store stuff? Like in the dining room. Instead of a buffet cabinet sitting in the room on the floor, how about putting a cabinet in a wall? It can have a serving area, as it is here in the middle of the cabinet, as well as storage. All your dishes, crystal, silver, serving pieces. everything. Everything is away, and still convenient. This one is a contemporary version, but it can be any design of your preference.
Take a wall out, making two rooms into one. One large one, and build cabinets around the supporting columns.
Cabinets (open) hiding columns
Cabinets (closed) built around supporting columns
Now you have a party room, with two cabinets housing all your party stuff, right there where you need it. I designed these based on the clients requests so that beverages and refreshments could be served while mingling with guests.
The cabinets are made in wood, olive ash burl, with a special gloss polyurethane finish that is indestructible.
Here’s some back-story. Let’s call it history. In the 17th century, William of the Netherlands married Mary of England. They had their own style for storage.
William & Mary cabinet
These amazing works of art served them well, to store and to view. Cabinet veneered with burr maple. English, c. 1690. The trumpet-legs, typical of the style, are restored. The floral marquetry panels show the Dutch influence. This period of William and Mary is most characteristically known in English cabinetmaking history as the “Age of Walnut.” See this in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
What about my writer friends. Do you have a desk? Where do you keep all your papers?
Here’s one for you. The writing section can be pulled down, and look at all that drawer space in the walnut-veneer
William & Mary Secretaire-cabinet c.1700
secretaire-cabinet, with bun feet and teardrop hardware, typical of the William and Mary style, with panels of arabesque marquetry and a central panel of flowers in etched and stained woods. Perhaps made in England by an immigrant Dutch craftsman, c. 1700. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Where do you keep all those papers? Would you have enough space for a secretary like this one, or would a smaller one work?
Nice blog !
… but about the storage furniture article —
you do know William was from Holland, and his wife Mary was English…..
🙂
Judy, thank you for visiting. And thanks for bringing that detail, William was from Holland” to my attention. Please come again.
Good, so I’m not the only one! 🙂 I have such a small home and I love to do crafts and read…all things that take up a lot of space. You wouldn’t think wriitng would, but now I need a whole wall for my storyboard as well as my books on writing and all papers of research…I still need to look into Jane’s idea of the Evernote system to make those papers virtual….But first i need to clean. I’m the type of person that needs to clean before I am productiive.
Thanks Katy, you are not alone. Organization permits creativity. Virtual papers are a good idea, but hard copies are good to have as backup.
Good for you Paula. The truth be for us all what you say “the Universe hates a void” we fill it up immediately if not sooner. For the writer especially, books read, books to read, books to research, WIP, and so much more.
Gail, I want to follow you around for a day. You have the coolest blog posts and photos! I do love storage. Otherwise, my yarn stash would take over the house. I admit, I’d rather store it in a lovely antique dresser than a plastic bin. Too bad, I don’t have the budget or the space! Now that I’m older, I’m more ruthless and I just get rid of things (either donating, recycling or the trash). I envision a house in my future (when the kids are moved out) with very little stuff!
oh yes, it is Wonderful (that is a capital W) when the kids move out. Sad at first, but then clean-up and spread-out. I wanted to burn down the place, but it wasn’t practical. So I gave away stuff (theirs), painted, fumigated, and made everything new again. For the stuff, I am the queen of stuff. I try to be creative with storage or not collect (Ha). That’s like telling me not to breathe. We downsized 12 years ago, so now I just go shopping in my storage and closets. I find great surprises, like money in bags. Chuckle.
Can I have a party room? Please? I promise to invite everyone! Gail, your posts are always so much fun. I love learning about and looking at this beautiful antique furniture — not that it would look good in my mid-20th-century house! And your designs are inspiring.
Sure, of course you can have a party room. Take out a wall, throw out the needless (like the kids, the dogs, your husband?) And start over, just kidding. What makes a party room is the traffic pattern. If guests can rotate easily, like getting to food and friends, you got a party room.
Hi Gail,
Well, I went from living in a 2500 sq. foot house to a 1500 sq foot condo … everything is about storage for me. I like tables with drawers under them, or anything that offers a hidding spot for storage.
Yikes! That was sheer bravery going from 2500 to 1500. I commend you. Sounds like you got the storage issue under control.
Such beautiful and elegant storage ideas. I really love the party room idea, too. I have file cabinets for my papers and stacked bins for WIPs, but I am a declutter fiend. I can’t work in chaos, so I’m all about tossing and downsizing as soon as my desk gets out of control. I learned a long time ago that the Universe hates a void and that as soon as I get rid of something there will be another thing to take its place. My only solution is to frequently dispatch my piles and try to stay organized. If it isn’t beautiful, meaningful, or necessary, I don’t need to keep it. Thanks for the fun solutions!