Antique Corner Cupboard and New Years

Right before New Years Eve hubs and I went to an auction and bought a cupboard.

Not that we were planning to or even going for anything in particular.

It was a spur of the moment decision.

 I did mention to him that this auction had antique firearms.  

Hehe, I knew that would catch his interest and sure enough he wanted to go! 

But what surprised me most was how much other stuff caught his interest.  

 While I had quickly looked around and settled into my seat to listen to the auctioneer,

hubs was walking around checking everything out in great detail, 

 then coming back to me to ask did I see this thing or that?  

 He was on a hunt and it turned out he was interested in anything bronze.

 Statues that is. See him looking down over there??

 He was checking out these cute Corgi dogs, a bronze statue by artist 

Elizabeth Leary Strazzulla of Orleans, Massachusetts.

And then he asked if I had noticed the enormous life size Indian and eagle statue.

WHAT?? Why in the world do we want or need that I wondered?

  Where is that going to go?

In New Hampshire at the lake, he replied....

ok... well I guess I could try to imagine it....

and that was only the beginning.  

We would have to wait for it to come up and then bid on it,

and hope it wouldn't be too high.  

I had noticed things like this old tin weathervane which I could imagine

going on the top of our not yet built barn/garage. 

I guess one gets attracted to things for whatever reason....I was 

still processing his attraction to all the statues.

Then I rounded the corner and saw it. 

 The enormous and old corner cupboard. 

 The listing said it was "an important early 18th century 

cabinet" and it certainly was important looking to me.

It looked very old, with lots of carvings and the interior 

was painted with a turquoise color that was appealing.

I can bet Martha has cabinets like this in her homes!

I thought to myself, no one will want this thing.  Its too big!!

We will get it for the lake house!

 So I sat and waited for a few of our items to come up on the auction block.

Finally the big cupboard was up!!

Hubs whispered... Oh please. Don't.

 I continued to lift my paddle until I won.

Oh yes!! I won!! 

And that was that. It was coming home. 

 We went home with all the big things, 

like the Indian statue (bronze but painted white).

And some French barstools, and an antique fish service, 

some big blue and white transferware platters.... 

 And the enormous cabinet!!

 When we checked the measurement of the cupboard I was nervous to see that the cupboard 

was the same height as our ceiling. But it fit like a glove, with the help of our son Justin.

It was meant to be...for now. It belongs at the lake, and in that house our ceilings will be 

a foot higher, so it will fit without any worry at all.

 We bought a few tables, a game table, a dresser, the corgis, 
and another crazy big statue too....

This pretty demilune table with gorgeous carvings came home with us.

Y,a we bought a lot of antique stuff!! And it was sooo much fun!!

These are full size bronze statues out of a Malibu CA estate that someone painted.  

Why my husband wanted these is something I can't answer, but I can tell you it was

very funny when he was bidding on them.  At least I thought it was funny! 

I whispered to him, we are going to be known as "those people" when our neighbors

at the lake see these things on our property.  Haha. I will do my best to hide

them in the shrubbery or behind trees. 

 For now our auction treasures are in our Massachusetts home, waiting for the lake.

Its been so much fun to fill the cabinet with my antique collections

of majolica and transfer ware into the cabinet.

 It was all part of what turned out to be a very fun way to ring in the New Year. 

Before we headed out, I learned how to saber the champagne,
which means cut the neck off the bottle with a "saber" or knife.
You use the back of the knife blade, not the sharp part.

It cuts it clean off!!
 There are a few secrets, and one is to put the champagne
bottle upside down in the ice bucket to freeze the neck first. Then reposition the
casket around the cork to above the bottle ridge neckline, and as you cut it off,
to move the saber up the bottle along the molded glass line of the bottle. 
 It was thrilling!

We had reservations to enjoy dinner

in Boston's historic North End with our youngest and a good friend,
 then headed to Ciao Bella in North Square next to the Paul Revere house
to meet Justin who was working to celebrate some more.

 We capped the night off with more champagne and oysters.
What a treat!

In closing I hope you all had a nice New Years Eve.

We usually spend NYE low key, so this was especially fun and memorable.

 Wishing all a great 2020!! 

 Our family looks forward to many changes this year. 

Building a new home and then moving to the lake 

as our youngest (who, might I brag, just got straight A's in his first senior term)

graduates from Boston Latin School and then heads off to college,

leaving us as empty nesters for the first time. 

The next phase of life has arrived for us Chalmers!

Cheers!!