Transformations: Creating a Curated China Cabinet Collection

Sometimes a small change can have a big impact.

Rearranging the contents of this deep built-in china cabinet to showcase some of the home owners favorite things was on our list of projects this week. Armed with a variety of easels and stands, we set to work!

This client has an extensive collection of china, silver, and crystal pieces – some family heirlooms – like the silver pitcher she grew up pouring her milk from for breakfast each morning, and others collected over the years. She had a china cabinet full of pieces and had brought more of her favorites out of storage and gathered them on the table for our perusal.

We remembered to take the 'before' picture below after we had already emptied the bottom shelf of myriad small teacups, salts, and little crystal dishes and had just started setting it up with the gorgeous cobalt china tea set.  The top two shelves contained symmetrically arranged china all lined up in rows, and the third shelf contained a lovely collection of demitasse cups, but such small scale items on such a deep shelf made it hard to appreciate them.

before china cabinet

The trim in this dining room and thus on the exterior of the china cabinet is a rich warm gumwood and the interior is painted – soon to be re-painted with interior side and back walls in a metallic leaf finish - can't wait to see it completed!

The new contents of the china cabinet echo the rich colors in the oriental carpet on the floor with its cobalt blues, aqua greens and rich coral tones.

china cabinet display styling

Carefully editing the contents, varying the heights, standing plates and trays as backdrops, and distributing the finishes and shapes for balance give the new cabinet arrangement a more curated look.

Best of all, our client is delighted to have some of her favorite treasures beautifully displayed!

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Transformations: Family Room Refresh

Sometimes, updating your space doesn't mean starting from scratch.  When one of our favorite clients called us about updating the look in her well-used family room, we knew just what to do.

Family Room rehab

This was one of the first spaces we tackled 15 years ago when we began working on this lovely antique colonial with the homeowners.  At the time, we selected the paint colors, designed the window coverings and specified the furnishings, rug, and lamps.

The original arrangement (shown above) worked well, but after 15 years of daily use, the homeowner was ready for a refresh.

We kept the paint colors, window treatments, and lamps.  Antique pine case goods and distressed finish tables still worked well but we opted to update the upholstery beginning with a new, more transitional styled sofa in a high performance fabric that would stand up to snuggling with the grandchildren.

The solid wool sisal rug was exchanged for a patterned, more contemporary style area rug, and the chairs and ottomans were recovered in luscious textures and friendly stripes that echo the colors in the rug.

Belmont family room interior design

Now all the generations of the family can enjoy the new space for years to come!