My husband and I were so fortunate that when we moved into our house, his parents were also in the process of moving. This meant that we “inherited” a bunch of their beautiful, no-way-could-we-afford-this furniture.
Of the items they gave us, my favorites are the baby grand piano, the mid-century modern sideboard, and the tall, ornate curio cabinet that my mother-in-law refers to as The Piece.
When NGS wrote about her grandmother-in-law’s curio cabinet, I knew I wanted to write about The Piece.
First of all, I don’t know exactly WHAT category of furniture The Piece falls into. I think it’s maybe a sideboard with hutch, but it also has elements of curio cabinet to it? I am pretty sure it’s not a credenza, but I don’t know that I’ve ever used the word credenza before so I wanted to.
Secondly, The Piece has been in my mother-in-law’s family for generations. She said it used to live in her grandmother’s home. There is some confusion as to its provenance, though. Perhaps Mexico? Maybe Spain?
I love it because it’s so unusual looking. Plus, it holds a TON of stuff. Currently, I’m using it to store most of my vases, some porcelain figurines that I inherited from my husband’s grandmother, some crystal that I inherited from my grandmother, and some other various odds and ends.
When my mother- and father-in-law delivered The Piece to us, they were very apologetic because the shelves were missing. “We know it had shelves at one point,” they said. “But they must have been lost during the move.”
It was charmingly amusing to find the shelves while I was cleaning The Piece. They were simply on the bottom of the opaque-doored area, stacked in such a way that they appeared to be part of the cabinet’s floor.
Because none of us are immune from missing highly obvious things: There is an electric component, which I did not know about until we’d owned The Piece for five or six years. There’s a light in the top portion and you can turn it on and off to showcase your crystal and vases and porcelain birds.
I love that The Piece is ours, now. Maybe someday Carla will want it in her home, or, if it’s not her style, maybe my niece will cherish it. Having something that’s been in the family for so long feels so precious to me, for reasons I can’t fully articulate.
Do you have any unique or hand-me-down pieces of furniture? Any family “heirlooms” that have been passed around?
This is beautiful. I have a picture of a deity that was worshipped by my mother in law’s Dad and my husband said it must be 100 years old. I put in a new frame and now it looks wonderful.These old things do bring so much joy. I would say Old is gold 😊!
That sounds like a great way to showcase such a beautiful piece of art and history!
Do you have any unique or hand-me-down pieces of furniture? Any family “heirlooms” that have been passed around? We have many pieces of furniture like that, kind of the basis of our eclectic decorating style. And many of the pieces of furniture have stories with them which makes them like members of the family.
If you care to share, I’d love to know about these special pieces!
I’ve thought about doing a series of posts in which I talk about each piece of furniture. Tell it’s story, but have yet to feel inspired. But maybe… 🤔
Well, this reader would be delighted to read about your furniture and backstories. But I understand the need to WANT to write about a topic. So no pressure at all.
What a presence your cabinet has! I’ve certainly never seen anything like it.
Maybe you can research it and finally find out exactly where it came from or at least something of its background. Even an image search might lend you some help.
It DOES have presence, doesn’t it? It’s a real Grande Dame of furniture pieces.
Beautiful!!! I can’t think of any generational hand-me-downs like this, but my Dad does woodworking and we have a drop-leaf table he made and gave us for our wedding, he made each of the kids a dresser when they were born (with a convertible top – with sides – for the diaper-changing years) and my mother paints, so we have probably 6 of her original paintings up in our house!
Oh I love this! Handmade gifts from a parent are priceless! And yours sound especially special. My mother is a painter as well and we are fortunate to have two of her paintings hanging on our walls. I love them both so much.
There are many reasons why I love that beautiful piece, but its history is certainly one. I also love how much you appreciate it. That must be very special to his family.
My cabinet contains a pitcher that belonged to a grandfather I never knew. It’s a lovely story that I’ll someday write about. You inspired me. 😘
I look forward to that story! How meaningful to have a piece of him that lives on with you.
I know that unique is a horribly over used word, but that piece is uniquely beautiful! I have a pocket watch that’s over 100 years old–a gift from my grandmother whose spinster teacher aunt owned it. All because my middle name is Louise and that was her name. I was also a teacher although not a spinster! 🙂
Oh wow! That watch sounds like a treasure!
This really is an unusual and beautiful piece. We have a couple older pieces of furniture handed down from my parents, and I’m not sure where they got them from- they were in our house the entire time I was growing up. Unfortunately, one of them is the controversial dictionary stand. It holds an enormous dictionary which was where I looked up words constantly as a kid. Now, my kids think it’s the dumbest thing in the world. WHY would you look up words in a giant book when you have your phone??? To be honest, I haven’t used the dictionary either in a long time (the print is pretty small, and well, I do have a phone.). My kids can’t understand why we would have this useless piece of furniture cluttering up the house. No one will be inheriting the dictionary stand! Although it would be kind of funny to leave it to one of the kids in my will. I’ll have to think about that.
I love that you have a dictionary stand and I love even more that it is controversial! My mother had one in her law office when I was a kid; I’m sure it held a law dictionary. What a cool old-fashioned thing. I would LOVE to have one in my home, along with a fabulous old dictionary… but I can totally imagine how the digital generations would look askance at both items.
Nice piece! I have several pieces of furniture that have been handed down through the family, and I treasure them. Luckily I have two “star” pieces and a stepkid who is drawn to each piece, so I’ve got a plan for the next generation.
Oh that is nice, to know they will find good homes in the future!
That. Is. Gorgeous. GORGEOUS!!! (I just thought of Mitch in Old School, when he is talking about Denver. “The Sunshine State. Denver. Gorgeous!”) (If you haven’t seen that ridiculous, stupid, but also really funny movie, this will mean nothing to you. But you can get the humour idea by “Sunshine State” and “Denver” put together. ANYWAY.)
That is such a beautiful piece of furniture. What a treasure! And I know I have said it before but I love that wall colour and the wainscotting. (Is that wainscotting?) I love a blue-and-white theme. Eeek, that’s lovely.
This makes me want to rewatch Old School! Yes, I think it is wainscoting? My husband and I did it ourselves so I feel especially proud of it! That room is the least used room in the house and yet my favorite aesthetically. So it is very gratifying to hear you say you like it — thank you!
The Piece is everything you had said and more! What a beauty! It looks like it was made to be in that room.
I love thinking about everything a piece of furniture has seen and what it will see once we’re gone. There’s something reassuring about the continuity of a well-made piece of furniture.
YES! The Piece surely has a LOT of stories to tell!
That is gorgeous, and I love that they thought the shelves were lost but they weren’t! We have an old cabinet sewing machine that was my grandmother’s and use it as a table. I do love it, but my mother has encouraged me to get rid of it after she’s gone: she took it in to be appraised years ago, and the man wanted to buy it from her, he loved it so much! So I’m torn between keeping it, and letting it go to someone who would actually use it.
That is a dilemma, because it’s so nice to keep something like that in the family… but then again, how fun would it be to know it was going to someone who truly loved it and could put it to use?
Its so unique! Any idea what the scene is that’s painted on the lower doors? While I don’t have any furniture heirlooms, I recieved a bunch of china and silver from my mom after she passed away. To be honest, I’m not sure what to do with the silver. Some is quite old and technically herilooms, but it has gotten damaged from lack of cleaning over the years. I suppose I should contact some kind of silver expert to see if it could be professionally cleaned up.
Definitely get the silver cleaned and then use it!
Love it! Google Lens describes it as an Italian Provincial Cabinet. And those figurines are Royal Copenhagen, so really good ones- fyi!
I have my grandmother’s lamp, but no furniture that’s been handed down… but my dad has made 4 pieces in our home- our bar, a side table, our blanket box, and my vanity that is now in my daughters room. And honestly it probably kills him because they are all pretty abused by multiple young children in their years. I bet he’d appreciate seeing us refinish them…
So glad you weighed in, Lauren! 🙂 I was hoping you would have some expert insights! I just love that you have handmade items from your father. That is really special and hopefully they will get a new life when everyone is grown up and knows how to be more careful with furniture.
It doesn’t strike me as a credenza or a sideboard (look at me acting like I know how to describe furniture) – those connotate low cabinetry to me. I would characterize it as either a curio cabinet, a china cabinet or maybe even an armoire of sorts. Either way, The Piece is the BEST description of it! It is beautiful though.
No heirloom furniture here, sadly enough. I did get the rocker my parents bought when I was born; but it wasn’t a “quality” piece of furniture and it did not make it through my son’s infant years.
I’m sorry to hear about the rocker! I think it would have been so comforting to rock an infant in something that belonged to your parents.
This piece is so beautiful. I love that you just call it “The Piece” and how treasured it is. I have one item like that but it’s very different. It’s a carved wooden dresser, quite plain, that was made by my father’s ancestors. We don’t know the story exactly because my family isn’t all that sentimental. It was just a piece of furniture at the farmhouse that was made by a grandfather or great-grandfather. Fortunately my parents loved it so they got it when the farm was sold. Then I loved it as well so it gets to be in my front hall.
That sounds like a wonderful item to hand down! So glad it is yours now.
Wow that is a gorgeous piece! I love that it has such a history in your husband’s family, too!
We do not have any heirloom pieces in our house. I have some dishes that my grandmother gave to me, like she had us pick out a tea cup and saucer when she was preparing to move out of her home and into assisted living and she gifted me some other dishes for my bridal shower that I have tucked away in storage, but that’s the extent of anything heirloom like. Most of our furniture is Ikea or Wayfair! 😉
China is such a wonderful thing to hand down! I have a set of my grandmother’s china that I use all too infrequently. I keep meaning to put it into more regular rotation, but then not doing it.
That is a lovely piece of furniture. We don’t have anything that’s been in the family for that many generations, but just from where I’m sitting I can see in the dining and living room: a wooden file cabinet, an end table, a low round table, three cabinets (one wooden in a rustic style, one wooden painted white, and one metal painted white with windows), a chest, a folding card table and a secretary, all inherited from my parents and step grandparents. There’s also a wicker chair on the porch and a rolltop desk in Noah’s room/Beth’s office. It’s all a hodgepodge of different styles.
I like a hodgepodge, especially if it comes from family.
This is a really beautiful piece of furniture. I love the story, espeically the fact that the shelves were hiding. When Coach and I got married, he was still in PT school – had just started in fact, my folks gave us their old dining room and living room furniture. I also have an enormous old painting that was my grandparents. There is an end table that was my grandparents that my parents dropped off in my garage and it didn’t really surive its time in the garage. I really want to have it refinished. It has an inlaid piece of leather i the top. One of these days.
Ooooh! The painting is so intriguing! Maybe someday you will post about it?
Oh, that’s an absolutely lovely “piece” for sure! We have some wonderful Danish furniture from my husband’s grandparents, but they’re quite minimalist in their aesthetic. I’ve been collecting South Asian furniture for decades now–perhaps someday I will be able to bring back something from my grandparents’ collection.
I love Danish furniture! And it seems like it would be such an eclectic touch with your style.
That is absolutely exquisite, and even more meaningful that it’s a family heirloom. The painted scene on the doors looks Italian to me, but I’m no furniture expert.
We inherited a secretary desk from my grandfather’s uncle, who was a physician in the 19th century. The desk is in fantastic shape and it’s perfect for our office. My favourite part is a little secret compartment behind one of the tiny doors.
Shortly after we were married, we bought a curio cabinet at an antique store that I absolutely love. Even though it’s not a family heirloom, it’s special to me because it was one of the first big purchases we made together as a couple. Twelve years later, the fact that we both still love it makes me happy 🙂
Oh my goodness your secretary sounds amazing! Especially the little compartment! How fun! And yes, to have a piece of furniture that is meaningful to YOU is fantastic and precious in its own way.
Oh, it’s beautiful! I don’t know what mid-century modern actually looks like, so I sympathize with the credenza thing. I love your walls and floor also.
My maternal grandparents fled Poland during the war, and my paternal grandparents lived in north, north, extremely remote Saskatchewan, nearly the Yukon, so there wasn’t a lot of heirlooms available – I do have a tablecloth from my Polish grandmother. I have a couple of things that I’ve kept from my own childhood that Eve is ready to take on, so that’s nice.
Weren’t. There WEREN’T a lot of heirlooms available. The shame.
😂
No, with backgrounds like those there would not be a lot of heirlooms on hand. The tablecloth sounds precious, though. And how nice to have things from your own childhood to pass on!
Wow. What a unique and beautiful heirloom. I’ve also never seen anything like this, and I’ve seen a lot of stuff. 😉
I had a good giggle at you finding the glass shelves; I can see how that would happen. But I was also wondering how in the world you’d get replacement glass made; I suppose at a glass place they could do that, but it wouldn’t have been easy.
I wrote about my Mom’s rocking chair that I had refinished last year, other than that I have lots of cut Chrystal and gold rimmed glasses from my Grandmother that are quite old.
The gold rimmed glasses sounds lovely! And an heirloom rocker is so special.
That cabinet is so beautiful! A timeless piece. We don’t really have heirlooms in my family, aside from this glass cabinet that caused a bit of family drama when my grandma died. I think my grandma’s sister ended up with it. I would love to have something like this in my family!
Your cabinet is gorgeous – not my style, but I can certainly appreciate it! My parents have a similar cupboard that we call the “corner cupboard”, so it seems yours is a variation on that. (Theirs is plain wood, also very old…) I don’t have any heirlooms currently, but there is a chair that was in my father’s grandfather’s restaurant (I think I have that right) that I hope to have in my living space, eventually. I’m not big on sentiment, unfortunately. (I’m planning to write a post on this, actually… it’s been spinning in the back of my brain all week…)