the antique cupboard that won my heart
I grew up with antiques. My mother filled our cozy Iowa home with primitive pine chests, iron tea kettles and trivets, and muslin curtains long before there were “country” magazines or “antiquing” became a verb. Back in the 1950s, she opted for hard wood floors with handmade braided rugs when everyone else preferred wall-to-wall carpet and blonde French provincial furniture.
After my mother passed away in 2008, my sister and I divided her lovely furnishings, and I have cherished having these reminders of my mother and our home. Not long ago, I was touring the wonderful antiques show at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago when I spotted a primitive pine cupboard. It had a bead board back, rustic carving on the base, slightly sagging shelves, and a scallop on top — all the signs of a handmade Irish cupboard. I’ve long coveted an Irish cupboard and this one was just the right scale for my smallish dining room. The price was right, too. (I suspect parts of the late 1800s cupboard had been repaired in the early to mid 1900s so it wasn’t totally original.)
But really — I was there for my job with my editor in chief Ann Maine so I wasn’t supposed to be shopping. And I was 300 miles from home so I wasn’t in any position to tote home a cupboard. But I kept circling back. I could hear my mother’s voice, “Buy it, Amy. You love it. It’s perfect.” I remembered all the wonderful blue-and-white dishes I had inherited from her with no place to go. It was made to be. I told my husband my mother had channeled me.
The antiques dealer, Martha Peck of Lake Forest, Illinois, helped me make arrangements to have it trucked to Des Moines and the cupboard made the voyage in stellar condition. I can’t say enough how happy I am I made that purchase. That cupboard makes me smile every time I walk through the dining room.
(If you love antiques, check out Martha Peck’s Antiques Web site. She has beautiful pieces for sale online and also participates in several quality Midwest antiques shows.)
www.marthapeckantiques.com
