Making it Ours While Keeping It Hers

I've written about this before, but Matt and I have been so incredibly blessed by our family and friends. Since we bought the house, it seems that whenever we have a need, whether voiced or not, someone has jumped in and offered us (for free!) the exact thing we've been needing. Seriously, it's been absolutely amazing to see how God has provided for us. 

One of the things we needed was a china cabinet for our dining room. As evidenced in this photo, we bought a new dining table and then eventually a new rug (not pictured here), but didn't have any other coordinating furniture. The little hutch in the corner in this photo we got off of Craigslist for $20 and we found another (much better) home for it in the house. 

 

Anyway. Fast-forward a few months. My grandmother unfortunately had to make the brave and difficult decision to move into an assisted living facility, and because of that, needed to part with most of her furniture, since she went from living in a large condo to a studio apartment. 

I know it was extremely difficult for her, but, as is my grandmother's style, we tried to make it as fun as it could be, and the whole family "went shopping" at her condo and looked through all her things and each of us picked out a couple things to bring back to our homes. 

I'm sure I'll write about some of the others later, but one item we picked was this china cabinet. I absolutely love that every time I walk into my dining room, a piece of my childhood is there with me. I spent so much time at my grandparents' house growing up, and just like it was yesterday, I remember yanking open the left drawer to get out playing cards and poker chips (which I simply used as "money" at my pretend "stores"), or opening the right drawer to get out the Mickey Mouse place mats when it was time to eat lunch.  

What I DIDN'T know about it at the time was that it was handmade by a man in Turkey specifically for my grandparents...for $30! They were stationed there for awhile when my mom was growing up. Apparently, the man who made it thought that $30 was WAY too much to be paid and kept trying to give my grandparents more things as they walked out. 

I love everything about this piece, which is a little funny because it was literally the last thing left in my grandma's condo. No one else wanted it! So it was our lucky day and it was ours without contest. 

But the one thing I didn't love about it were the pulls on the drawers. Here's a close up: 

Yikes---right? They totally dated the piece and made it look a lot cheaper and lower quality than it really was. So Matt and I decided that we could invest $30 into our free piece of furniture to update the pulls. I wanted something that would accompany our new dining room light fixture, and also add a craftsman feel to the Turkish piece. So...here's where we ended up. 

I love that we can still use the piece just as my grandparents did, but still add our personal touches. It makes our house feel like home in a way that is hard to describe. Now I just need some Mickey Mouse place mats, and we'll be all set...