When I was little, my parents inherited a Hoosier Cabinet. It was my great grandmother’s. This Hoosier Cabinet was talked about for years and years. My dad was going to clean it up and we were going to put it in the house. In the meantime, it sat in two parts in our garage. I remember knowing that everyone thought it was a really great piece, but due to life marching on it never made it into the house!
My Dad offered it to me a few months ago. I had to have this piece of history and feel like it’s my job to bring it back to life.
What is Hoosier Cabinet, you may ask? Good question. This is how Wikipedia Defines it:
A Hoosier cabinet (also known as a “Hoosier”) is a type of cupboard popular in the first decades of the 20th century. Named after the Hoosier Manufacturing Co. of New Castle, Indiana, they were also made by several other companies, most also located in Indiana.
It was kind of a station where one could do all the cooking from. Ours has a flour sifter, a metal countertop, cabinets and a few shelves.
It also had a million banana stickers on it that someone put there. Most of these were scraped off by the time I got a hold of it. I did find these inside the door, though.
And so the circle of furniture continues and now the Hoosier is mine. The piece that was talked about like a myth in our house now belongs in my house. It’s funny of we can map out stages of life through furniture, just like through songs that are played on the radio during certain times in our lives.
My first task is to clean the cabinet and rid it of the sticker residue.
Turns out this is harder than it sounds. I’m going to need a new tactic because my cleaners are not working. Ideally, I would like to keep the original paint, but I will do what the piece tells me I need to do.
In the meantime I will be working on the Hoosier here and there. I’ll update you as I go.
rubbing alcohol works on a ton of stuff
“It’s funny we can map out stages of life through furniture, just like through songs that are played on the radio during certain times in our lives.” Interesting that you should say that….I can so relate. My mother passed on to me an unique oak hoosier given to her from an elderly cousin who’d died (we call it a Baker’s Cabinet) I chose not to keep it in the non-original white paint (with the glued on oil cloth work surface) so I had it restored. At the time my mother was battling cancer. Six months later, when the cabinet was finished, my parents came to see it, posing for a picture by it. That’s the last picture taken of my mom before she passed. Yes. We map out stages of life through our furniture, for sure.
I just painted my hoosier…be very careful of the tambour…I broke mine trying to get it back into place…the tapes were really brittle. I saved it in case I find someone that knows how to properly repair it and place it back in the little round slots.
I’m looking forward to seeing your progress with your Hoosier cabinet. My grandmother also had one–I have been fond of them ever since. Thanks for sharing yours with us.
Buenisimo post. Gracias por publicarlo…Espero màs…
Saludos
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