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Ghosts of Furniture Past™ Before & After Thrift Store Creations

written by Rebecca E. Parsons

Ghosts of Furniture Past ™

a new feature here on C8C…featuring furniture updates, redo’s, repurposing…it will be a website of its own very soon!!! I own it.

For the past few weeks I have been doing a complete restoration (as close as I can get it) of a Marsh Hoosier cabinet. This is what a Marsh Hoosier really looks like…

from proxibid.com

this is what mine looked like when I bought it for $60…

The paint was a mess. Someone had just painted over the other layers to make it look cleaner…but they didn’t even clean it before doing so. So there are about 5 layers of paint and grime at this stage. Probably oil and latex and lead paint all mixed. Most of the parts are there…missing 2 door handles only. Some have water damage and the wood is warped in places. The tambour door (roll down door) is in two pieces and does not move at all. The roll out porcelain table is in tact with a little rust. The flour sifter is in tact and works. The original tag is present…somewhat. On the back it says white – red – black. So that is what I am going to attempt to recreate.

So here goes…check back later for the after photos!!!

UPDATE: The after post is here!

History of Hoosier Cabinets

From Wikipedia

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. Hoosier is now used as a generic term to describe this style of kitchen cabinet. Although Hoosier was the largest manufacturer, there were many companies that manufactured this style of cabinet beginning around the turn of the century and lasting through the depression. Some of the other companies were Sellers, Napanee, McDougall, Kitchen Maid, Marsh, Wilson and Boone.

The typical Hoosier cabinet consists of three parts. The base section usually has one large compartment with a slide-out shelf, and several drawers to one side. Generally it sat on small casters. The top portion is shallower and has several smaller compartments with doors, with one of the larger lower compartments having a roll-top or tambour. The top and the bottom are joined by a pair of metal channels which serve as the guide for a sliding countertop, which usually has a pair of shallow drawers affixed to its underside. The whole assembly, with the counter retracted, is fairly shallow, about 2 feet deep; the width and height are generally about 4 feet and 6 feet respectively.

A distinctive feature of the Hoosier cabinet is its accessories. As originally supplied, they were equipped with various racks and other hardware to hold and organize spices and various staples. One particularly distinctive item is the combination flour-bin/sifter, a tin hopper that could be used without having to remove it from the cabinet. A similar sugar bin was also common.

Special glass jars were manufactured to fit the cabinet and its racks. A major manufacturer of the glassware was Sneath Glass Company. Original sets of Hoosier glassware consisted of coffee and tea canisters, a salt box, and four to eight spice jars. Some manufacturers also included a cracker jar.[1] One distinctive form was a cylindrical jar with a ring molded around its center, to allow it to rest in the holes of a metal hanging rack.

On the inside of the doors, it was common to have cards with such information as measurement conversions, sample menus, and other household helps.

The Hoosier Manufacturing Co. is thought to have been founded in 1898 (though some sources claim 1903). Houses of the period were not equipped with built-in cabinetry, and the lack of storage space in the kitchen became acute. Hoosier adapted an existing furniture piece, the baker’s cabinet, which had a similar structure of a table top with some cabinets above it (and frequently flour bins beneath). By rearranging the parts and taking advantage of (then) modern metal working, they were able to produce a well-organized, compact cabinet which answered the home cook’s needs for storage and working space.

Hoosier cabinets remained popular into the 1920s, but by that time houses began to be built with more modern kitchens with built-in cabinets and other fixtures. Thus supplanted, the Hoosier largely disappeared. They remain common on the antique market, however, and are still used as supplemental cabinets.

 

You might enjoy these posts also:

Default ThumbnailGhosts of Furniture Past~Chest of Drawers Default ThumbnailGhosts of Furniture Past ~ ReImagine a Country French Chair Default ThumbnailKitchens I Want to Cook In Someday Default ThumbnailGhosts of Furniture Past Update – DIY Hoosier Cabinet Restoration

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9 Comments CREATIVE LIFESTYLE, decorate with paint, decorating, details, DIY, Ghosts of Furniture Past

Comments

  1. Candace @ NaturallyEducational says

    May 25, 2011 at 11:33 am

    Wow! You are a brave woman! That looks like a massive undertaking. I have a nice old piece in my garage from my husband’s great aunt but I wouldn’t even know where to begin.

    Visiting from CB & I stumbled!

  2. K. Evans says

    August 20, 2011 at 10:38 am

    I am very interested in your restoration. I recently obtained a Marsh made Hoosier type cabinet, smaller than yours, that belonged to my Great Grandmother. It is in pretty rough shape. Someone removed all the original hardware, there is no upper middle cabinet door, it has had multiple bad paint job and even smoke damage from a house fire.
    So good luck. It will be great to see your progress.

  3. Pam says

    May 25, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    I purchased a Marsh Hoosier cabinet from an old beach cottage in MA. It had water damage, three coats of paint and the original stain. One drawer front is broken and it’s pretty beat up. It’s moved three times with me and finally after almost a dozen years I’m going to tackle the project. Would love an update on your progress!

  4. Rebecca E. Parsons says

    May 27, 2012 at 8:22 am

    There is an update right here…http://cre8tivecompass.com/mag/2011/07/10/ghosts-of-furniture-past%E2%84%A2-hoosier-cabinet-before-after-part-2/

  5. Leandra says

    September 1, 2012 at 2:54 am

    I don’t even understand how I finished up here, but I thought this post was good. I don’t
    recognize who yоu’re but certainly you are going to a famous blogger for those who are not already. Cheers!

  6. Latrice says

    October 26, 2018 at 8:25 pm

    Thanks to the terrific guide

Trackbacks

  1. HomeTalk and Talk of Home – Confessions of the Home Challenged says:
    October 24, 2012 at 9:42 am

    […] all about it here and here. And check back often and see what we are up to in The Well Collected […]

  2. Ghosts of Furniture Past™ Hoosier Cabinet Before & After Part 2 says:
    March 9, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    […] by Rebecca E. Parsons The redo of my Hoosier cabinet…Taa Daa…looks for less is always best for me!!! To see the whole humble and oh so messy beginnings of this sad little “piece of junk” that my son-in-law refused to allow my daughter to take here… […]

  3. Ghosts of Furniture Past Update – DIY Hoosier Cabinet Restoration says:
    March 9, 2013 at 4:33 pm

    […] sad little “piece of junk” that my son-in-law refused to allow my daughter to accept here…it also included a history of […]

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Chief Creative Force

DIYer. Graphic Designer. Creative. Foodie. Rebecca E. Parsons is a Renaissance gal with designers eye living happily where design meets new media. Rebecca is an award-winning graphic designer, writer, storyteller, digital and Photographic Artist, Dreamer, Lifelong Communicator and Blissful Wordsmith. Unconventional and delightfully curious, she is passionate about helping others find their visual voice through great blog design. She believes that every dream is possible and possible is everywhere!

to read a more in-depth story of Rebecca's life journey click here...

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