27 November 2011

A CUPBOARD ON THE ROOF

When we furnished our little house we did it mostly in one go three years ago, bringing all the furniture in a large transit van from England, all in one weekend.  You can read about that here.

This year we decided we needed another piece of furniture, some kind of large glass fronted cupboard to store our crockery and glassware.  This was so that we could have it all nearer to the kitchen, saving having to walk across the living room with trays precariously piled up with stuff after each washing up session.  Plus the fact that the little sideboard was crammed full and getting down on our hands and knees to winkle things out at every mealtime was becoming annoying.

Just like before, we spent some time searching furniture shops, vide-greniers and second-hand shops in France and found nothing that was even remotely the right size to fit where we wanted it to go, not to mention affordable.  So we came to the conclusion again that if we were to avoid spending a lot of our precious holiday time shopping for furniture, we should have to buy it in the UK and somehow get it over to France. 

cupboard1

The furniture we bought only three years ago is now discontinued.  We were rather disappointed about this, as they did have the perfect cupboard in the range.  We considered buying it at the time but thought we would never need it.  Now we know we should have bought it in the first place.

However, the store we got it from had a cupboard made for us to our own specification for about the same price as we would have paid for the original.

You can see how we got it to France.  The wrapping started to unravel half way down the M1 but we bodged it back together and the cupboard arrived in perfect condition.  Much easier than hiring a van or towing a trailer.

cupboard2a

We’re very pleased with the new cupboard and it’s full already.

11 comments:

  1. It looks very good in that spot, and very practical too.

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  2. It looks really good Jean, and as you say more convenient for storing your crockery. You were lucky that the shop had one made up for you. I remember reading your post about the original furniture and also thought how perfect it was for your salon.

    Ingenious mode of transport. Were you worried about the glass?

    I remember our days of hiring and then towing a large trailer out to France. Wouldn't really want to do it again!

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  3. Perfect I would say. We had the same problem when we wanted some bookcases, there was nothing in France remotely the size or shape we wanted. We also ended up getting them from the UK. Diane

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  4. Susan - thanks, we like it.

    Gaynor - we took the glass doors off and the shelves out and put them inside the car. We really didn't fancy going all that way again in a slow and uncomfortable transit van.

    Diane - this is where our new Ikea store in Tours comes in handy. We're not huge fans of Ikea but some of their stuff, such as the Billy bookcases, are unbeatable. We will be shopping there next trip to buy shelving for our newly refurbished cellar, we hope.

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  5. Love the wrapping job to get it there! And it looks perfect, as if it's been there forever.

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  6. Mitch - it fits in very well, as you say, like it's always been there, although it's slightly darker than the other furniture...but then I've never been a fan of having everything matching perfectly.

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  7. I agree - it looks like it's always been there. The right thing in the right place.

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  8. It looks great, Jean, and your trip across with it must have afforded other road-users great amusement. :-)

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  9. We usually make built-ins cabinets for our houses here because workmanship is so cheap compared to Western countries unless we are looking for an Antique furniture. Looks like you got the perfect piece for that spot and I can see you are very pleased with it:D

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  10. With your car loaded up like that, you look like the my friends who live in work in the south of France but go home to North Africa once a year loaded up with presents for family...
    I like the cupboard you found, it fits perfectly in the spot by the kitchen door.

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  11. Pauline - thanks, it does look just right.

    Perpetua - we did get a few funny looks and we had go slower than usual.

    QPC - it was very reasonably priced and locally made in Derbyshire. I wouldn't hesitate to have something else built if we needed it.

    Meredith - we got the roof rack just to carry the cupboard but I can see it coming in very handy in future, it was so easy to use !!

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