Dr. Seuss Goes Oriental.

I went into League City today.... got my hair trimmed a tiny bit, then stopped in J's antique/resale shop to say hello to J and L, and to look around a little. No sooner had I walked into the door and I saw a whimsical Oriental-style chest of drawers.

The minute I saw it, I smiled. The next minute, I told myself that I had no room for such a cabinet. The third minute, I was telling myself that of course I could find the perfect spot for such a wonderful little piece. Then I came to my senses, but only for a minute or so.

It does indeed look Seuss-ical. It stands nearly four-and-a-half feet tall, and it's about 18 inches wide at the top and 12 inches wide at the bottom. The chest has five drawers in it, the widest draw at the top, the smallest at the bottom. The legs curve out just a little bit, so it looks as if it could walk around the room if it had a mind to. The drawers are deep and wide, and I just knew it would be perfect for all the place cards and embellishments I use for our parties.

But..... where to put it. L looked at the price and told me she'd give me a nice discount if I wanted it. Well, of course I wanted it, but.... where would I put it. I told L that I would think about it as I walked around the rest of the shop. As I browsed, I could hear the voice of my husband's mom telling me what she always told me: Buy what you love, honey, and worry about the details later.

Details.... such as where to put this magical, whimsical chest of drawers.... painted a faded-brick red, with a design of gold branches and gold grapes, with small lion's-head drawer pulls on each of those cute drawers.

J came into that part of the shop and he picked up the chest and we looked at the bottom. Good and solid, well-made, all the wood in good condition. It looked to be old, but we didn't know exactly how old. As J kept talking (asking me when the next Charades party was going to be) I was mentally going through everything in my sitting room, wondering what could come out so this little Oriental chest could go in.

Bingo! The little wood sewing chest with the pink satin lining..... I've had that in my sitting room for years now, and it's always been filled with all the place card embellishments. Trouble is, everything gets mixed all up in there because there's only one compartment and every time I want one thing, I have to search through everything.

L gave me a nice discount, as promised, and then J and I had to figure out how to fit it into my car. We took the drawers out and put them in the trunk, which was thankfully empty because I hadn't gone anywhere else this morning. The tall chest went into my front seat... I had to recline the passenger seat as far back as it would go, then we rested the legs of the chest on the floor and just set the chest back onto the seat (watch that leather!) and it looked as if a wooden soldier was leaning back while still in the "at attention" position.

But it got home safe and sound, and it's now in my sitting room, holding all the place cards, plus the embellishments, and all the odds and ends that I use for my greeting cards and gift tags. It is the perfect, perfect piece of furniture, especially if you have a soft spot in your heart for Oriental design.

As for the pink satin-lined sewing chest.... I put it in the breakfast room and filled it with my magazines. That wooden chest is sort of kidney-shaped, and sits up on Queen Anne-style legs, so it's doing a fine job holding my magazines, and looks even better with the top open because you can see the satin lining and the pink fringe around the inside edges. I found that in J's shop a bunch of years ago..... yet another time when I bought something and didn't know exactly where I was going to put it.

Buy what you love, honey, and worry about the details later.