BEAUTIFUL....VERY beautiful. I love how you've done it for 'winter'! And its such a great piece of furniture too. (Luvs is going to LUV all the Snowman decor for sure!) Jeanne, things usually slow down right after Christmas, but this year seemed to BEFORE even. A lot of our regular gang didn't come back, which surprised me. I know some of past members are mostly blogging, and some post on Home Decor forum, but sure wish they could spend more time with us here too. Miss them. I'm totally addicted to that darn Pinterest, and spend hours on it during the wee hours of non-sleeping, but it will never keep me away from here. ;o) However my lack of decorating spirit has sure been a problem!! My plans for winter decor got tossed aside because of my slowness in putting away Christmas stuff. Now Valentines is just around the corner. I'm feeling VERY disorganized and not in the least bit creative. And I HATE it. I want to go back to the way I was before last year. To do all the holidays and seasons and have fun with it. I always feel bad too that I post a lot here but have little to SHOW you now. ;o( Tho I am saving a lot of holiday photos from Pinterest onto a Holiday board (album) I set up there. So hopefully will have things y'all like seeing even if not my own decor. I keep saying its a good thing I'm up most all night every night, gives me plenty of time to browse Pinterest and blogs and look for neat stuff. Otherwise I'd probably lose a lot of sleep staying online. LOL. I check our Forum quickly each morning, during the afternoon usually, and then get on at night to hang out longer. This is my true addiction, LOL. So when there's little posting, I feel deprived. hugs, Karen

Here are my hutches. The first one we call our coffee station. It's located in the back hallway between kitchen and laundry room. I have chicken wire in the bottom to (horizontal) doors on the top. The top (sorry for the glare) holds dishes I never use, but already had before building. One set is green, the other a blue/green. Seeded glassware on the lowest shelves. The pine hutch in our main kitchen just has set of glazed yellow dishes, bowls, etc from Pier 1. Small collection of vintage wicker/bamboo/wood look porcelain on the top shelf. The two large doors have chicken wire that I went over with a glaze to knock the silver away. Also did that on the black hutch.

I can't remember when....some time back....but someone here showed pics of an armoire they painted. It had a black undercoat then it was painted red. Does anybody remember that? Seems like they sanded the red back to reveal the red undercoat? Smiles:)

How much DIY is your family capable of? Is this unit made of maple? If you can order lower doors to match the new kitchen for a reasonable cost and if this would make you feel less at the mercy of the original builder, such a change wouldn't be a big deal. If this wood matches woodwork in other rooms, halls, etc. the suggestion to get new hardware to complement that other woodwork will give it a new feeling. Although the photos of your family are probably very comforting, try rearranging the contents of the display and rotating some of the photos to another spot and take advantage of the existing glass doors to display something that would give the spot a different and new-to-you aspect. A collection? books less than a foot in depth? Just a couple photos and a special object? Dried flowers in a fabulous vase? The reason for this suggestion is to help you detach from the "same old same old" that clings to the spot and thwarts new thinking so that you can make a good decision. Similarly, is there a way to introduce a color that dominates in the living room so that you can get used to this color in the display--such as wallpaper or a painted hunk of posterboard or something? I envy you this unit. We have a similar stairwell closet along a hall, a stupid deep, narrow, inaccessible coat closet with a sloped floor over the basement stairway. If only the builder had been like yours and designed for us a shelf cupboard on the opposite side of the stairs below. I've even considered knocking into the wall in order to get one!