On one of my afternoon walks, I found 3 wooden drawers that must have been part of a dining room cabinet. There are these really great labels on the front, in German.
I went to a German-English online dictionary to translate the labels for those who are curious:
Fischbestecke means Fish cutlery
Diverses means Miscellaneous
Theelöffel, Tischgabeln & Tischloffel mean Teaspoons, Forks & Tablespoons.
It saves time when you know what’s in the drawers, I guess.
I love the drawers, but wasn’t sure what I want to do with them. As you can possibly tell from the photo, they are sitting on my balcony. Luckily I am an avid reader of design sponge and I recently found a post by Brittany Watson about a special store in Berlin (one of my favorite cities in the world). The store is called schubLaden, meaning “drawers” in German where Franziska Wodicka collects and makes ready-made and custom-made furniture from old drawers.
Here are a few of my favorite drawer ideas:
Although the drawers I found are too big to make the piece in the picture above, the one below is more suitable:
But, I have 3 drawers that are the same so maybe I should make something like this:
Or like this:
I can also wait a while and get more drawers and make one like this:
The most amazing thing which was written about in the post is the studio, where Franziska keeps all the drawers waiting to be turned into a fantastic creation:
Isn’t it a coincidence that the drawers I found have labels on them in German and Franziska’s store is in Germany!
I plan to get some really great wallpaper to line the drawers with and I’ll keep you posted on the drawer creation that I will make. Thank you Brittany for writing this post and inspiring me, just when I needed it.
Oh, and if anyone finds some drawers they don’t need, don’t hesitate to send them my way.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I think home owners often try too hard to hide storage space away. This post shows another approach, which is to design and feature your storage.
You are very, very fortunate to have found these, and in such an excellent condition. Let me tell you that it is a good 100 years since we last spelled “Teeloeffel” with an ‘h’ after “Tee”.
And we don’t say “Tischgabeln” etc. either anymore.
Treat them well, they’ve come a long, long way.
Thanks!
Wow, I didn’t know they were that old.
That must be why it took me a while to find them in the online dictionary. It’s a good thing I know Afrikaans, which is what helped me to decipher the German.
Wow, what an interesting piece! Makes me wonder about the story behind it.
As for the options for using it, I liked the most idea number 2.
You’re welcome, Shelly. Next time, feel free to ask me, I’ll gladly help.