Nice rack!

(Har, har. :-)


My mom’s Uncle John apparently loved to collect antiques (which we, the recipients of his “hand-me-downs,” are quite happy about), particularly from Holland (he was half Dutch). I’ve heard so many Uncle John stories, that I can’t help but think we’d get along famously – he’d come with me to The Red Bank Antiques Center and would probably be the kind of person who could give you a quick history lesson about the pieces that caught his eye.

This plate rack was one of Uncle John’s “fabulous finds” (I have to think if we were alive, he would totally have a blog, and he would post his “fabulous finds” all the time!). It came from his friend Reinhardt (whom I have to mention by name, since it too is fabulous), who I believe brought it back from Holland. It is super, super old – I’ve been told pre-1800? – and it is quite beautiful.

Take a look at the detail in the carving:

Now, here’s where I need your help: What should I do with it?

One of the rails is slightly warped but I don’t want to mess with it so warped it will stay. When I was still a single gal, it hung in my apartment with framed prints perched on the rails which not only looked kind of cool, it covered the “imperfection” a bit, sort of like this:

I think I’ll be hanging this in a spare bedroom, since there isn’t wall space large enough in the kitchen (and our dining room has been sacrificed to the gods of billiard). It will probably go on this empty wall, and since the wall’s a bit large and blank I’ll probably need more art (or something) for the wall so it doesn’t get lost:

My mom told me that my grandma used it for plates, warp and all, so that’s still an option. I’d love some plain, white mismatched dishes and this would give me the excuse to start collecting them!

Any thoughts about what I can do with this fancy thing?