Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Word of the day: VAISELLIER



A client of mine dropped by the other day and said, "Hey Buzz, do you have any of those French cupboards that have plate racks on the top and storage in the bottom?"

And I said, "Of definitely! Those are called um, uh, duh...well...I can't remember what they're called!" Yes, I had a senior moment (or in less polite company, a brain fart). Glad she didn't ask me who the President is. Just kidding, I know it's Herbert Hoover....

Anyhow, then I slapped myself (I rarely resort to violence but sometimes it's necessary) and I suddenly I remembered: it's called a VAISELLIER!

So I picked vaisselier as our word of the today because it's tough to spell, hard to pronounce, and easy for me to forget (!).
A vaisselier, pronounced "veh suhl YAY", is a cabinet typically used in modern dining rooms or kitchens that have open shelves on the top and a cupboard below, like this one:

But wait. Isn't that a bed next to the vaisellier? Indeed it is. You very smart little grasshopper and here's why: hundreds of years ago, people often only had one or two rooms in their homes and often a single room served as a bedroom, dining room, and even kitchen.

Hard to believe when these days people name their homes "Villa de Mansion" and think that 25,000 square feet is just right now that the kids are gone.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lordy, what an evesore!! It is difficult to imagine anyone with the slightest amount of design training building that monstrosity.

Cashon&Co said...

So fun to read, I totally appreciate your humor. Now I can sound all sophisticated too when I go into an antique store, because as a matter of fact, I am actually looking for a Vaisselier and had no idea it had a name of it's own.