Styling Open Shelves

My Kitchen Shelves

Over the summer I've been changing things up in the kitchen.

Last you saw it, my open shelves looked like this.

I love these dishes. My Mom gave them to me but I finally had to just face the fact 

that color does not work in this kitchen with it's black countertops and white backsplash.

I would have never chosen the black countertops but that is what was here

and I needed to embrace it rather than fight it.

I love these seafoamy green dishes but the color just didn't work.

Besides...I never used them when they were all stacked up here.

Come on...does anyone ever really use the dishes stacked on open shelves?

Mine get dusty so they have to be washed every time I go to use them.

So, I put them away inside a closed cupboard and guess what?

I actually use them now. Which is really much better.

So now I have the open shelving for display only.

It really makes the kitchen more interesting.

Here's where I am after a summer of collecting.

Way better....isn't it?

Lots of this I already had and other things were bought on sale.

The inside of the shelves I took stainless steel contact paper and covered

foam core boards cut to fit in back.

It looks so much better than the rough wall that used to be there.

Let's see what I have here. Some of it from Pier 1.

The top left bowls were on clearance at Pier 1, so was that cheese dome with carrerra marble plate.

I want carrerra marble on my kitchen island but this will have to give me my marble fix for now.

The mercury glass pear I got at Marshall's several years ago for $5.

The small fern and white pot have been around the house for quite awhile.

I wanted a nice white teapot. Found this one at Ross for $7.

The cupcake dome behind it also came from Ross and was a birthday gift from a friend.

I was with her when she bought it for me...$10.

You can see in the first photo the new glasses I got at Pier 1 last week for $1.98 each.

I bought twelve of them but displaying all of them...was a bit much.

One of my white china plates creates a backdrop on this shelf.

Someday soon, hopefully I'll have a white platter there.

The basket had Xmas goodies in it last year from a friend.

The backside of that linen liner has a santa embroidered on it.

Shhhhhh...don't tell.

The mercury glass candle holder came from Pier 1. 

We still have them.

I stacked my salad plates and covered with a cake dome I've had truly forever.

I love the domes the most.

Right now we have this great dome at Pier 1.

http://www.pier1.com/Bon-Appetit-Dome/2627730,default,pd.html

I want it pretty badly. I already have a cloche this size...so I keep telling myself no.

But it's pretty grand.

I planned to show you the kitchen island today too.

I finally have a spot for my white enamel kitchen colander that's been put away forever.

It now sits on the island filled with apples from of course....Pier 1.

Anyway, I planned to show more of the kitchen but Violet is not feeling well and 

I have to run her to the vet.

She's had an ongoing bacterial infection in her nose that just will not go away.

I'm very very worried about her.

More on the kitchen later in the week.

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Fabulous Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo.com

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A Favorite Thing

Richmond White China 

by Johnson Brothers

I'm joining in a new linky party -

I showed photos of my end of summer dining table display last week.

The photos were kind of dark as I took them on a cloudy day so I thought I'd show a little again

today.

One of my favorite things is my Johnson Brother's Richmond White china.

Next time you see this buffet it will be spookified for Halloween.

Here you can see a close up of the pattern. 

I chose this pattern to be my wedding china way long ago...over twenty years.

Never mind that I wasn't engaged at the time. I wasn't even dating anyone.

Mom thought it a good idea to just go ahead and start collecting...What could it hurt?

I did eventually get engaged...and we finished out the 12 place settings.

Wedding never happened though.

But I still have the china! 

Which is why I always say....

"Friends and loved ones, come and go 

but your STUFF will never leave you".

Anyway, I chose this pattern because I wanted a nice white china that I could mix 

with other china patterns.

And since it was Johnson Brothers....I thought...this pattern will be around forever! 

Wrong!

They discontinued it and I have no serving pieces because of that.

Can you believe it?

I looked up a gravy boat on China Replacements and it was like $130.

I still love it even though I think I've only eaten off it once.

(Valetine's Day dinner with the Ex.... jerk!)

I remember after my big breakup with said fiancé (jerk) and moving back to Oklahoma,

my Dad was in the kitchen of my little rent house helping me unpack kitchen stuff one night.

I put these dishes carefully on the shelves of this home I'd never thought I'd live in

and cried that I'd never eat off them again and that I would probably be alone the rest of my life.

I thought that was the worst time of my life.

And now that my Dad is gone....I think back on that day and how he quietly and gently

unwrapped the dishes and handed them to me to stack while I cried and cried and sobbed and cried.

It is a sweet memory and example of a father's true love for his daughter.

And I was right....I've never eaten off them again and I'm alone and you know what? 

I don't care any more.

There is no one fussing at me for being up blogging at 4:20 am!

And that is how I roll!

Richmond White by Johnson Brothers - One of My Favorite Things.

And while on the subject of loving partners...

well I guess we weren't on that subject but I'd thought about this a lot.

It seems to me that as a general rule everyone talks about their loving hubbies on these blogs.

Seems every blogger has one.

A guy that will move the furniture endlessly without complaint.

Hang pictures, remodel the kitchen and get tickled at landscaping requests by their blogger wives.

Is that really how it is?

Really?

Most men are irritable in my experience.

If you say..."Honey! I think we need a farmhouse sink in the kitchen!"

It's met with - "You've got a sink."

"Honey! What do you think about rainwashed blue walls in the living room...or should we do greige?"

He says..."They look fine as is. But if we have to make a change....I really always liked panelling."

Are everyone's hubbies really as supportive as everyone always talks about on these blogs?

Or does everyone just try to make their lives look perfect?

Or is it only women with supportive husbands that have time to blog and decorate 

with his help?

Because I bet if I had married any of the men I considered marrying....

I would have been sneaking out of bed at night to blog and it probably would have led to divorce.

What do you think?

Do you think all those bloggers that talk about their wonderful husbands are telling the truth?

Or is it just that blogger's husbands tend to be a supportive lot?

Seems like there are an awful lot of bloggers who have married their high school sweethearts too.

If I had married the guy I was in love with in high school....

well, I wouldn't still be married to him.

My taste in men changed drastically from high school to after college.

I shudder to think what my life would be like if I'd married my first serious boyfriend.

But then....he has called me and actually his life turned out pretty good.

He got married long ago but still claims to love me after all these years.

At least I have that! If I'd married him....he'd be sick of me and pining for his wife who got away.

It's all relative. 

I have to say sometimes I feel like I should make up a Mr. Mod Vintage Life.

He could help me hang my chandelier that's been waiting for three years to be hung because it's too heavy for me to do by myself.

He could power wash the deck and trim the trees.

He could replace my leaking water heater.

What do you think? Should I make up a Mr. Mod Vintage Life that is so perfect it's hard to believe?

I think he'd look like Ewan McGregor.

Yep, Mr. MVL

He's ruggedly handsome and good with a saw but oh so supportive and sensitive.

I'm such a lucky girl!

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