You’ll find a shelving unit. Not a buffet, hutch or china cabinet, to my dismay. But I shouldn’t complain. I bought this piece of furniture over 20 years ago from This End Up Furniture. It isn’t my taste now, but I am grateful to have had and used it all these years. At one time it was our entertainment center. We had the TV and VCR (remember those?) sitting inside it. And we had lots of Barney and Disney videotapes on the cabinet shelves behind the doors on the bottom. And really, it is very useful as dining room furniture now. You see our dining area has virtually no walls! On one exterior wall there is a fireplace in the middle leaving about 4 feet of space on either side. On the other exterior wall there is essentially a glass wall. There are 3 sections, the middle is a sliding glass door opening onto a screened porch, and on either side are matching floor-to-ceiling windows of the same size of the sliding door. The 2 interior boundaries of the dining area are: a wide arched doorway opening into a living room, and an open area stretching into the kitchen – no wall at all! So you see there is no place for a buffet and hutch. If I had a piece like this (I wish!), I would have to convert the 4th downstairs room (a den affectionately known as the “man cave”) into a dining room, just to take advantage of the wall space!
I do think however, for a future project, I will cover the back with white beadboard or wallpaper or fabric or maybe just paint it. I could approach it like Rita does and change it with the seasons. (In the post linked above, she is using plain brown craft paper, but you may see other brighter backgrounds during previous seasons.) the other idea I’d like to steal from Rita is to glue a strip of quarter-round molding about an inch from the back across each shelf`, to serve as a plate holder.I love this pheasant. I guess he’s a planter. I just found him recently, out thrifting of course! I have him holding some old silverplate spoons. I also thrifted the larger plate in the back. The smaller plate (mostly obscured) is a little souvenir plate from a little town in Maine. I love the apples on it.
I count the apple cookie jar a huge thrifting score. I have no idea if it is a vintage item or a repro, and I don’t much care. I have just always loved rosy red apples, so cheerful! And then there’s the pink (red?) transferware. I don’t have a full set, just: 4 dinner plates, 5 saucers, 1 teacup and 1 cake plate. That’s the fun of collecting. I never know when I’ll run across more. I like the oak leaf and acorn border. The one little bread & butter plate is from another pattern, but I couldn’t just leave it there. That is a real bird’s nest, found on a Christmas tree one year, and inside it I placed a little apple candle, a perfect fit.
You know when you poke around at a thrift store (or any store), and you find something that you know immediately is going to come home with you? It sort of takes your breath away, and you instantly know that the one piece has made your shopping a success. That was how I felt when I found the little hand-painted toed teacup and saucer. And months earlier, when I saw the little creamer to its right. A better picture of it is here. And you can see that I have added a dinner plate of Taylor Smith Taylor’s Brocatelle. (Can I tell you a secret? There were more of the teacup-and-saucer sets, painted differently, you will see them when their seasons come. Shhhhh….don’t tell.)
This is an eclectic mix. (I guess it all is, really. I wanted it to be interesting to look at, as well as celebrating Autumn colors.) The little brown beanpots in the back came from my father’s house, as did the plate they are on. The tea strainer was a thrifting find. Front and center is one of only 2 brown and white transferware pieces I have. (All the others are brown/multi.) The other is barely visible to the right. The jar earned its way by having little beanpot-type ears. Now, does anyone know the purpose of the lemon-shaped pink dish with the gold wheat motif? I think it may have been a little ashtray? But I will use it as a spoon rest. It is Lenox, and I found another, same shape, ivory, no motif.
That tiny rose is petit-point, I think. You can see 2 orphan pieces of brown/multi transferware in the back. I love the autumny colors of the flowers on the little b&b/dessert plates.
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And now to the right….
I’ve done a tiny bit of revising of this little cabinet since the last picture:
But it still needs work before I shoot more pictures. Now there is a bright yellow chrysathemum in the orange plant pot. The wreath needs some decorating, and I plan to drape the doors and drawers with some vintage linens. Soon.
But we can look at a couple of close-ups. Here is some of my gorgeous Royal Worcester Evesham Gold.
The little clock is an inexpensive item I thrifted for a song. I can hardly resist a pretty clock. I’ve never been so lucky to run across any of the vintage clocks that Becky at Sweet Cottage Dreams collects.
This is a blurry picture, but I wanted to show you that I had found a place for the mercury glass vase, and for a few of my brown teapots. I found another just the other day.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the little tour to the left and right of the mantel. It is a work-in-progress, and a little difficult to photograph. For such an open space, it actually is very dark, very little natural light makes it in here. More to come, soon!
What arrangement could you make with half a snack set?
I slaved over it for at least 5 minutes on Wednesday, when I was home with the boys on Veteran's Day. I usually go to the parade, but didn't this year. Not for lack of respect for our Vets- just needed puttering time at home. 
I'm going to use them as an excuse to tell you about a cheery and stylish lady named Kay. Kay was on the staff at a school I attended in the 1980's. She was probably in her 50's (looked much younger), and was impeccably mannered and socially gracious beyond anyone I can think of. She was always enthusiastic about whatever she did, and very professional in her role. I remember she once told me that she adored autumn colors. At that time, I was firmly entrenched in pastel blue, the way some people are about purple. I remember thinking how reassuring it was that Kay did indeed have a flaw. Everything about her seemed so perfect and well-groomed and tasteful. And then to discover that she loved autumn golds, reds, oranges and even browns. Well, that did it for me. Kay was inexplicably flawed in my mind. Now, keep in mind, that having survived the '70's and its fascination with orange and browns ("natural" colors), harvest golds and avacado greens, (think household appliances and vinyl flooring), I and many like me were rejecting all things macrame and hippy in home dec and fashion. This was an era of big hair and "jewel" tones, Dynasty and Falcon Crest. Everything was blue-based, even the pinks and greens. The popular neutrals were no longer ecru and ivory and beige, but instead any shade of gray. Green virtually disappeared in favor of "teal", a color label which, while appropriately assigned to shades of blue-green, seems to have widely supplanted "turquoise" even for aqua shades that are exactly the shade of the semi-precious stone. I feel like I "date" myself to use that color name now.
I think I looked a little like that a few centuries ago.....I certainly had homemade calico dresses and pinafores and maryjanes and little white socks, and a love for my dolls.
